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Found this lovely little item lurking in a muddy puddle earlier today:
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It's nearly a foot long, and has 12 4" nails driven into it. It was sat in a water-filled rut on a public bridleway, thus:
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I removed the offending item and it has been reported to the local constabulary, who are sufficiently interested to want to collect it for further investigation. For those local to Holmfirth, I found it [url= https://is.gd/H8tXXZ ]here[/url], in the quarries above Hade Edge. If anyone rides through there and finds something similar please call 101 and let the authorities know.
Chatting with a mate who lives just down the road, we reckon if it's not some anti-MTB loony then it could be some misguided local motivated by a desire to thwart the green-laners and MXers who use the quarries for playing around in. Whatever, it's really bloody stupid. It's one thing causing punctures in tyres, which are a pain in the arse. But if a horse stepped on that thing it'd be horrible. Or a kid splashing through puddles. I don't understand some people, really I don't.
Imagine if you fell off onto that. Could easily damage an artery / nerve and send you to the hospital, or worse....
100% deserves a prison term if culprit could ever be found.
at my local bridleways trees are always being pushed onto the tracks. It's really annoying (much less dangerous than your finding) but I think it's because there's always people with motorbikes messing around up there. I think mountain bikers get caught up in it unfortunately. Doesn't remotely excuse things, definitely deserve a custodial sentence and I can only hope the police somehow figure out who did it and prosecute those responsible.
That's bad.
minti - thank you for publicising, myself, 'miss4real' and her friends often ride through there. In fact my last ride in the area went through there. And I think Jacqui was up there this week 😯
Tom, can't believe that pal, absolute lunatic's to think of it and place it, really need to be on our guard riding the local trails
Yeah this is the worst I've seen personally. Logs and deliberately placed rocks are common enough in a few spots, and there's the odd mardy type who deliberately gets in the way, but I've not really encountered any full on psycho stuff like this before.
I'd definitely keep an eye out if you're in the area, and don't go bunnyhopping into any puddles blind. I'd be completely not-surprised if there's a load more of these things lurking under muddy water thereabouts. 🙁
But if a horse stepped on that thing it'd be horrible.
Yes solar penetration can lead to infection of the tendon, tendon sheath or joints in the foot. Surgery costs several thousand with a poor prognosis in many cases (gun time).
I'd contact the British Horse Society's bridleway team access@bhs.org.uk as they're quite the lobbyists so will keep onto the police to investigate, so all will benefit.
Awful!
Found 200-odd 1"riding tacks on a Chopwell trail a couple of Thursdays ago. Multi use trail again.
****s.
Keep us posted if you get any updates from the old bill please OP.
Keep us posted if you get any updates from the old bill please OP.
Of course, will do.
I'd contact the British Horse Society's bridleway team access@bhs.org.uk as they're quite the lobbyists so will keep onto the police to investigate, so all will benefit.
I shall drop them a line forthwith, thanks for the suggestion.
****ing idiot needs a good kicking I'm glad I've never seen horses on their, but ridden through many times. is it the central bridleway or the one on the edge overlooking the reservoir as I usually stick to the edge.
Lot of dogs and walkers on that stretch, not noticed any motorbikes or 4wd on that track which I'd say is the intended target rather than mtbs
How could someone sleep at night after putting that there?
The lack of morality and conscience is actually really, really worrying.
Dangerous person.
is it the central bridleway
Yeah, the central bridleway. I was just bimbling along the main track feeling a bit knackered, although I do like to ride the singletrack along the bottom of the quarry normally. Link to the exact spot on Google maps [url= https://is.gd/eEEvqj ]here[/url].
