Bridleways>Walkers, Cyclists, Horses and......Quadbikes!!

[Easy_Rider]

Decided to explore a few of my local bridleways, which happen to be disused b-roads when the motorway was built.

I could not believe the state of most of them :shock: The mud was so deep and gloopy it was un-passable in places and we had to hop the fence into the farmers field!

There are quad bike tracks though it all, they have completely churned it up and the horses have helped keep it crap. The standing water is all "oily" looking, all the run off crap from the fields.

I tried cycling through some of it, but my front wheel just sank up to the axle, it's really thick stuff. Considering these were roads many years ago I can't believe the state of them.

The Crap parts

The Nicer parts

 

[al]

Thats churned up!

We have a section like that just out side the village were i live.I used to use it to my advantage by doing a half hour spin on a sunday morning them finishing by going through the poo section!

The rest of the villagers used to think i had rode 50 miles through hell and high water. its still my little secret!

Al. They say muds good for the complection. but i wouldn't know cos i couldn't stand the taste of it!!

 

[bpikeuk]

In fairness to people who ride quad bikes, and no I'm not one of them, they do not look like quad tracks at all. Quads, the types ridden illegaly by chavs, generally have a solid rear axle which means that they cannot dig deep ruts without all progress being halted. Agricultural type quads tend to be much more expensive, and whilst they can dig ruts quite well, there are not so many about.

I would think that it's more likely that that mess has been created by a four wheel drive or farm vehicle, could well be that it's the land owner just going about his business.

It seems that the problem in that first picture is inadequate drainage which allows that kind of surface damage to be created easily.

Have you called your local ROW officer and let him/her know ?

Barry

 

[Easy_Rider]

In fairness to people who ride quad bikes, and no I'm not one of them, they do not look like quad tracks at all. Quads, the types ridden illegaly by chavs, generally have a solid rear axle which means that they cannot dig deep ruts without all progress being halted. Agricultural type quads tend to be much more expensive, and whilst they can dig ruts quite well, there are not so many about.

I would think that it's more likely that that mess has been created by a four wheel drive or farm vehicle, could well be that it's the land owner just going about his business.

It seems that the problem in that first picture is inadequate drainage which allows that kind of surface damage to be created easily.

Have you called your local ROW officer and let him/her know ?

Barry

As they de-classified old roads, i don't think it will have a land owner, they are marked up as green bridleways, which are right of way, as opposed to brown bridleways which would be private land with permission.

You could be right about it being 4x4 tracks, i don't know enough about it, but i can say they are very very deep in places.

In any case, they are no longer roads, but bridleways, so there shouldn't be any motorised vehicles on em. It is so bad in places that you need a horse or 4x4 to get through it :evil:

What's ROW?

edit. ah "Right if way", where would I get the number from?

 

[bpikeuk]

Hi Easy Rider,

ROW is, as you thought, Rights of Way, your local county council should have a ROW department who's job it is to protect the rights of all of the legitimate users of the ROW's under their care.

If these used to be 'B' roads then they may be Byways, possibly Restricted Byways or maybe Bridleways, your local ROW officer would be able to clarify which they are.

Regardless of who has been using it that drainage will probably need sorting before there is much of a chance that it will improve.

Good luck,

Barry

 

[Easy_Rider]

Hi Easy Rider,

ROW is, as you thought, Rights of Way, your local county council should have a ROW department who's job it is to protect the rights of all of the legitimate users of the ROW's under their care.

If these used to be 'B' roads then they may be Byways, possibly Restricted Byways or maybe Bridleways, your local ROW officer would be able to clarify which they are.

Regardless of who has been using it that drainage will probably need sorting before there is much of a chance that it will improve.

Good luck,

Barry

I had a look at Cheshire online mapping, and they are bridleways and not by-ways, so whatever is making those ruts should not be on those paths.

Thanks for your help Barry

This is the link to Cheshire mapping, it is very detailed, down to each street light! At least I know where my council tax goes!

http://maps.cheshire.gov.uk/cheshirecc. ... x#aTabTop1

Gav

 

[Xesh]

I would think that it's more likely that that mess has been created by a four wheel drive or farm vehicle, could well be that it's the land owner just going about his business.

Agreed. I see a lot of these tracks on the trails around my way and I found that they are nearly always tractors going to and from fields. In all the cases near me they are doing it legally though (I've checked).

 

[Easy_Rider]

I would think that it's more likely that that mess has been created by a four wheel drive or farm vehicle, could well be that it's the land owner just going about his business.

Agreed. I see a lot of these tracks on the trails around my way and I found that they are nearly always tractors going to and from fields. In all the cases near me they are doing it legally though (I've checked).

Just spoken to the ROW office and got the email address of the guy for this area. These are public bridleways looked after by my Local Authority, so these 4x4's, quads or tractors shouldn't be on them. There are farm gate here and there, but they go accross the path and not along it.

Hopefully, if the council decide to clean it up i'll have some local trials to ride, as there is piss all else round here aprt from rat-run b-roads with 2ton monsters doing 90mph on the wrong side of the road while going round corners.

 

[perry]

you call that rough :?

i ride this almost daily now i have looped it with some road and go the other way

havnt seen any crossers since last monday where there were about 10 of them

if its not pedal deep at the top of the stroke i dont see what the problem is

and this wasnt even the deepest

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=55808

ill take some new pics of it now its dry when its sunny again

 

[Easy_Rider]

That is bad, but the ones at mine are not ridable. The front wheel just sinks and stops, and you have to use a lot of force to get it out again, its like water clogged clay up to your axle the whole width of the path (fence to fence) in patches for maybe 1/3 of the total bridleway. The picture i took doesn't show it really.

I think the tracks are too close and the path too overgrown for it to be 4x4 or tractors. I remember a young lad last summer blasting round the lanes on a huge quad that made a lot of noise, could be something like that, or indeed him, but that's speculation.