22 | Cycling World
Managing future
landscapes
and promoting
responsible
access to the
countryside
Hannah Arndt,
Ride North Wales
Increasing access for mountain bikes and
responsible, sustainable access are both
popular and contentious topics for access
managers and rights-of-way users. On the
whole, mountain bikers, as with other rights-
of-way user groups are courteous, out for
a good time, on the quest for epic trails.
However, the impact of the boom in mountain
biking in recent years is starting to take its
toll on some of our most sensitive landscapes
and habitats. Local and national groups are
looking to educate and inform users about
responsible use of trails and the impacts of
actions on sensitive sites. This is particularly
important, as campaigns to increase access to
the countryside gather support.
C
yclists and horse riders are disproportionately
represented when it comes to kilometres of
rights-of-way available to them. In Denbighshire,
North Wales, only 208 of the 1,296 available
kilometres of rights-of-way are bridleway or byway and
available for use by horses and bikes. This equates to
16 percent of the network. Similar ratios are found in
counties across Wales and England. It is common for
routes to be closed, or for there to be routes which
lead to a dead-end as a result of errors or omissions in
recording at the time the definitive ma was set out. This
makes it di cult for even the savviest navigator to create
an interesting circular route, which is legal, open and
takes in the best of the scenery.
efinitive ma s have not changed since the
s, when
the bicycle was an essential mode of transport and
most bridleways recorded were routes to water courses,
churches and delivery routes for horses. They do not
reflect evolving lifestyle changes over the decades with
people now having more time and money for recreation
than in post-war Britain. The network is outdated, and
although investment has been made in man-made trail