[i]Yes solar penetration can lead to infection of the tendon, tendon sheath or joints in the foot. Surgery costs several thousand with a poor prognosis in many cases (gun time).[/i]
It can cost thousands just to find out what's wrong with the horse...Ours went lame it took multiple X-rays, nerve blocks and then a bone scan to work out she'd broken the Pedal bone (pron. Peedal) in the hoof. Will never know the cause for sure, but she had stepped on a small nail a couple of weeks previously, which may have fractured the bone and subsequently broken. Luckily most of the treatment was rest, so not too expensive once it was diagnosed.
And the annoying thing is we encourage ours to splash through puddles as you don't want them trying to avoid water when competing!
@mintimperial I've added your blog link to the Peak District facebook group quite a few guys around the Holme valley ride those peaks too
Might be worth emailing the examiner save us from another week of the drug dealer getting shot newspiece
Thanks Mintimperial. We ride up there loads so will keep our eyes peeled.
Might be worth emailing the examiner save us from another week of the drug dealer getting shot newspiece
Nooo - two reasons
1. Too many numskulls around here will think it's a good idea and copy it.
2. The examiner will make you stand up there in order to take a photo of you holding the offending item whilst making a Karen Matthews face.
Well, the Police haven't been for it yet, but knowing how few of them there are around our way, that's not a surprise, I'm sure they'll be along soon.
My wife posted a picture of the wooden block on a residents page on Facebook, for the immediate area to try and alert some of the others in the village who ride or walk through the area, and was asked by one of the admin lot to repost it on a Holmfirth-wide page, which she did. 73 comments and 1 hour later the post was locked because it had turned into a fight, with some people suggesting that "it is life", and everybody should just, pretty much, shut up and deal with it - if you're going to venture away from the tarmac, then you should just accept this kind of thing! Somebody even questioned what Tom, the OP, was doing looking in puddles for things, and suggesting he stick to the roads in future!
Fortunately, links like whatya's have spread the word pretty well it seems - the dog walker we use has posted about it, so that's an awful lot more people getting to hear about it.
I do despair at what some people get up to at times.
...a quick edit..
I do think it is probably aimed at the 4x4 crowd, as they have been busy round our way recently. The cheeky bike trails that (used to) exist in the woods on the other side of the road have never been targeted in this way to the best of my knowledge, which makes me think it's probably not cyclists that they are after.
That area is well used by various types including horses. Given how few houses there are so close to the bridleway and the old quarry workings I'm sure the nob involved will be around to check on their handy work. I can understand why someone would be a bit pissed about some of the users of the quarries, there has been an increase in damage due to vehicle and motorbike use over the years. I'd suggest that not many are really local though.
one of the admin lot to repost it on a Holmfirth-wide page, which she did. 73 comments and 1 hour later the post was locked because it had turned into a fight, with some people suggesting that "it is life", and everybody should just, pretty much, shut up and deal with it - if you're going to venture away from the tarmac, then you should just accept this kind of thing!
I've lived in the Holme Valley for yonks but I must've missed the Hunger Games proclamation (Friday night in the 80s-90s excepted)
Obviously it'll be hard to relate to the melon that's done this but I really don't get what satisfaction they'd get from such a booby trap.. It's not as if they'll know if they scuppered the day for any mx'ers or 4x4's so what are they actually thinking they achieve?
Really weird
73 comments and 1 hour later the post was locked because it had turned into a fight, with some people suggesting that "it is life", and everybody should just, pretty much, shut up and deal with it - if you're going to venture away from the tarmac, then you should just accept this kind of thing!
It was a pretty funny read, that. Thanks for posting it up and saving me the grief. The FB Holmfirth Community Group has been pretty much a free-for-all for bigots and idiots for as long as I've known it. I was quite pleasantly surprised that there weren't more imbeciles posting up than there were, and that it got shut down by the admins when the morons really kicked off.
You should see some of the comment threads about dog mess, bloody hell, some people really have very empty lives... 😯
@whatyadoinsucka, I ain't talking to the Examiner about this for precisely the reasons scuttler gives. I have now reported it to the BHA and the PDNPA too, though, so hopefully all the relevant people are aware.
what are they actually thinking they achieve?
