SIGNS
F
David Warren from LVTRF with Colin Bird of The Ramblers Association and Andrea Sparkes riding Kaizen from the BHS
of theTimes
ollowing a long year of lockdowns and restricted travel here in South West Wales it was like last day of term on the final weekend of April 2021. The weather was good and the long anticipated wait to get out and about was over. We had already decided to restrict group sizes in recognition of ‘public perception’ following no riding of the local lanes being undertaken by our group during the lockdown period. Groups of two, four and six made their way around the lanes of all three counties in our area. By the first Bank Holiday in May, we were being stopped on many of our regular routes being asked ‘where are you from?’ and ‘do you know where the right way is?’ Having engaged with our neighbours and some landowners that we had not met before, our members were being told of the high level of
32 Trail Summer 2021
traffic using the lanes compared to pre-lockdown numbers. It would appear that the Trans European Trail’s ‘Welsh TET’ route and TRF’s Green Lane Mapping ‘GRM Project’ has reached many riders over the past year, (which is a good thing), however, it has also brought with it a number of issues too. We received four complaints in the first week of lockdown ending regarding gates being left open and some riders not being able to follow their maps/GPS. And unfortunately, having been active in the area since 2018, it is only the past month that we have had access to some lanes denied by landowners. They accept it is not the correct thing to do but feel there is no other way to ensure their stock doesn’t get let out on to the main A and B roads. As I have reported regularly, we are naturally a very positive bunch of riders here in our
