Slieve Bloom trail centre

xxyyzz · 24-08-2018 4:03pm #1

Anyone been up around the Slieve Blooms lately? How is the new trail centre coming along?

ec18 · 24-08-2018 4:04pm

only just started marking the trails out I believe

xxyyzz · 24-08-2018 4:09pm

I thought Nial Davis was doing that nearly 2 months ago.

rizzodun · 24-08-2018 4:18pm

I heard not to be too excited about em based on the progress and plans so far.

That view may be subjective.

xxyyzz · 24-08-2018 4:25pm

rizzodun wrote: »

I heard not to be too excited about em based on the progress and plans so far.

That view may be subjective.

Yeah I heard that the first phase will be green/blue trails.

Lucena · 29-08-2018 11:21am

From what I can see online, there was a call to tender put out at the end of 2017. So surely if work has started, it's being carried out by a private company which would probably have a defined time period to do the work? It's not like it's two hairy-arsed workers in a council van going out to smoke fags and drink tae all day.

Where are people getting their info on progress from? I had a quick look on Google and couldn't find anything. Ideally I'd love the trails to be ready for summer 2019, as I should be back in Ireland then.:)

ec18 · 29-08-2018 11:34am

I saw some updates on biking.ie's instagram/Facebook

xxyyzz · 29-08-2018 11:46am

Lucena wrote: »

From what I can see online, there was a call to tender put out at the end of 2017. So surely if work has started, it's being carried out by a private company which would probably have a defined time period to do the work? It's not like it's two hairy-arsed workers in a council van going out to smoke fags and drink tae all day.

Where are people getting their info on progress from? I had a quick look on Google and couldn't find anything. Ideally I'd love the trails to be ready for summer 2019, as I should be back in Ireland then.:)

The tender was awarded to a wexford company, I think they were responsible for the ballinastoe trails. From biking.ie's social media it looks like Niall Davis was out marking trails for them and taking pictures of his fancy jeep. That's about all the info that was available. Initially Coillte said October this year was the target date for phase 1 completion.

booooonzo · 30-08-2018 11:37am

Metro won the contract but it was a design and build contract so Niall was brought in by metro as the designer and their tender won.

It is green/blue trails and the area is highly subjected to environmental impacts.

I'm not sure on the timeline but I would imagine it is around 4-6 months for delivery.

Maybe the fires they had affected them but i'm not sure on that, could well still be on track.

xxyyzz · 14-09-2018 1:02pm

According to this post work is ongoing and they are aiming to have 35km of trails open by the end of the year
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2076535765713095&id=266591370040886

Lucena · 24-09-2018 9:18am

I assume that means 35km that are actually useable, and not just a km here, 500m there?

xxyyzz · 24-09-2018 9:29am

Yes, they intend to have a 35km loop up and running by the end of the year.

prunudo · 04-10-2018 1:26pm

Spotted this on Facebook, looks fun

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=564694587319131&id=139066222779824

comanche_cor · 04-10-2018 3:23pm

looks very scenic!

rizzodun · 04-10-2018 8:07pm

Comments say that's a climbing section.

Interested to see some of the actual trails..

prunudo · 04-10-2018 8:23pm

rizzodun wrote: »

Comments say that's a climbing section.

Interested to see some of the actual trails..

Oh thats a shame, was hoping it was downhill, although lacks of berms probably gives it away

rizzodun · 04-10-2018 8:26pm

jvan wrote: »

Oh thats a shame, was hoping it was downhill, although lacks of berms probably gives it away

That'd be terrible downhill, that left/right before the switchbacks would ruin the flow, hence why I checked the comments, I wanted to see if anyone had asked.

prunudo · 04-10-2018 8:37pm

rizzodun wrote: »

That'd be terrible downhill, that left/right before the switchbacks would ruin the flow, hence why I checked the comments, I wanted to see if anyone had asked.

Fair point

Nabidana · 13-10-2018 12:30am

Where are the trails based?

prunudo · 13-10-2018 8:40am

Nabidana wrote: »

Where are the trails based?

Near Kinnitty as far as I know.

xxyyzz · 13-10-2018 3:41pm

jvan wrote: »

Near Kinnitty as far as I know.

I believe there will be a loop starting at Kinnitty and then another loop on the Laois side at Bunreagh. The two loops will join together at a road crossing so you can do a figure "8" and do both loops or just one one loop. I'm not sure if the Laois side is in phase 1.

Within each loop there will be various options to lengthen or shorten the loop, at least that is the long term plan. I will have a look around to see if I can find the trail maps, they were up on the Offaly and Laois county council websites.

Edit:
http://www.offaly.ie/ePlan5/AppFileRefDetails/1687/0

Click on the View Scanned Files button, click agree and a list of documents are available. Look for the bike trail layout document.

prunudo · 14-10-2018 2:36pm

Looks like a good mix of trails when its up and running. Would be great if they added more variety to Ballinastoe.

Claude Burgundy · 31-10-2018 2:34pm

Its a positive start.

Good jib! · 06-12-2018 9:52am

Any news on this?

xxyyzz · 06-12-2018 1:38pm

Paddy's days opening was the latest I heard. They are very dependent on the weather

LastFridayNight · 11-12-2018 9:00pm

Wow, can't believe they've finally started. I think Brian Cowen was Taoiseach when these were first proposed! I actually made making some trails there myself back in the day, near Glenbarrow. Options were limited as most of the Blooms are bog. So I am surprised they think they can get 100km in, but hats off to them if/when they do!

Top Dog · 19-12-2018 10:40pm

Posted on their Facebook page a few hours ago ...

On yer bike. A taster of the Slieve Bloom Mountain bike trail is opening for the Christmas Holidays. A looped section of the trail from Kinnitty Village will be open from Saturday next the 22nd December. Parking can be had in the village of Kinnitty and the trail can be accessed from the village at the entrance to the woods just past the Gaa pitch on the R422. The remainder of the first section of the trails will be ready for your enjoyment by March.

siochain · 21-12-2018 7:37pm

Any hear how long the loop is that’s been opened Over Xmas?

Top Dog · 22-12-2018 12:33am

Also from Facebook -

Daithi de Forge It is only a couple of sections on the Offaly/ Kinnitty side. No more than a few kms yet.

iwillhtfu · 23-12-2018 9:31pm

Doesn't sound worth the trip at the minute

"Slieve Bloom Mountain Biking The Taster loop is roughly 4 km in total mostly climbing and around 1km of singletrack back down. Anyone traveling any distance for a look might like to wait a little longer until the first section is completed&#55357;&#57013;*♀️&#55357;&#57013;*♀️ Put in your diary for the Easter Break."

Good jib! · 07-01-2019 11:36am

I was up there over Christmas (walking) and was surprised to see signs indicating that some of the MTB paths were open. A decent job seems to have been done from what I could see. I'll wait til they've finished the whole thing, but it's definitely encouraging that there's already some of it completed!