Who knows? It's pretty clear that thinking isn't exactly their strong point...
I use this trail all the time in summer as I sail at Winscar and I grew up in Holmfirth. There are horse riders up there a lot, in fact that fella that dresses as a cowboy does guided rides around there. I think my mum ends up there sometimes on her horse too. That'd be a hell of a fix if a horse trod on it.
yeah the woods and reservoirs have always been spot on, although the 4wd were really ripping up the ground near the holmemoss/holme village road.
i took a hit in my local woods mirfield golf course, a couple of summers ago, some idiot had put a fallen tree across the fast downhill bridleway at chest height. live and learn
even on the (lets say) more cheeky routes, i've never had any issues around these parts.
ps. i dont balme you MI i'd avoid the examienr thinking about it.
It was a pretty funny read, that. Thanks for posting it up and saving me the grief. The FB Holmfirth Community Group has been pretty much a free-for-all for bigots and idiots for as long as I've known it. I was quite pleasantly surprised that there weren't more imbeciles posting up than there were, and that it got shut down by the admins when the morons really kicked off.You should see some of the comment threads about dog mess, bloody hell, some people really have very empty lives...
On an aside, I had to remove myself from the "Holmfirth Community Group" for exactly this reason - it's full of mindless, bigoted keyboard warriors and frankly I found it incredibly depressing... in complete contrast to the friendly nature of the area itself. Just shows how the "vocal few" can easily dominate the conversation.
As regards the booby trap - completely agree it's disgusting behaviour, but almost certain it must be there to target the 4x4 crowd. A very unfortunate reaction to a wider problem - 4x4s are doing some serious damage to the countryside around here. No regard for the legality of where they actually drive and there tearing up the landscape and causing serious damage for a few minutes of fun. As above, I'm sure this is only a small minority of 4x4ers who are giving the rest of their brethren a bad name. However there are ways and means to deal with the issue and this ain't one of them. Very sad.
Any scope for using the evidence of such anti-4x4 vigilantes' exploits towards pressuring council into putting up bollards or other means of restricting access that wouldn't affect other users? I guess MX riders are hard to stop but it might be a start?
I dunno. It's a big old site with no proper boundary fences or walls so would be very expensive to cordon off properly, and I don't think the 4x4s/MXer are so serious a problem themselves that it merits spending money on it, current economic climate blah blah etc.
The Examiner are now trying to contact me, ugh, might have to talk to them after all. Maybe a strongly worded general bollocking statement from the police will stop people doing similar things. I refuse point blank to have my photo taken holding a manky bit of wood looking grumpy though.
Get practising MI!
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Heh. The resemblance is uncanny... 🙂
Going down "bare bones drop" last week there was an electric cable across the track. Had to either duck under or go round it. Did wonder at the time if it had been placed there intentionally. It is on the track opposite the quarry bridleway heading down to Hade Edge. Just got me wondering now!!
If I'm thinking of the right place, then that's where the 4x4 lot have been especially busy. It's also a well used track.
😯 Wtf?!?!
Unbelievable, I'm doing most of my riding at night wouldn't stand a chance
"bare bones drop"
Is this the landrover track down to Hade Edge or the singletrack running parallel to it? 4x4s have been trashing that bit of land between the two about half way up/down and anyone who's peeved at activity in the quarry will surely be aware of that area too.
It was on the singletrack running parallel to it. It may have just been a cable down from the pole,but it is dangerous if people are unaware its there,especially at night.
You're in
http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/spiked-board-hidden-puddle-public-12557275
And on the Beeb
[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-38883390 ]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-38883390[/url]
Yeesh.
Thanks for the updates folks. Been away for a couple of days dealing with a fairly unpleasant family thing, so only just seen this (and the various messages from journalists on FB and Twitter). For the record, the police haven't picked up the spikey board thing and I've not heard that they've taken any other action.