Last week I cycled the length of the Cynon Trail again. We do seem to be getting there with the signs. It was as ever a great ride, but three things annoyed me.
1. Towards the beginning of the trail in Abercynon there was a fair bit of fly tipping. I'm writing to the council about this, but if anyone spots any other areas that need attention please let me know.
2. Barriers. I know in some places barriers are necessary, but recently most of the barriers on the Taff Trail have been removed. Surely there's a case for doing something similar on the Cynon Trail. Getting on and off your bike every couple of minutes from Aberdare to Hirwaun is crazy.
3. Further Development. For now I accept there's not much chance of getting a riverside trail up through the hospital land (Mountain Ash to Cwmbach), but surely the off road path could be extended from the bridge in Mountain Ash to the School - this would cut off an on-road and very busy section and be a major help.
Any other ideas I shoud take up with the Council / Sustrans please let me know.
4 comments:
Don't disagree with what you say about the Cynon Trail, especially the need for the extension. This seems to be the nub of it; to create dedicated cycling paths especially as a means of avoiding dangerous, narrow, over-crowded main roads throughout RCT.
While cycling can be a leisure / sport thing, it is also an increasing alternative to cars for work. I will back a campaign to get RCT to invest in these cycle routes. Can you check if they even have a plan?
I think the 2 things that define a sucessful cycle path is
off road paths and lack of barriers every 100ms. These both need to exist to be an alternative to the car.
The Taff trail has really improved on both of these over the years and the Cynon Trail needs simliar initiatives.
I was recently on a 'path' down Bristol/Clifton way, which was basically the pavement on the side of dual carageway - it was not fun
What a shambles the mid section of the Cynon Trail is.
1.Almost 12 months ago RCT installed a pump where the trail goes underneath the railway line by the canal just past the Sobell sports centre at the Ynys in order to stop this part of the trail flooding after any sort of rain. Rumour has it that the installation cost some £18k, a complete waste of money as this pump has never been operative with this section being totally impassable on foot for the last 6 months or so. The water comes way over bottom bracket depth for months on end, cycling through is definitely not recommended. Additionally following massive groundworks for the new housing development at Tirfounder Fields the section of the trail crossing the valley between Cwmbach and Aberaman also becomes impassable after heavy rain, taking a week or so to clear each time.
And how on earth can RCT have tarmaced so much of the trail in the area but left out the 30 yards or so from the end of the canal to the road at Cwmbach is beyond me. After rain this short section is a mudbath. What a joke.
2. As for the section along the Tramway at the rear of Penywaun, the fly tipping there is far worse than that at Abercynon. The amount of broken glass along that section now has to be seen to be believed. I suffered two punctures cycling along there this week alone...from long experience I have fitted high quality puncture resistant tyres which fail to cope with the challenges of the Cynon Trail. This section not only needs yet another litter/fly tipping clearance but a work group to sweep the cycleway of broken glass.
I regularly meet cyclists/walkers from outside the valley attracted to the "delights" of the Cynon Trail who have been thwarted in their efforts by these two flooded sections with the cyclists having the added perverse pleasure of repairing punctures.
Whilst RCT should be proud of the development of the Trail they should be thoroughly ashamed of the problems which I have outlined above.
Further to my post above, here's a link to 3 photographs I took on the Cynon Trail behind Penywaun 2 days ago (16.03.10)
http://img217.imageshack.us/g/ct1e.jpg/
Both the rubbish and the glass have been there for months.
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