You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
It's a bank holiday, I live in the peaks but can't be arsed getting on the bike to ride the trails as I know it will be full of walkers, horse riders and dogs.
It's fair enough trails are for everyone, and in all honesty we bike riders were the last ones to the party.... it's mostly the dogs not on leads which are the issue. Fed up of being chased by dogs not on leads or coming to a complete stop as there is a dog running all over the trails.
As a side note, and not a complaint: When I moved here I was taken aback by the number of horses on the bridleways! I do like seeing them on the bridleways and being used for their intended purpose. I just never expected the numbers - I did a 10 mile ride last week - 21 horses in total.
Ride early or ride late.
I set off for a ride at 8.30am yesterday for a ride traversing Derwent/Ladybower valley, 25 miles the only people I saw were the usual waddlers around Fairholmes (necessary evil to ride through it). The tops were empty of people.
I think if you did the usual "MBR" route type stuff you'd encounter more people, but theres so much better stuff that people don't tend to ride/walk.
As a rule, ride early.
Ride early or ride late.
Yep, I am always out before 08:00 all year round. Very rarely see people even on Bank Holiday weekends such as now.
I feel your pain OP, I have vastly cut back on my cycling due to the hugely increased number of dogs and their owners. Unfortunately walking is little better.
You need to move to Surrey. Anywhere away from a carpark is empty.
When I moved here I was taken aback by the number of horses on the bridleways!
Where did you move from? When checking out the area, did you not notice all the stables and horses?
Weekday evening rides were always the best when I lived down there… when meeting horse riders always resulted in "aren't we lucky here" smile and hellos. At weekends it's best to leave the well known stuff to the tourists (which I'm now one of).
Ride early.
When I lived in Lancaster I'd often go up to the Lakes really early (like 4am) on summer weekdays when I was off shift. Park up, ride more or less whatever I wanted (including footpaths...) and be finished by 8.30.
Clean up and be at the cafe at 9am for breakfast.
I've done similar in the Peaks; there's a really nice footpath local to me that is only rideable after sustained dry weather and certainly not during a bank holiday weekend but if you can get onto it at 6am, it's a brilliant ride!
Really? I ride in the Dark Peak loads and apart from a day when we meet a horse event, can count the number of horses I've come across on both hands.
I went out on the South Downs Way yesterday and it was very busy especially around Ditchling Beacon and Devils Dyke. It did mean slowing down and sharing the space with everyone else but on the other hand a lot of gates were held open for me. You just have to accept it won't be the same as riding on the 99% of days when no one's around.
I love the horse riders, more power to them, there would be nowhere for use to ride without them. Always stop to chat and open gates for them.
I guess my main issue is im on the fringes of the peaks, my access routes include canals and well trodden trails. I'm also a lazy sod so getting up early is a rarity. I've done a few evening rides, however on said access routes kids like to congregate (as the police can't get out there). I had an incident where a pack of feral kids demanded I hand over my bike once.
I hit the trails in winter more, no a soul to be seen on a rainy cold day. End up heading out to bike parks in the summer.
Love walkers, love horses, love dogs... don't love dogs not on leads.
Rode up Longstone recently and Chatsworth. Barely saw anyone last couple of weekends.
Hot bank holidays aren't really a regular problem.
Go to bed early the night before and get up early, simple really.
Easter Saturday and sunny here, so knew the NIMBY dog walkers would be out in force, so I was riding by 7-30am, done by 10-45am and the whole day still ahead. Lovely.
I was proved right as the number of sour-faced gammons was reaching critical mass just as I was finishing.
I'm in Millvale over the weekend, it is rammed.
There's too many dugs now.
I live in Hebden Bridge, by now (midday) the CPs will be rammed and there will be walkers, kids, dogs, horses, cars , you name it, all over the shop, at 09.30 this morning though I had a chat with a woman I often see riding her horse, and a dad and his young son pushing up a hill on their bikes, and that was it...
Maybe just slow down smile and say hello?
I've no problem with horses and their riders. They are invariably friendly and thankful if I hold a gate open for them. Gates also have better opening facilities on regular horsey trails.
And don't get me started about jodhpurs and boots!!!
Maybe stop doing laps of the carpark and venture out a bit further! 😆 walkers are generally limited in how far they'll go!
Canny beat jodhpurs and boots... 😗
Canny beat jodhpurs and boots…
I thought that's what whips were for!!!
