A plague on all your houses!

[Andy BB]

I have never ridden off-road on a motorcycle, and probably never will. I do, however, wince at some of the comments on here. Booby traps? You should be ashamed, and if anyone is idiotic enough to try that and kills or maims someone, I hope they get locked up and the key thrown away.

95% of public footpaths are now banned to motorcyclists, yet walkers still want the last 5% banned to them too. And I'm betting that if you talk to any farmer, its the walkers who cause the most damage to his land. Idiocy - whether mechanical or pedestrian - is to be censured, but maybe time for a sense of rationality to the whole thing. Setting off one group against another invariably leads to restrictions on both.....

 

[Wayland]

We had a problem on our local moorland with quad and trail bikers so we kept reporting it to the police so regularly that it sent their statistics through the roof.

This is what happened.

 

[ebt.]

I'm with you - these people are selfish antisocial idiots - just like the same breed that ride mountain bikes on public footpaths.

Its a real shame when you read rhetoric like this from people you perceive to be reasonable...but then i guess we all get frustrated by bad behaviour and fall victim to the easy escape of venting.

Some points worth pondering;

1. How were rights to footpaths granted (a certain act of mass trespass springs to mind)
2. Do any of us bushcrafters here do anything that others may disagree with (say, oh i dunno... trespass eg wild camping)

Personally I mountain bike a LOT, i do the sneaky bivi, I ride footpaths when theres no other route. However, i try to do it all in a respectful fashion, thinking about others.

I cant say I condone motorbikes in the countryside since they do a ****load of damage, but then maybe they need 'somewhere' they can go. I suspect in the motorbiking community you'd probably find the usual mix of knobs and rational people, just like in every community.

 

[Midnitehound]

As a off-road biker and mountain biker i am absolutely disgusted that some members are condoning the sort of behaviour they are, even as a joke it's disgusting.

We had a group of belligerent hikers shouting a few Sundays ago.
I had nipped back to the house and left the kids with a couple of shovels to adjust some of the ramps, we had been riding so they had on all their gear and where minding their business when the said group of hikers jumper over my wall (knocking several stones out of it as they did) and confronted my kids.

Seems that they took exception to my kids riding their bikes on my land.
Half a dozen grown hikers harassing a couple of 12 year old kids on private property for doing something perfectly legal and in a responsible way, guess that's what this country is coming to.

Needless to say they were quickly "ushered" off back to their footpath when i returned and it's unlikely we will hear from them again.
Their screaming and shouting really upset my daughter though


I do agree that irresponsible illegal off-roaders need to be dealt with, they need to be dealt with by the police not some cowardly random booby trap that's just as likely to get perfectly legal outdoors enthusiasts hurt.

Also worth remembering that not all off-road riders are illegal or irresponsible either.

Flippin scramblers, correction, I mean ramblers, screaming around the countryside, scarring the wildlife and motorcyclists, tearing up the place. What is the World coming to, bring back hangin! Good that your kids had shovels already but remember you need soft ground and then pick'em off one by one.

Please forgive some of us our disgusting black humour. Can I still say black humour? Crusty Jugglers, for the greater gooood!

 

[British Red]

Its a real shame when you read rhetoric like this from people you perceive to be reasonable...but then i guess we all get frustrated by bad behaviour and fall victim to the easy escape of venting.
.

I stand by what I said. Footpaths are for pedestrians, cycles are not permitted on them or pavements. On bridleways horses and people have precedence. There is nothing respectful about deliberately breaking the law and using other peoples land in a way they have not agreed to - it is deeply disrespectful.

 

[Midnitehound]

I cant say I condone motorbikes in the countryside since they do a ****load of damage, but then maybe they need 'somewhere' they can go. I suspect in the motorbiking community you'd probably find the usual mix of knobs and rational people, just like in every community.

I've never seen a motorbike without a knob on it or at least a switch! I think the trouble is that there are too many people trying to use too little countryside. Perhaps we should either ban townies from coming out into it or perhaps expand into say, I don't know, France! Afghanistan and Iraq just seem too far to go really.

 

[Goatboy]

I've never seen a motorbike without a knob on it or at least a switch! I think the trouble is that there are too many people trying to use too little countryside. Perhaps we should either ban townies from coming out into it or perhaps expand into say, I don't know, France! Afghanistan and Iraq just seem too far to go really.

