Volunteers Serve Up Mushroom Pie At Glentress

Volunteers working at Glentress Forest near Peebles have just launched a "tasty" new piece mountain bike trail which stretches 280 metres long. Named 'Mushroom Pie', the trail has been painstakingly built over the winter and spring months by the Glentress Trailfairy volunteers. The trail is an extension to the popular ‘Pie Run’ which provides a testing singletrack shortcut on the popular red graded mountain bike route. Andy Wardman, Forestry Commission Scotland's mountain bike ranger at Glentress has guided the volunteers on the project. "I'm stoked with the trail", he said. "Building the section by hand means we’ve been able to keep the trail tighter and rootier through the trees than building with a digger would allow. It’s a real challenge to ride it fast without clipping a tree or two!" "The trail has nice flow to it and some cheeky optional features too. Soft ground conditions have meant a more robust build was required but the volunteers have worked really hard and kept at it, often in pretty grim conditions. Thank you to everyone who has helped out”. The "Trailfairies" have worked in all sorts of conditions on Saturday mornings to get the trail finished. To mark the completion of the trail, the volunteers celebrated the opening with pies kindly provided by local butcher, Forsyths of Peebles. One of the Trailfairies, Moray Cuthill even made a mushroom pie sculpture for the entrance. Alongside the ‘fairies, several other groups have helped with the construction including Borders College Workwise Group, The Princes Trust at Galashiels, Adventure Edinburgh and students from Peebles High School as part of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards scheme. Andy added: “Forestry Commission Scotland really welcomes volunteering on the national forest estate and there are many different projects on the go which people can get involved in. The new section is part of the on-going 7stanes mountain bike project which has mainly been concentrating on developing easier graded routes for novices and families, which is great as it’s making mountain biking more accessible than ever. With hand built trails like Mushroom Pie, we can also offer new challenges for more experienced riders”. The Trailfairies meet up fortnightly on Saturdays to work on new hand built sections of trail and help maintain the existing trails at Glentress. All types of people come out to help at the sessions and no experience is needed. Bikers often stop mid ride to lend a hand too. Andy added: "It's a neat way to put something back into the trails and have a say on what gets built. Some of the best ideas for features have come at Trailfairy sessions." More info on the Trailfairies and how to get involved can be found at www.7stanes.gov.uk/glentresstrailfairies