Cwmcarn Twrch

We were contracted by Caerphilly County Borough Council to design and build an extension to the existing Twrch mountain bike trail.

We created 4km of flowing red graded trail using a variety of construction methods including bench cutting, borrow pitting, strip and fill, stone pitching and hand cut sections. During the design phase we walked the flagged trail line with an arboriculturalist, an ecologist and with land managers Natural Resources Wales (NRW) to assess any potential hazards and impacts. A badger sett was identified within the 25m exclusion zone so the trail was rerouted to avoid this. Due to the steep side slopes, the preceding and proceeding sections of trail were also redesigned to ensure that the trail gradients remained suitable for the grade.

The existing trail network is very popular with ebikers, so it was crucial that the design considered these users. Insloped climbing turns and technical optional features were included to provide extra interest and ensure the trail could cope with the higher climbing speeds of ebikers and trail proliferation does not occur.
Parts of the new trail were routed through newly planted stock, so we worked closely with NRW to minimise and quantify sapling removal so that a replanting scheme could be planned. A number of PRoW/road crossing points were included in the trail route, so effective trail calming and appropriate chicanes were installed so as to slow riders down gradually and avoid braking hotspots and maintain good trail flow.

The finished trail was delivered efficiently to the highest of standards and on time.