CYCLE PATH (UNOFFICIALLY) OPEN
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OFFICIAL OPENING 29/2/8
A few days before Christmas the word spread around the village that the Lympstone to Exmouth section of the cycle path was open. There was no road furniture (litter bins and the like) but the covers had been stripped off the signs (showing a bike) at Sowden End and people were already taking their dogs down it.
More of a roller coaster than some might expect, although wheel chairs seem to have no difficulty, and with a surface that was unexpectedly patched in places (subsidence already?) all classes of footpath users were enjoying this new country walk with the railway and estuary on one side and green fields on the other.
Boxing Day was the first real test. By 2pm people were joining the path at the Lympstone end at the average rate of two a minute (120 an hour - more than a 1000 a day). Dog walkers, wheel chair users, pram pushers, power walkers, cyclists: in family groups and solitary scenery viewers, in both directions and in all ages - all were enjoying it. The only danger seemed to be little girls on pink bikes who had yet to learn how to control their speed and give way to old ladies.
New Year's Day was the next major test with possibly more users making cycling slightly difficult. At noon there were probably 200 people on the path - the biggest group being about two dozen walkers from the Lympstone Sailing Club. An ad hoc system was developing with cyclists keeping to the left (going from Lympstone to Exmouth). Returning by train was a favoured option for many as there are stations at both ends.
The old path on the water side of the lines is still there (the railway authorities have a duty to maintain this path) but it is already looking neglected.
Safety signs have yet to be put up through the village to warn the unwary of the dangers of the blind bends and short sharp hilly sections of Sowden End but the number of bikes carelessly dropped outside the Swan indicate that many from Exmouth are already enjoying this two mile section of the new path which eventually will run along both sides of the estuary. On Friday the 29th of February there will be an official opening ceremony of this first section.
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