Dartmoor.

[Silverclaws2]

Instant gratification and a sense of entitlement are the issues: the Next/John Lewis/Sunday retail park consumer crowd found a new love for nature throughout the lockdowns, that love lead to them getting their slice of nature and leaving a trail of damage and shite that someone else would be “along soon to tidy up for them”......
Thank goodness the retail parks are reopened and that consumption can continue where it belongs.

Silverclaws2 is correct of course, but how to have respect for these people?

Tricky question, but I have always been of the mind that we should treat folk how we would like to be treated ourselves and unless we ' own' a venue others have just as much right to use a venue as we ourselves do and if we get annoyed at them for being what they are, do we ever question do they get annoyed at us for snarling at them and their ways, for it could be this ' mutual annoyance ' is part and parcel of the land getting the brunt of it - just to annoy the opposition

So who get's to police these countryside spaces we're all fighting over, why those of whom's actual job it is, where for sure a title in a uniform carries more authority than any other presentation, where it is possible miscreants might take more notice of a title in a uniform to potentially be better educated to amend their ways or if not, they can be more forcefully dealt with, and the rest of us ' users ' perhaps we can just accept a live and let live ethos and let authority deal with the offenders.

 

[ScottE]

My neighbours garden is largely my neighbours concern but I’d do or say something if someone else was mistreating it.
And.
Respuctuflness is difficult to teach if the formative years are filled with disrespect.

 

[demographic]

>whistles innocently <

 

[Spirit fish]

It's important not to 'tar with the same brush'. It is truly heart breaking to see the damage done by off roading vehicles I agree, but it's perfectly possible to venture into the wilds in a 4x4 without leaving any trace. What causes damage are people who see the off-road activity as a challenge and will do so despite the conditions.

There are hundreds of thousands of miles of pedestrian only footpaths in the UK as well as thousands of miles of bridleways - there are relatively few un-surface roads where vehicles are allowed yet, because walkers want to walk them, there is pressure to close them to 4x4s. Unfortunately, those of us that travers them with care and respect for the environment are tarred with the same brush as the yobs that go out and trash the lanes and drive over ancient sites etc.

I have taken people who thought they would never be able to enjoy 'wilderness' again out on green lanes and they have been thrilled and delighted - it is possible to do it responsibly.

The scramblers and the quad bikers are the worst