Hey Midnighthound, I said to folk at the end of the Falklands conflict, look the boys are all together and they'll be in the English Channel anyway, How about taking France?

Used to annoy me though when I used to use my landy recreationally. Living up here in Scotland we didn't have your rights of way like down south and it was harder to find a place to play. But I joined a club, we were all responsible and only went on club land and the then annual Forestry Commission Drive. The F.C.Drive took place over two days and the clubs put in a heck of a lot of work preparing and marshalling (and repairing anything that did get damaged on what is public land). So out of those two days of the year you wouldn't believe the amount of times those red-sock, sandal wearing NIMBY's the Ramblers would try to castigate us for two days of the year which we were paying to use the public land. The guys would pull over and turn off engines to let walkers, bikes and horses past and greet them with smiles only for those Ramblin' g***s to have a go. Anyway seething rant over there is space for us all if we're considerate and careful but there will always be edjits who spoil it. We just have to make sure they are a minority and that they are held responsible.

 

[ammo]

People on here are so intolerant and anti social.
I have never rode a motor bike, I do ride a mountain bike quite often.
If you was to ask a member of the public what hobby, would they like to banish from the local woods.

A) People with motorbikes.

B) People with mountain bike's

C) People with knives, saws, axes, often lighting illegal fires, and they sometimes illegally camp.

People who have no interest in any of the above. Would veiw our hobby, as the dangerous nuisance.
There are idiots everywhere, even amongst us.
I don't condone what they do, but i do remember what it's like to be young.

 

[Midnitehound]

Hey Midnighthound, I said to folk at the end of the Falklands conflict, look the boys are all together and they'll be in the English Channel anyway, How about taking France?

Considering they had supplied those Exocet missiles and then supplied the arming codes! Just think of all those excellent cheap military rifles we could have had, never fired, only dropped once! We could have swapped out the SLRs for Long Bows and still taken it, just like last time! I better be quiet now before someone across the water starts throwing merd and raising a cheesy stink!


P.S. And who builds an impregnable defensive line and doesn't finish the end, imagino that?! That is like putting bars on all the windows but leaving the patio doors open! Thank goodness we have a moat.

 

[demographic]

Place I lived at when I was a kid we were allowed to go along the old mine tracks and learn trials riding on the spoilheaps.
No ramblers were hurt during this time.
The hills round that area weren't the picturesque things of the south lakes anyway and we all had somewhere to go. Harmless fun on old Montesas and so on.
Then the very occasional rambler that went up there started to complain, being the type of person who absolutely love to join committees their voice was heard.
Now the local youths don't have anywhere to go other than a motocross track miles away that costs everytime they go. Plus its a right faff to get there.

So these (often retired with masses of spare time) people who don't even live anywhere near the place have more voice than the locals who do live right on the border of the fell.

Now, I understand that the woodlands described may well be a totally different situation from this but I've got to say that I'm seriously unimpressed at all the bedsit Rambos suggesting that neck height wires and ferkin dyneema should be used to stop people, amongst other things, farmers and forestry workers often use bikes and quads to get about.
Plus kids play on pushbikes, you can't stop them from doing it cos thats just what kids do. Can you remember being a kid? In the dim* and distant past?
Just think before you gob off eh?














*I sometimes get the feeling that some peoples past was rather dimmer than others.

 

[Andy BB]

Interesting fact - the Ramblers Association started life as an offshoot of the Communist Party.....................

 

[ebt.]

On 24 April 1932, groups of ramblers left Manchester and Sheffield for an organised trespass onto Kinder Scout, a moorland plateau in what is now the Peak District. There they clashed with gamekeepers sent by local landowners to keep people off their land. The clashes were violent and several of the ramblers were arrested and imprisoned, but over the following days and weeks much larger trespasses were held and public opinion started to sway in the trespassers’ favour.

Today, it’s possible to trace the Kinder Scout trespass as the start of an access movement that saw the establishment of National Parks, long distance footpaths including National Trails and finally, the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 which granted unrestricted access to 10,000 square kilometres of countryside in England and Wales.

