trail centres ???

haz1995
haz1995 Posts: 11
edited January 2011 in MTB general
Lately ive been seeing things like new trail centre being opened in kent and other places across the uk .I cant see why they cant bulid one in hampshire were not aloud to build trails as its national parks everywhere so why not open a trail centre ???Its soo annoying we need somewhere good to ride which doesnt mean trekking all across the uk!

Comments

  • popstar
    popstar Posts: 1,392
    Kent ---> Surrey Hills = Sorted.
    What could have been (Video)

    I'll choose not put too much stake into someone's opinion who is admittingly terrible though
  • haz1995
    haz1995 Posts: 11
    yeah but that still means travelling a fair distance i cant see why a trail centre cant be built in hampshire ! bristols now getting one, kent is also im sure theres may other who would agree to having a trail centre bieng built
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    There's often way more fun to be had outside of trail centres, especially around the South. Find some woods, explore. Chances are you'll find some trails where locals ride and maybe some more interesting stuff besides.

    Though Hampshire is saddled with that big "no MTB" nimby zone the New Forest (well unless pottering around tarmac/gravel dedicated cycle paths does it for you).

    According to my bike book (Mountain Biking Britain) there's various places of interest. There's DH stuff at Rogate. XC at QECP. There's also Portsdown Hill. Watchmoor Wood round Bournemouth way (apparently has a fair bit of northshore). If you're up to getting to Dorset there's UK Bike Park.

    And to the north and east of Hampshire there's Swinley and Surrey Hills. They're not that far really. FYI Swinley is more technically a trail centre, but Surrey Hills is miles better and it's (almost) all natural trails.

    As for Kent, do you mean the pathetic Olympic park? I still have serious doubts it will remain after the Olympics anyway and from what I've seen I won't be making an effort to go there.
  • Eranu
    Eranu Posts: 712
    Where do you live in Hampshire? I agree with Kenny there is plenty of riding in Surry Hills, Swinley etc but if you don't want to go north then QE Park is a good base to head out onto the downs and explore, you'd be suprised by what's there.

    Or you could join this lot and help them realise their plans:

    http://hampshiretrailwatch.co.uk/
  • Rindle
    Rindle Posts: 219
    There's loads of good riding if you explore around QE I've been happily lost there for hours and hours.
  • Northwind
    Northwind Posts: 14,675
    It's a bit of a gap area though. Usually there's more than one reason for building a trail centre, like, the 7 stanes and most of the welsh ones were built to draw in tourist money. So they tend not to get built so much in places that are reasonably well off and have decent jobs around.
    Uncompromising extremist
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Decent ones tend to be built where there are actual mountains, or at least proper hills.

    Trail centres in this sort of area are just not worth it as there are plenty of natural or unofficially built trails in all kinds of woodlands. Without the massive grants from touristy MTB areas the trail centres tend to be heavily sanitised to avoid any element of risk.

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