On Your Bike and Enjoy the Forests

If you go down to the woods soon don’t forget to take your bike.That’s the message Farm Minister LordRooker has given the cycling public.For he has just announced plans to develop new family cycling trails at Castlewellan, Gosford and Castlearchdale forests.”Northern Ireland’s forests need to be fully utilised for recreation and to provide value for taxpayers money,” he said today.”The Forest Service is at an advanced stage of agreeing contracts with the Countryside Access and Activities Network, and expects construction work on these trails to begin in September.”These trails will improve the forest visitor experience at these locations.”The Forest Service remains committed to finding solutions that would allow wider use of forests for cycling and other types of recreation.”However, in terms of mountain bike trials, the responsibility lies with cycle trail promoters to establishtheir proposals are practical and affordable.” Mountain bike trails exist at Gortin Glen Forest and Moneyscalp Forest, beside Tollymore Forest Park.Construction and management of a trail by a cycling group at Belvoir Park Forest is underway, and Forest Service recently facilitated development by Sustrans – the sustainable transport charity -and Derry City Council of a trail through Learmount Forest.Development of a trail at Florencecourt Forest Park with Sustrans and Fermanagh District Council is also in progress.