It all depends where you go. The only really appallingly busy trail I can think of on Bank Holidays and the like is the paved stretch between Mam Tor and Hollins Cross plus the obvious converted railway trails and roadside tracks - Ladybower for example - which get understandably rammed with families. Get more than about ten minutes from the carparks and it all quietens down nicely. Maybe you're choosing the wrong trails.
I'm not saying there aren't walkers on other tracks, but as above, slow down, be considerate, smile and carry on. I can't remember having a genuine issue with a dog, bar having to occasionally slow down and equestrians seem generally polite and considerate - mostly I just stop and wait for them to go past if they're oncoming or say hello and ask if it's okay to pass if they're going in the same direction.
I live on the Manchester side of the Peak and honestly, some of my best days have been all-day meanders from door on a BH weekend, out into the central Peak then back. Sure, you meet the odd walker, but I've never found it a big deal.
ride early or ride late.
Or ride cheeky...
We're are own worst enemy sometimes.
I got moaned at by an e-biker at Swinley yesterday! Ok so I was having a bimble on the CX bike, but the place was heaving with families ranging from kids who could shame the grown ups to those that could barely ride a bike! Definitely not the day to be trying to beat your strava times, although ironically I did on a couple of flatter sections!
I've been out local, looks like there's been a huge purge on removing bikers from one area, signs up and some nasty trail features added to the lines. Came across a few bikers/walkers and had a nice chat with all of them, non were concerned about eithers presence.
The run back on the canal was hellish though, with the usual we will walk side by side crew, I just laugh it off nowadays. I was late out so I have no one else to blame.
Came round a corner today and the trail was full of Alpacas.
East Devon here...30 mile ride today and apart from a couple of short road sections with cars (obvs!), I saw 1 other cyclist, 2 horses, and passed a grand total of 3 walkers.
That's quiet even by the standards of round here!
Quietest ride I ever went on was the evening of an England match in the last WC. 0 other trail users and 3 cars in 20 miles!
What was the question/problem again?
What was the question/problem again?
OP is irresistible to dogs, I think.
OP is irresistible to dogs, I think.
Dogs bloody love me, love chasing me. We went for a hike this afternoon... owner with 4 dogs, non on leads despite signage it was calving season and that dogs should be on leads. Saw said owner panicking 10 minutes later as 2 quads, green laneing, had spooked them. They'd run off.
The day lady Di got buried was fantastic. Nice dry trails and not a soul on them.
The day lady Di got buried was fantastic. Nice dry trails and not a soul on them.
Hahahaha every cloud aye 😉
Maybe try to change what you consider to be a trail, I only think of a trail as a track that does not normally get used for any other traffic than bikes. A bridal path I expect to have to stop and or give way to other users, no matter how idiotic they seem.
Find some quiet woods and "improve" some animal tracks...
A bridal path I expect to have to stop and or give way to other users
Like a wedding party?
I live on the Chatsworth estate (but not in the big house), so there are a few visitors pass through.....
Did a from my back door ride 6pm last night Beeley moor side, coming back via Youlgreave/ Bakewell way, and this morning at 7am heading out Hassop way coming back over Curber edge and up through the estate. There were a few walker's out on both rides, and the car's were starting to back up to Chatsworth on my way back in this morning. I have kid snizzle and work shifts, so I'm used to having to get up early to get the ride's in. But it's that, or don't ride as much. No brainer to me, riding make's me glad to be alive. I could find dozens of reason's not to bother, but sod that.
Plus I tend to find the early and late doors walker's are a lot more friendly than the 9 to 5'ers.
Dogs bloody love me, love chasing me. We went for a hike this afternoon… owner with 4 dogs, non on leads despite signage it was calving season and that dogs should be on leads. Saw said owner panicking 10 minutes later as 2 quads, green laneing, had spooked them. They’d run off.
Shame...
Had one the other day. Knew there would be trouble as I passed and then heard the owner bleating 'fenton, fenton!' or whatever. And there it was, enjoying the chase and nipping at my ankles. It was a fast bit so I slowed up just enough to keep it interested and kept going for about half a mile.
Gave the owner a bit of extra exercise and food for thought, hopefully.
The day lady Di got buried was fantastic. Nice dry trails and not a soul on them.
Yes. I remember it well. I was wishing they could bury her every weekend.
