Mountain bikers at Ross-shire forest urged to ‘stay off’ wheelchair friendly paths
Mountain bikers at a popular Ross-shire resort have been asked to be considerate and stay off a new wheelchair and buggy-friendly path.
Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) spent £23,000 bringing the flat trail at Contin up to an all-abilities standard, as well as improving the car park.
The forest is the venue for the annual 24-hour Strathpuffer mountain bike endurance event and is popular year-round with off-road riders.
However, it also hosts family-friendly walking routes and connects via forest roads to the salmon leaping site on the Black Water at Rogie Falls.
FLS has now called on mountain bikers to stick to “allotted, designed trails” after some have been spotted making use of the new all-abilities path.
Laura Turtle, FLS visitor services area manager, said: “This path upgrade at Contin, along with improvements to the existing trail at Aldie Burn, make these locations more inclusive and welcoming to visitors that might not be able to easily access many of our other forests.
“We appreciate that it will be attractive to a lot of different people but it’s not really designed for mountain bikers or for fast riding.
“Wheelchairs and buggies, yes, and we wouldn’t mind young children learning to ride their bikes on these paths.
“But for the experienced and older mountain bikers, there are plenty of legitimate paths and trails around the area for them to enjoy, so we’d ask that they show a bit of consideration and leave these paths to those who will enjoy them most.”
While mountain bikers are allowed to access shared paths under the Scottish Outdoor Access Code, this must be done responsibly, with reasonable requests from landowners being followed.
