[Closed] Pic from the top of Moss Road, Blacka Moor

Would be a nice view if it wasn't for the 2 bikes and the fence

did you ride down pipers gate? I hear worrying talk about trail repairs on that descent and also the one the ends in the water splash. Did you see any changes?

Yup the Pipers Gate BW is now a steamrollered motorway. One to the N of it isn't touched though.

Grass needs cutting
Fence could do with some creosote

http://www.ridesheffield.org.uk/2012/09/blacka-moor-planned-maintainence/

It's not completley steamrollered.

The worst (i.e. best) of the gully is filled in. There's still the rocky bit leading down to the gate. The drop itself after the gate is also smoothed over then after that the waterbars are now (rather abrupt) kickers.

Horses were finding it difficult to get up and to be fair, it is a bridleway, hence the change.

It's a compromise with both bikes and horses in mind. In the past the whole lot would just have been levelled so it is progress.

"Lenny Hill Bridleway @ Blacka Moor - for clarity, this is the Bridleway that goes up the hill, alongside the drop into the Blacka Dyke, across the stepping stones from close to the bottom of the Devils Elbow and Piper House Bridleways.
We will be filling in the steps towards the bottom of the slope and covering over the clay areas that are almost constantly muddy with crushed gritstone"

no more steps to fly off!? gutting. It seems a real shame that the designation of bridleway which allows us to ride these trails is what ends up making them boring when maintained.

In some sort of fantasy state it would have been great to see Devil's elbow levelled and maintained but bikes banned from it, and pipers gate augmented with some kickers and tabletops and horses and people banned from it. Then we would all have been happy.

I guess multi-use trails have to be a compromise though

In some sort of fantasy state it would have been great to see Devil's elbow levelled and maintained but bikes banned from it, and pipers gate augmented with some kickers and tabletops and horses and people banned from it. Then we would all have been happy.

I wouldn't be - I want variety and Blacka gives you that. Sometimes I feel like riding down Piper House, sometimes Devils Elbow and sometimes Lenny Hill. And I like to be able to ride up them - OK never tried going up Piper House, but most of Devils Elbow is rideable for me when it's reasonably dry. And there's a difference between what you want on a summer evening and snowy night-ride

The wet weather this year has clearly been causing problems, particulary with lots of horse riding going on, and Lenny Henry had become very rutted, particularly by the steps. So maybe getting rid of them will help. Yep Piper House has been made easier, but it's still quite challenging and no doubt will become more so as time passes.

But, as you say, these are multi-use trails, so need to be riden with caution and respect. There may be a walker or a horse just round the corner - or even a biker who's hit a patch of mud and gone sideways