The downside was the day she died. I got up at 4AM and drove all across the country for 25m time trial starting at 8AM. When I got there they had cancelled it "As a mark of respect". I never did like the woman and liked her even less after that.
and liked her even less after that.
Liking someone less after they are dead? Stay classy!
I did the Guild Wheel in Preston yesterday. For me it's not the quantity of muggles, it's the fact that half of them seem to be brain dead. It surely must take special effort to take up the entire width of a twelve-foot wide fire road. I'm giving serious consideration to backing up my bell with an air horn.
... I also fell off twice, and feel today like I've been repeatedly kicked up the arse, but that's another story.
I live in the peaks - hope valley.
Out by 07.30, Hope > Edale > Mam Nick > Bradwell > loop round Derwent and the Ladyboy and back.
The run home was a wash with walkers but that’s par for the course. I’m a walker sometimes. In short, try getting away early and finish up by 10am at the latest.
Much of the winter none of this is a problem to be honest.
For me it’s not the quantity of muggles, it’s the fact that half of them seem to be brain dead.
Give me a herd of dozy sheep in my way over a pack of elderly ramblers any time. The former are predictable and easy to get moving, whereas the zombie-folk of a guided walk seem barely sentient.
You need to move to Surrey. Anywhere away from a carpark is empty.
Ain't that the truth.
Rode a bridleway into the peaslake area in the morning, used the same bridleway on the way out and went past a group of Walkers. Said hello, not a reply, then further down the bridleway were a series of logs and branches placed across it. The group I was with had fun bunny hopping or smashing through them.
No horses around, but loads of kids on bikes with parents along the 22.
I’m giving serious consideration to backing up my bell with an air horn.
I did that. Made no difference at all. My horn had two settings. One was an alarm and they always thought it was a car or house - even though there were none nearby - so they ignored it because it was nothing to do with them.
The other setting was like a car horn and they ignored that because they believed that no car would ever run them down from behind.
I went back to a bell. They do seem to take more notice of that, although some are just plain brain dead. They do like to shout that bikes should have bells. It's a very smug feeling telling them that I've been ringing it and they should go and get their ears tested!!!
And don't get me started on joggers, especially the female ones who seem the worst, with earphones in blocking out all sounds.
Be careful where you park too, plenty of sticky yellow idiot tax envelopes on cars parked on a bend near the Yorkshire Bridge Inn, Ladybower yesterday. Nearly had a head-on in the car, because apparently you don't need to wait for oncoming traffic when the obstruction is on your side of the road.
I was only out strolling , and it's great people watching when the weather brings out the entitled. I'd like there to be a points system for parking and access if you've supported the local economy on days other than sunny and dry bank holidays.
There’s only one shocking revelation for me on this thread - people who live there still call it The Peaks.
Dogs are handy when it gets to afternoon and people get grumpy. Talk to the dog and it seems to disarm the owner from the anti bike rant they were about to make and often they become friendly.
I do stop a lot for dogs if they look like they're going to be all over the place or chase. I like greeting them and the dogs like a bit of fuss. Though yes it does slow the ride down. If I need a quick ride though it'll be at a time or a place where there is no one about.
Has anyone else ever licked a dog? Minging isn't it.
I am not so much of a horse fan 🙂
They cause a lot of damage to the bridleways (and sometime paths in places where the bridleway network is small) and they often chew up the whole width of the bridleway, or even widen it, as they avoid where it is mashed up already, even though it would not be an issue for the horse to straight line through the mess.
This then makes large percentages of the network impassable for walkers and other people that should be being encouraged to get out into the countryside and exercise.
It's a lot of damage for a privilileged few that can afford a horse, way out of proportion.
I haven't mentioned bikes but in my experience the bikes are actually somewhat of a saviour as, outside of the truly poor weather, their passage starts to repair the trails/bridleways as they start flattening them out. I've seen this through years of riding around the bridleways near Epsom and just yesterday on the main drag from the car park at newlands corner.
Have I got this right? You want to ban horses from bridle ways??????
I always seem to get on with horse riders. They appreciate having someone on a bike slowing and talking to them I guess. It is a mixed bag with the damage they do to trails though, because around Kent Downs a fair number of trails have recently been re-designated as bridleways. Without the horse riders in the area I’d just be riding cheeky, so having them around has added some legitimacy to what I ride, especially during the daylight hours when it will always be busier.
