Cyclists say cycle route resurfaced with gravel is now unusable

A cycle route resurfaced at a cost of £200,000 has been left covered in gravel and unusable, cyclists say. Tarmac was laid on a section of the Sustrans national cycle network between Warkworth and Alnmouth in Northumberland last year.

A covering now been added that punctures tyres and is "like riding on marbles", cycle shop owner Mark Breeze said. "They tarmaced it and it was fantastic," Mr Breeze said. "It's now pretty much unusable if you're not on a mountain bike because it's such a rough surface."



Riders using the busy main road instead have been getting "abuse" from drivers who cannot understand why they are not on the cycle path, said Mr Breeze. "It's very difficult to convey the fact that you're riding on the road because you can't ride on the cycle path.

"They see the cyclists on the road and think, all that money's been wasted on that cycle path and it's not being used." Northumberland County Council say the new surface just "needed a period to stabilise", which depended on weather conditions.