Autumn newsletter: Bike Park next steps, walking buses, trail centres and snorkel trails…
Where has the summer gone? We are well and truly into autumn, with the last of the golden leaves clinging onto the trees now. We have a wonderful summer out and about with Adventure Oban, read on to catch up on our latest news.
Bike Park - how do we top that?
At the end of August, we saw the Bike Park return to Atlantis Leisure with two packed out evening sessions. On Thursday evening we partnered up with F.A.I.R., a wonderful charity ensuring activities are accessible to all. We had a lot more time per session, trikes on the tracks, one to one coaching, no crowds and no music for this epic session of smiles in the sunshine.
On Friday evening, we were absolutely packed out! Sorry to those who had to wait to get into the park, we had over 100 kids join us over 3 hours, we loved seeing all abilities and styles from balance bikes to big airs on the tabletop and everything in between. This event has made us realise we have outgrown the Friday evening format. We were almost unable to keep up with demand and the energy on display!
We are planning to run the bike park again in the spring but likely over at least a full day and with more marshals if we can. If you have attended a bike park/Big Bike Weekend event in the last couple of years we would really appreciate it if you could fill in a few quick questions to help us make it better than ever - Survey here.
We’ve been walking and wheeling to schools!
We have had brilliant engagement from schools over the last few months meaning we have expanded our Active Travel team and recently brought on Natasha Robinson to join Phil and Aidan.
Natasha is a local teacher, Bikeability instructor and cycle ride leader. Since starting with Adventure Oban, she has been involved in walking sessions, Dr Bike sessions, and mapping workshops with schools, as well as the Big Bike Weekend, and knows many of the local children through school and cycling. She adores her bike Daphne, who has taken her all over Scotland and France. She has lots of ideas for the coming months and is enjoying being a part of the team!
Aidan, Natasha and Isla enjoying Solas pizzas at the last Bike Park event!
Activities since the start of the new year
Summer Sensations with Active Schools
Dr Bike sessions - Taynuilt, Rockfield, Park Primaries
Bikeability
Safe pedestrian sessions at Easdale
Mapping sessions at Rockfield
Bike repair sessions at the High School
Puncture repair sessions at the Re:Love Hub at The Rockfield Centre in partnership with Re:Store
Safe pedestrian sessions at Easdale
The P1-3 class at Easdale completed safe walking sessions with our team, initially doing activities in the playground, such as acting out road hazard situations, and practising walking safely on the pavement. Then we went for a walk into the village, safely walking at the side of the road and crossing roads when needed.
Mapping sessions at Rockfield
Rockfield Primary’s P4-5 classes took part in a series of mapping sessions over the last few months. After working out how far they could walk in 5, 10 and 20 minutes, they mapped all the routes from the school that were possible in these times. They also have compiled lots of safety tips and advice which will be included in their Active Travel leaflet which will be distributed to all families at the school very soon. Keep your eyes out for a poster too which will show the active travel zones they mapped out!
Walking bus at Taynuilt
After a successful initial Walking Bus this Friday, Phil and Natasha will continue leading the Taynuilt Primary Walking Bus for the rest of the month on Fridays. We are looking for parent volunteers who would be keen on facilitating this continuing after our initial trial period!
If you would like to find out more or get involved, just drop Phil an email at activetravel@adventureoban.org.
Bedrock and Bog... Assessing Ariogan for a local trail centre.
We recently attended the Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) community consultation event at The Rockfield Centre, to hear more about their plans for Ariogan which they recently purchased. There’s some amazing views from Ariogan, and some wonderful wildlife and biodiversity which they are planning to enhance alongside the commercial forestry operations.