Have been out at 7am a couple of times over the last few days. It’s really quiet up until 8am, when the dog walkers all seem to appear at once. I saw no-one from 7 until 8, and then 3 in the space of 5 minutes
More a case of the rediculous RoW ruling that bikes are equivalent to horses and thus limited to bridleways, which are often unsuitable to riding due to horse use. Whereas the damage from bikes to footpaths is minimal by comparison and yes can flatten out churn caused by walkers.
Anyway, Blackheath / Farley Heath in Surrey Hills is another example. Nice area but a lot is a nightmare thanks to horses. Though to be fair, that's their playground and we have ours.
Sharing trails though I feel bikes and horses don't mix too well. Walkers and dogs are less of a problem. Don't hate horses, but you can't go anywhere near on a bike them without spooking unless stopped and even then may have to get off the bike and try to talk to them to calm them.
I'm not a horse rider at all. I know little about them.
But you are saying that it is PIA to be considerate to them while demanding that everyone else is considerate to you.
Twisted logic there.
Dogs are handy when it gets to afternoon and people get grumpy. Talk to the dog and it seems to disarm the owner from the anti bike rant they were about to make and often they become friendly.
Deffo this. The other morning I rode up behind a woman and her dog. “Morning!” I said about fifteen metres away. No reply. “Morning!” again about ten meters away. Nothing. Drew level and she span around like Clouseau when Cato is hiding in the airing cupboard and practically burst into tears. She looked like she was about to get all shouty, so I said hello to the dog and asked her what type it was. It was a Corgi, but a different type from the ones the queen has, apparently. Net result, there was no argument and I now know more about corgis than I used to. Fact of the matter is, she shouldn’t wander around like a tit in a trance then get all flustered when someone appears and shakes her out of it, but pointing that out wouldn’t have helped.
I also quite like the angle of greeting a ‘playful’ dog and giving it a fuss. I think some NIMBY dog walkers hate it when their dog likes you because you might be fun - something they probably have precious little of in their lives being led around by angry gammons.
I miss being a kid, if some gammon dog owner went mental at you for riding a bike you could just scream "nonce! help me!!!" at the top of your voice and they'd go away.
Now I have to smile at them and be nice. I don't mind saying hello to the dogs though 🙂 as the other poster suggested it usually calms the buggers down.
They cause a lot of damage to the bridleways (and sometime paths in places where the bridleway network is small) and they often chew up the whole width of the bridleway, or even widen it, as they avoid where it is mashed up already, even though it would not be an issue for the horse to straight line through the mess.
The word in bold should help clarify the main purpose for which those rights of way are intended.
Perhaps you could try riding BOATS or RUPPS after a long wet period and see how you get on.
Anyway, went for a walk and picnic with my g/f around West Woods to look at the bluebells. There’s an open meadow with a table on the far side of the woods, but we sat on the grass in the shade. Hardly a soul about, just really peaceful. Couple come past following the bridleway with a couple of fairly large and lively dogs, off the lead. One comes bounding over, and before I even had a chance to grab them, the bloody animal had eaten my g/f’s sandwich that she had on the grass by her side! 😖
We were not at all amused, the owners, to their credit, put them on leads, and were very apologetic.
Good thing there were no livestock around.
The only dogs I have an issue with are those on very long telescopic leads - and that's more an owner than dog issue.
MrsTH was accosted the other day, by a chap with 3 dogs, all off their leads. She was trying to get past, but they were darting all over the place right infront of her.
"You shouldn't be riding your bike!"
"Why is that?"
"You can't do it here"
This was on a road. Used by cars. To get to a car park.
Ultimately it comes down to the fact that a significant minority of people are arseholes.
From the same ride as the Cato-Clouseau (about 200 yards down the same track in fact) there was an oldish woman who just glared at me when I said “morning”. A few yards later I stopped at a gate and looked round briefly. Her dog laid a dirty great cable and she just turned around and ****ed off. She looked a right Puritan type (albeit a hypocritical one).
Such people are best ignored.
For me it’s not the quantity of muggles, it’s the fact that half of them seem to be brain dead. It surely must take special effort to take up the entire width of a twelve-foot wide fire road.
The amount of space that a walker can take up is truly incredible. Walking right down the middle of a path. Walking "side by side" but with one person 2ft from the left verge and the other one 2ft from the right verge leaving a 4ft gap in the middle - all gaps too small to be able to just ride through.
