Barrow has something for everyone
The bike is my preferred option but it’s probably even better on the water! No sign of these canoeists since they passed through Mickey Webster’s Lock.
The bike is my preferred option but it’s probably even better on the water! No sign of these canoeists since they passed through Mickey Webster’s Lock.
There is a lot of disquiet about the proposed investment in a bike route along the Barrow towpath.
As a regular user of the track for cycling I was at first delighted to hear that it’s potential was now being recognised yet I wondered about the ‘development’ planned. I cycle on the Barrow Track every week from the Spring through to the Autumn, less regularly in Winter and so I know it pretty well.
A couple for things strike me about it.
How best to serve the people who use it or who might use it in the future?
In my opinion, very little development is needed. The surface is excellent for 90% of the route. It does need some repair work – to be carried out to the highest standards and not by the methods used in the recent past.
Good signage, some more access points onto the track to create shorter loops, picnic areas and seating along it’s length; an interpretative centre centrally located, more investment in maintenance and provision of appropriate vehicles and machinery to do the job without causing more damage to the environment.
If reports of the type of surface that is being proposed are accurate it will be an unmitigated disaster. We need less hardcore surfaces, not more, we do not need to replace natural grass banks with plastic grass grids – that never work. Especially on the Barrow Track where nature will take it’s own course and regular flooding will ensure this system will not take root and we will end up with a disastrous surface that will not be replaced afterwards as it will cost millions.
Look at what nature can do on the Barrow track – here is a video of flooding in JUNE 2012!!! This after just 2 days rain.