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went down today.
Someone has picked out all the best rocky sections and sanitised the whole downhill.
who would do such a thing?
I’m pissed off to say the least.
Yeah trails are used by a variety of users. They wear down and become rough, difficult to walk on for humans and horses but great fun on a bike. So, every now few years they repair them to allow access to all.
OP. Which trail are you referring to?
The climb from Nibthwaite up to Parkamoor from the south or
The descent from Parkamoor east to Satterthwaite?
Kankuu the 4x4 johnnies did it four or five years ago. Crap innit.
I'm confused, I thought parkamoor was that semi sport where you throw yourself off a concrete abomination whilst attempting a summersault without ending up in hospital. I'll Google it
Parkamoor has an off-grid house half way up it - I think it's an Airbnb or something now. The only way to it is to park at the bottom (High Nibthwaite) then the farmer / landowner takes you to the house in a 4x4 for your stay. So that track, from the bottom up to the house, is definitely in regular use plus the Kankku lot use it all the bloody time.
The rest of it, from the house up and over to Grizedale where it comes into the forest at Heald Brow should just be normal bridleway. A lot of that bit on the western edge of the forest was closed / blocked for a long time after one of the big storms and certainly most of it was singletrack, not accessible to any vehicle (which is part of the reason it was blocked for so long).
It’s the downhill to nibthwaite from low parkamoor. It was done (spoiled) some time ago, but it’s been redone and further spoiled in the last month.
The trail is a dead end for motorised vehicles so hacking out bedrock it is pretty pointless in my view. Kankku have created the damage by letting inexperienced muppets pay to drive their 4x4s badly up the trail. I ride it regularly and have never seen a horse have any difficulty.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooo.
It’s the downhill to nibthwaite from low parkamoor
Thanks. I like that up, but it's surely been years since it was anything worth doing down....< Edit: soz, realised you did indeed say that>
Shame if it's got even easier.
WTF? It was in perfectly good shape for 4x4 access to Low Parkamoor after the last round of sanitisation. Would have thought that ****ku would have preferred it in more 'challenging' condition for their little tours.
Thanks. I like that up, but it’s surely been years since it was anything worth doing down….< Edit: soz, realised you did indeed say that>
I'm trying to remember dates but remember it being a fun descent, then being smoothed out gravel. I was planning to ride down it in September but broke myself before we did that ride. I'm pretty sure I did it in the last 2 years and it had become 'some' fun again - enough that we were going to revisit.
There are a few patches of it which are getting a bit rougher, but the things that made it great for us, basically the bedrock sections at the top and halfway down, are still buried.
It's been done to provide better access for farmers. It's a pity because this was the first descent of the classic tour of Coniston. Wait until you see the the destruction of the Colthouse descent from Caife heights to Hawkshead, disgusting vandalism.
Wait until you see the the destruction of the Colthouse descent from Caife heights to Hawkshead,
Oh FFS. Last year it was all being logged at the top and was pretty impassable but the lower rocky section was still good. Have they gravelled the lot? I don't think we tried this year (asked someone who said they were still logging)
So, let me get this clear in my head. I may be wrong but it seems from the above comments that legitimate landowners/ users have made the surface more suitable for their needs. The cheek of it!
Oh FFS. Last year it was all being logged at the top and was pretty impassable but the lower rocky section was still good. Have they gravelled the lot? I don’t think we tried this year (asked someone who said they were still logging)
Yes, totally flattened and gravelled down to the penultimate gate. It's awful. Not worth the climb to descend.
The paths are multiuse not MTB tracks. Erosion happens, they have to be repaired, it will erode again
Its totally unreasonable to expect paths to be left washed out for MTBers to the detriment of all other users
Came down that earlier this year as part of the Jennride on a loaded rigid 29er (as did everyone else!), was my first time down that, it was excellent. Shame they've changed it
Any suggestions for colthouse alternatives, roughly Sawry / Claife / Hawkshead?
Kings arms open yet?
From Near Sawrey, up past the tarns, straight over into Belle Grange descent, round to High Wray, up past the Scout place to where the Colthouse descent starts, then down right, over and down Latterbarrow? Might be a bit mucky up the top, though.
Just seen this youtube video, Colthouse descent is gone completely (8.12), and they are screwing around in a half-assed way with the Devil's Gallop/Hole in the Wall as well (25.40)
Colthouse. Wow. ‘The grass will grow back”.
Crikey devils gallop too! By the looks of the video I'd say they're going to carry on down it right to the end so the whole run will be ruined. Shame I like both colthouse and devils gallop.
Who's paying for this to be done?
Answer for the wide bit at least -
landowner had an order to fell trees, made a mess of the bridleway with machinery, had to repair it.
Went down it when they were felling and it was an utter mess. Axle deep mud in places. Was obvious then it was never going to be the same.
I am astounded at the entitlement some people are showing here. Can someone please explain to me what has been done wrong.
Is it an access track to an area being felled? If so, how is the timber to be extracted? If (the logging) vehicles have damaged the track it seems reasonable for it to be made good. Good for whom is perhaps the discussion here. What is good for MTB fun is probably very different to what is good for the landowner. Are there rules/ standards/ guidelines for the construction of tracks such as this? I don't know, but I do think that just because a track has been made more useable by the owner/ tenant/ whoever so that it is appropriate for the traffic being put over it doesn't mean that we should be surprised and look upon it as almost a removal/ denial of our previous level of fun.
Yes, the LDNP is a UNESCO World Heritage Site but it is most definitely not a theme park, it is a place of work for many. Always has been, and hopefully always will be.
Out of interest, what do you think would be the best solution for the reinstatement of this track?
The track appears to have been built AFTER the logging had been done so it’s not clear what ongoing accesss is needed (especially since it narrows considerably on the final section to the road).
it wasn’t a gravelled fire road before. Not clear why it would need to be now
Clearly they've been told to restore the BW after the pretty much impassable state they left it in, and this is the only method they know.
The only thing I can think for the Devil's Gallop thing is that someone took the horsey reference seriously, and decided the rock drops by the wall were a bit too treacherous for pony club. The method of repair is questionable, given the amount of water that rolls down the thing every winter (which is why it was washed out to bedrock there anyway).
I don't think it's particularly 'entitled' to think losing one excellent descent permanently, and another for a couple of years is a bit of a shame. The thread does serve to warn people not to bother pedalling up to either.
The Parkamoor thing is slightly mysterious, as it was perfectly passable by 4x4 to gain access to the cottage at Low Parkamoor after the previous round of infilling.
Last time I rode Devil's Gallop, it was all very much deep in the trees! I didn't recognise the trail in the footage, I'd not have known it without the reference to the trail and the timeslot in the video.
That little left right through the wall was always super tricky (at least that's how I remember it!)
Postierich had it done to make it easier for us older gravel mincers to pedal up it on loaded up Jennride bikes.
This is a world heritage site, not apiece of agro-industry
You are aware that the WHS inscription is for the agri-pastoral landscape and all that goes with it? So exactly this...
Sounds like a typical restoration job following timber extraction. It'll weather in, because they'll have done it cheaply to discharge whatever condition they have to play with.
They probably had to fell the trees because the trees were diseased, maybe if a few more cyclists and walkers had cleaned there bikes between rides it might not have beeen need?