SOME people in Bere Alston really do not want Tavistock to have a railway!
Murray Turner (from Bere Alston, of course) says that I am confused - too right I am. What started as a discussion on the viability of a rail line has now digressed to the joys one can have by going shopping by bike!
Mr Turner is no doubt a cycling expert, but if he thinks that the vast majority of people are going to cycle to the supermarket, cram their weekly shopping into pannier bags and wobble off home smiling sweetly because they think they are saving the world from the evil motorist he is greatly mistaken. Neither will they risk their lives by commuting to Plymouth in the depths of winter.
The line to Tavistock is just a start and I do hope that the day will come when the people of Tavistock can catch a train from their town to Exeter and beyond to save them the awful trudge down to Plymouth when they need to go anywhere.
One final point, the motorists pays through the nose in road tax and fuel duty in order to use the roads. If cyclists want to use previously quiet bridleways and have special cycleways and paths made for them, should they not contribute something towards them?
Paul Mercer
Ivy Cottage
Peter Tavy