We have worked closely with FLS through North Argyll Trail Association, on hand-building and maintaining mountain bike trails on their sites, particularly Beinn Lora. We were therefore keen to continue the conversation with them around Ariogan and whether there were opportunities to work together to develop and improve walking and biking trails. This could be in the same light touch partnership way that we work on the Beinn Lora trails, or potentially a full Community Asset Transfer of part of the land to establish a purpose built trail centre, with more accessible, beginner friendly trails and facilities. As part of this exploration, we commissioned the best trail builders in the country, Aberdeenshire-based CRC, to come over for a walk around the site to see if it was viable.
We were very excited when October came and CRC arrived for their walkabout. But sadly, they felt that Ariogan was not a suitable site for a trail centre. The site lacks a viable substrate from which to construct durable trails, being mostly found to consist of bedrock or bog! As a result, it would be uneconomical to develop as a purpose built centre.
Thank you to North Argyll Cycle Club for chipping in 50% of the funds required to pay CRC to come over, while the outcome was not what we were hoping for, we are glad we have spent the minimum required to get the information we need! The hunt continues for a suitable site and the conversations will continue with FLS about how we can still benefit as a community from access to Ariogan.
Out and About
Aidan has been Out and About this autumn, running events and activities in all weathers. The ReWild Walks continued monthly in partnership with Healthy Options. Big thanks to Oban Sea Tours for the adventure on the water in September, we saw dolphins, sea eagles, gannets and more! Walks were also held at Castle Stalker and Easdale Island with beautiful views and lots of wildlife appreciation. Aidan has also been getting his bow and arrow on, running archery tag sessions for volunteers with the Connecting Communities Collective and the team at the New Hope Café at Hope Kitchen.
The annual boat trip as part of the ReWild outings with Healthy Options, run by Oban Sea Tours.
Aidan has also taken up a part time post with Argyll College (UHI) as a Maritime Lecturer, teaching at Dunoon and Oban campuses. We are delighted for Aidan as this is a fantastic opportunity for him, but sad that it means he has cut his hours down as our Community Development Coordinator to around two days/week. He is prioritising supporting Phil and the active travel project and working on a programme of activities and events with the capacity he has. Please be patient with him as he may not be as responsive as before!
What else have we been up to?
We also hosted our fourth annual AGM in October at Atlantis. We were delighted with the turnout from our community and appreciated all the positivity, gratitude and good vibes in the room! Big thanks to Jane Churchill, one of our founder Trustees, who formally stepped down from the board at this AGM. She won’t be a stranger though as she is now dedicating her time to the newly established Oban and District Development Trust (more on that below!)
If you missed it, we posted a photo-tastic annual round up on Facebook here.
In October we also attended the Atlantis Leisure AGM, The Rockfield Centre’s AGM and a community gathering for the newly formed Oban and District Development Trust who have been successful in their recent Scottish Land Fund application to buy the shop that Re:Store is in. Another wonderful asset in community hands in Oban!
At all of these, Adventure Oban was recognised as a positive partner, whether through the Out and About project, Spring Festival/Big Bike Weekend link up, or generally through the wide range of activities and events we run. We absolutely would not be where we are today without the support of other local community anchors like Atlantis, Rockfield and Re:Store so we were delighted to attend and support all these important community events.
Oban Snorkel Trail
We know we have some amazing clear waters and incredible biodiversity on our doorstep. Our Oban Wildlife Clubs, rummaging in rockpools, have proven a keen interest in our shorelines from all ages. So, building on that, we recently commissioned Wild Bathing Scotland and Oban Seaweed Gardens to support us with a feasibility study to develop an underwater snorkel trail for Oban!
We are working through the findings from the feasibility study now, but it’s sounding positive that we could have an Oban snorkel trail, likely at Ganavan, incorporating public art, citizen science and adventure! We are looking at what the practical next steps would be and identifying future funding sources. We are grateful to ABCAN for funding this early stage feasibility work.
Upcoming events
Let us know if you’re planning to join us here.
Let us know if you’re planning to join us here.
Find out more here or if you would like to support the event as a volunteer marshal, just get in touch with Wild Bathing.
We’re also planning an indoor bike fix extravaganza for the 24th January - save the date for now!
