We’re getting there…

Just a short post to say that we are still alive and are currently making plans for more trailbuilding days in the near future.

Unfortunately work and various other important things get in the way more often than not these days…

Cheerio.

Before and after

The tramway before fencing and rain

Originally uploaded by bent udder

Here’s a pic of the tramway before Forestry Commission contractors fenced off the area to the right of the trail, and before the last six weeks’ worth of torrential rain. This pic was taken back in early November, and you can see how dry the ground still is back then. Currently, it’s ankle-deep in mud.

We will be doing more clearance work on the Tramway in the New Year, so get in touch with us via redlands.trailsATgmail.com if you’d like to help out. The more build days we can get in, the sooner we can get back to nice dry singletrack on this particular bit of Leith Hill.

Holmbury tree felling – mind out

Hurtwood foresting

Originally uploaded by bent udder

We mentioned a while back that Hurtwood Control was going to be doing a bit of tree felling on Holmbury Hill, and I got a look last weekend. There’s an ever-so-nice bit of singletrack going through the area that the foresters are working in, and at the moment it’s blocked with branches and foliage from the felling. This looks to be entirely temporary, and it’s likely the trail will be cleared again after felling – usually, the blockage helps give everyone time to see that there are people with chainsaws and large forestry vehicles on the loose. More as we hear about it.

I told you those rabbits had big, dangerous teeth

I told you those rabbits had big, dangerous teeth

Originally uploaded by bent udder

Sadly, one of the original Summer Lightning signposts was a victim of the fencing work the other week. The contractors agreed to remove it for us so we could put it back in to show the new trail, but it was too rotten to come out in one go.

I was quite surprised that after only a few years the posts – which are made of pressure treated timber – had got that rotten all the way through to the core. This means that any future signposting might have to be rethought; there are plenty of landowners and organisations that are looking to use similar wooden finger posts around here, and it may be that this version simply isn’t going to last long enough. From memory, the posts for Summer Lightning cost an awful lot of money – enough for several years’ BTCV insurance, for example.

On the positive side of things, this post was in by far the wettest position, and thankfully the others all seem to be holding up well.

BKB – new section now open

Thanks to Mark Beaumont’s handy chainsaw skills, the new section at the end of BKB was opened and the old section closed in a couple of hours flat last Thursday. There’s been no big announcement, partly because thousands (OK, well, hundreds) of riders going and playing on the trail at the same time might not be ideal. Suffice to say, you’ll find that the new section’s now wide open. This has been a big effort from Hurtwood Control, the Volunteers, Surrey Hills AONB, Mei Black at Extreme Tracks, Ian Warby at CTC and various other helpers, trail builders and general keen people over several years. It’s not just a case of digging a trail, although Mei and Ian have done a fantastic job of that; this new section is a new one for us and the Surrey Hills – a professionally built trail paid for with development money.
Anyway, let us (or more importantly, Hurtwood Control) know what you think. If you really like it, and haven’t done so before, don’t forget to become a Friend of the Hurtwood – it’s a five minute job to sign up, and you’ll be supporting a great charity that cares about access for all.

 

Many thanks to Russel Alford for the pic.

Yesterday’s trail building

Tramway after 5

 

Originally uploaded by bent udder

As Mark put it, a bit like the Somme.

Luckily, we had a good turnout of enthusiastic volunteers yesterday, despite the horrible conditions before and during the building. I had to leave at 12.30 to go and tend to the sick at home, but from the pics, a lot of headway was made after I left – on top of buckets of work during the rest of the day.

The new fencing meant that part of the Tramway at the bottom of Summer Lightning disappeared, as well as the last two sections of SL itself.

As we walked down Summer Lightning from the top (we also started the day with a quick cleanup of the section into Waggledance / Crooked Furrow from the Loading Bay) we noticed a lot of berming – and not the good stuff, either.

The recent rains and wind meant a lot of pine needles on the ground, and these clogged up a load of drains off the first section, and also the fifth section. Elaine volunteered to clear the first bit, and the rest of us worked our way down the trail.

On getting to the Tramway, it immediately became clear that we were in for a drawn – out slog to get any semblance of a trail cut in time. A fortnight’s worth of rain coming off the hillside meant the bottom of the hill was a soggy morass, and cutting trail was more akin to cutting wet peat.

We’ll need to come back to this section soon to continue clearing, and try and get a better offslope for drainage sorted out, too. In the mean time, thanks to all who came out, and fingers crossed the new section will bear up to some heavy traffic this winter.

If you like pics of mud, there are more photos in this set.

Fencing up on Summer Lightning

22112009099

Originally uploaded by bent udder

As we’ve mentioned before, the Forestry Commission’s contractors put up fences around two sections of Summer Lightning the other week. New saplings will be planted next year, and the fence will protect thee trees until they are strong enough to survive bunny attacks.

On our latest build day (more on that later) we blocked of a straightline that had grown up heading straight towards the fence – we’ve reinstated the old line (and drained it properly) to guide riders towards the Tramway, which is the temporary replacement for the last two sections.

Logging on Holmbury Hill

There’s a bunch of logging going on on Holmbury at the moment – see the Hurtwood Ranger’s blog about it here. The bad weather has meant the planned closure of No. 9 car park near Felbury House has been put off, by the way.

Trailbuild Day Sunday 22nd November.

Redlands Trailbuild Day Sunday 22nd November 2009.

Redlands trails will be moving part of the Summer lightning trail in advance of forestry enterprise replanting work. The last two de-forested sections of the trail are going to be replanted, this will entail forestry enterprise placing wire fencing around them. While we will lose these sections of trail, in order to link the trail to the “tramway section”, we will be moving about 100 yards of path at the bottom of the slope on the last section of the trail. The trail currently is in the middle of the soon to be fenced area, and we need to put in a new path along the boundary at the bottom to skirt round the fence when it is installed.

We have the need for a limited number of volunteers to come and help us achieve this goal. If you would like to volunteer, please send an email to the following email address: redlands.trailsATgooglemail.com

Holmbury Hill – car park closure [edit - actually, it's open]

It looks like Car Park 9, next to Felbury House in Holmbury, will be closed until further notice. There’s more on the Hurtwood Ranger’s blog.
The car park is well-used by mountain bikers and horse riders, so if you know someone who is driving to the trails this weekend, let them know.

Actually, Mark B’s just said the closure is off for now. More news when we get it.