PLANS to link Horrabridge to Tavistock with a cycling trail moved forward this week when Dartmoor National Park granted planning permission for a cycle path section. Work has started on the Grenofen Bridge-Gem Cottage?River Walkham?Magpie Viaduct?Bedford Bridge car park section ? although there is some opposition to the work in progress. The scheme, part of the National Cycle Network, includes an aerial cycle/walkway at Gem Cottage and a low level bridge over the River Walkham. This is being installed to allow the route to be opened, while plans for the £1-million Gem Bridge are developed. The work is being funded by the South West Regional Development Agency, the European Union and Devon County Council and costs in the region of £500,000. Magpie Viaduct had been suffering from vandalism, with people throwing bricks onto the common below, but is now being restored. County council spokesman Graham Cornish said this will offer good views of the common and Dartmoor when completed but is not yet open to the public as it is in a dangerous condition. ?Work is proceeding to acquire the remaining few parcels of land at each end of this section, to connect to Horrabridge and Tavistock. ?Almost the entire route by length has now been acquired but in a few cases negotiations are continuing. ?The route will be built to an interim or mountain bike standard, mainly using the existing railway ballast, until more of the route is assembled. ? The current section will provide attractive walking and cycling routes, says Devon County Council, including the new crossing of the Walkham. But not everyone is happy with a cycling trail. Edwin Anstead, a retired architect from Whitchurch, said in a letter to last week?s Times that it would ruin an area which has been used by generations of locals for family days out. He wrote: ?Unfortunately, to achieve their aim they have bulldozed the very tracks, leats and the remains of a very important launder that forms a major part of the historical remains of the mines of the Walkham Valley.? Alan Hosking, the county councillor for Yelverton Rural and a supporter of the track, refuted that damage was being done to any historical remains and that every effort would have been made to preserve anything of mining or historical value. ?I support this not just for the economic, health reasons and it taking traffic off roads. I realise there may be a few people who get upset about cyclists going past their garden but they said that about the Camel Trail and that has proved an excellent success. What would you rather have, a cycle track or a motorway?? Mr Hosking said that hopefully a cycle track will eventually be laid from North Devon to Plymouth but it is difficult to achieve as land has to be secured and the project is ?one giant jigsaw?. The proposed track over Roborough Down has been delayed because of the difficulties of rights of way over common ground. Following tree felling for the project it is possible to see the outline of the enormous Walkham Viaduct that was demolished in the mid 1960s. It is planned to replace this with the shorter Gem Bridge at a later date. A planning application to extend the route from Horrabridge to Clearbrook was submitted last week. l The whole of National Cycle Network Route 27 between Tavistock and Plymouth is to be promoted as ?Drake?s Trail? . This is based on the work of the Drake?s Dartmoor group, and is designed to capitalise on the associations with Drake, as Tarka Country has been developed in North Devon. Apart from themed signs, marketing and information it is hoped to develop a range of links to Drake-related locations such as Buckland Monachorum.
