New Blue Descent planned for QECP Trails

Work is to start in Spring 2015 on a new blue graded section at Queen Elizabeth Country Park, providing a flowing 1.5 mile trail descent for all abilities.

QECP Collective have been working hard over the last year on updating the Blue trail at QECP, with a new climb and single track section already added, which you can read about in our recent October update. These sections are rideable now and should be signed up in the near future, they link in with both the current Blue and Red trails so do go and try them out. The next phase will be to extend the current descent from the top of War Down, down to the BBQ area at Benhams. This will remove the fire road descent from Battlefront and in the longer term the old singletrack that runs alongside the Juniper picnic area.

They held a meeting with the QECP ranger team and the Forestry Commission in early November where we walked the proposed trail corridor. We are pleased to announce that subject to our trail design being signed off that the trail corridor has been agreed. The design document has been submitted and they hope to have agreement during December.

The aim is to provide a flowing singletrack descent with appropriate features and bus stops to promote skill progression for less experienced riders whilst also providing an exciting new trail for skilled riders.

The initial plan is to build this in two phases, with phase one starting in Spring 2015. The first phase will build the lower section to eliminate the fire road section of the current blue descent. This will allow riders to link the new section to the existing blue singletrack that runs past Juniper and Battlefront. Once the lower section is complete we will then start work on the upper section which will link the existing blue trail to the new lower section giving ~1.5 miles of singletrack descent from the top of War Down to Benhams.

The longer term goal is to make this an all-weather trail; however it will be opened without any surface material so they can see how it beds in and how the features work enabling us to perfect the trail before armouring it. These new sections will also link in well with the existing trail network enabling longer and more varied loops without leaving the park itself.

Whilst they can achieve this with the people we have today all of these plans will be accelerated with more people on the tools, so watch this page and Facebook/Twitter for regular updates on dig days and further trail news. And don’t forget we offer bribes in the form of Hargroves discount cards and free season tickets for parking.