Link to source

Not adding this to inflame anything, just wryly observing the irony

 

[SJStuart]

Now, I'm not advocating criminal activity here... but... piano wire strung from trees either side of the trail at the right height... suddenly the problem starts to go away!

Just saying...

To be "real" for a moment, though, what needs to happen is that the councils need to provide them with allocated places to be reckless idiots... where only other reckless idiots stand to be injured.

I personally have been hit by a c**t on a crosser... in Thetford forest. And no, he wasn't some teenage yob... he was an adult yob (at least 30 years old) with a group of equally-manchild yobs behind him. No apology, no "are you okay"... just a "watch where you're walking, *****" and off they rode with their numberplates covered in electrical tape. Meanwhile, I had a broken leg and a long way to hobble to get help.
Did the police do anything? Nope! Did the manchild yobs who assaulted me get punished? Nope! Would I urinate on any of them if they were on fire? Nope!

Personally, I'd rather they all be shot like poachers... but since this country demonizes those who try to protect themselves and their property, that's never going to happen.

Around my parts, the situation got bad enough that a local farmer stripped out a section of one of his woodlands and allowed "by your own liability" access to the crosser nutjobs (by which I mean he simply turns a blind eye and doesn't acknowledge their presence). Now they have somewhere to go that's "just for them" where the only people at risk are themselves.
Also, to the crosser nutjobs' collective credit, they do actually maintain it quite well... probably because they've come to realize that if they don't it'll simply disappear.

So, yes, give the crosser nutjobs a place to go that's "just for them"... then I think we're all well within our rights to have them strung up when they start tearing up the public places.

 

[Macaroon]

There's a whole bunch of people here who've got completely the wrong end of the stick on this one; it's surely an inalienable right in this country to WALK ON YOUR OWN TWO LEGS on public access land without let or hindrance? There is no mention of banning motorbikes or demonising any particular group EXCEPT THOSE THAT CAUSE DAMAGE AND DANGER, however they do it. We all know that some ramblers/walkers/bushcrafters do what they shouldn't and cause a nuisance which is wrong, but that's a whole different scuttle of coal to 40 or more bikers really wrecking the place; after half an hour of it the woodland looks like a moonscape, really terrible damage which will be there for a long time to come.

Some of the respondants to the thread are not reading what was written but are hearing what they want to hear. I'm the most "live and let live" person you'll find, and I remember very well being a young'un with nowhere to go and nothing to do, but that's not the issue here - it's massive and ugly damage and real danger to other people..............

And an important point: Most of the people concerned in this area, and I believe elsewhere, are a long way from being teenagers - most seem to be between 30 and 50 yrs. old, and are extremely aggressive.

I'm out of this now............................

 

[Midnitehound]

Interesting fact - the Ramblers Association started life as an offshoot of the Communist Party.....................

LOL, I was wondering why they were wandering with red handkerchiefs, flippin Commies!

 

[Midnitehound]

Now, I understand that the woodlands described may well be a totally different situation from this but I've got to say that I'm seriously unimpressed at all the bedsit Rambos suggesting that neck height wires and ferkin dyneema should be used to stop people, amongst other things, farmers and forestry workers often use bikes and quads to get about.

"Seriously unimpressed"? Seriously? You really think anyone is seriously going to waste good Dyneema on these clowns? Now piano wire, I like your thinking SJStuart! okenest:

And for all the fun sponges and those that have donated their sense of humour to charity, you are having a laugh right? I doubt anyone here would seriously go out of their way to cause injury to the inconsiderate blighters even if they did break their leg, well perhaps SJS would but we can always report him to Homeland Security for re-education in a FEMA camp Stalag 13.

And as far as Inalienable Rights and Common Law are concerned, we can walk or even ride freely on common land as long as we aren't causing harm, loss or damage. It is a pity we operate under the Law of the Sea now and we no longer have Common Law (Law of the Land) courts to deal with those that cause damage. From what has been said before, what we really need is more clay shoots and of course shovels and soft ground. For the greater goood!

 

[daveO]

Illegal off-road biking is a serious problem in South-east Wales. There are hillsides churned up, woodlands wrecked,

Ugh tell me about it All we get on the weekend is non-stop scrambler engine noise echoing around the valley. One guy even pulls wheelies up and down my street while kids are out playing. I doubt the police will do anything until someone gets killed...