Walking on one side but a dog on an extending lead over on the far side.
And the "rabbit in the headlights" syndrome. They'll go one way (invariably to the other side of the track to their dog). The dog then tries to go to the owner - right in front of the cyclist. Groups of walkers do it too, half go one way, the others go the other way then Half A decides that it should be with Half B and tries to cross the tracks just as Half B have decided exactly the same and they all move into the middle again and bump into each other aimlessly.
Dear Walkers. Stand to the nearest side of the track. Stop moving. The cyclist WILL slow down because, astonishing as this may seem, they actually don't want to hit you / your dog / your children. However, you could at least make life easier for everyone. Oh and also, wrapping your dog shit in a bag then hanging it from a tree does not constitute clearing up after it.
Yesterday evening, last gasp ride before the bank holiday finished. I'm coming down a trail and spy a women coming up, she's got a snap-back cap on and is staring at the ground, so the peak is obscuring her view of anything but her own feet. I'm thinking she's going to look up any minute now...any minute now...no? OK I'll stop then. When she did finally decide to see what was going on around her, the look on her face when she clocked me staring at her in slightly frustrated bemusement was a picture...
It's as if no-one else exists for these folk.
Had this the other day on the SDW, just about to cross the bridge over the A26 heading to Brighton when I spotted a chaos of walkers across the bridleway coming towards me, all chatting at each other or looking at their feet, so I slowed and said good morning. Most of them jumped out of their skin and one haughtily said “dringg, dringg”.
I struggled to come up with a witty response at the time but 15 minutes later uttered “answer that bloody phone”, curse my knackered brain!😁
Rode for 7hrs yesterday in the Peak(s). Sheffield/Ladybower/Hope/Sheff. Aside from around Yorkshire Bridge and then Hathersage to Fox House, barely saw anybody. Very few bikes and not many walkers (even managed a clear run down Stanage Plantation - total of 2 walkers who saw me coming well in advance and stepped well back). No conflict whatsoever, even in the places where I might not entirely have supposed to be. "Be nice, say hi" goes a long way.
Ace day, all in...
Groups of walkers do it too, half go one way, the others go the other way then Half A decides that it should be with Half B and tries to cross the tracks just as Half B have decided exactly the same and they all move into the middle again and bump into each other aimlessly.
aka the Rambler's Waltz. It nearly caught me out a couple of times when a relative novice. Now I just chill out, point, laugh and wait for the doh-si-dohing to stop, then go past. Why walk leaders don't just pick a side and at the beginning of the walk say "if we meet traffic, we'll all stand on the left" I have no idea...
Where are all these friendly dogs people speak of? I s**t you not I once had an owner put his own dog in a headlock as I rode past because as he put it "he's trained to attack people in black". I had a black Gore coat on. Put your dog on a lead.
Geezus wept.... this is what I have to contend with round here. Johnny Cash would of been screwed.
The word in bold should help clarify the main purpose for which those rights of way are intended.
so what you are saying is that bridleways should be restricted to those properous enough to ride a horse on it ?
Times move on, favouring the upper classes/moneyed horse riding elite over the needs of everyone else seems a bit of a strange concept in this day and age...
the upper classes/moneyed horse riding elite
Hells bells. You really don't know much about horse riders, do you? I let your first class-angst comment go but now you're just embarrassing yourself.
so what you are saying is that bridleways should be restricted to those properous enough to ride a horse on it ?
Times move on, favouring the upper classes/moneyed horse riding elite over the needs of everyone else seems a bit of a strange concept in this day and age…
And banning one section of society because they don't fit your pinko leftie Corbyn oriented prejudices is a fair and reasoned approach? There are plenty of roads for you to ride on. Why don't you try them. You could then rant at the moneyed elite swanning around in their over priced, over sized, over engineered metal boxes. Except you own one of those boxes so they have rights that must be protected.
I've never heard so much sanctimonious, biased twaddle as that post.
I’m giving serious consideration to backing up my bell with an air horn.
I did that. Made no difference at all. My horn had two settings
Are you saying you would ride up behind a group of walkers and give a blast with an air horn?
Would you do that to a horse rider?
Where are all these friendly dogs people speak of? I s**t you not I once had an owner put his own dog in a headlock as I rode past because as he put it “he’s trained to attack people in black”. I had a black Gore coat on. Put your dog on a lead.
It amazes me that people can put up with badly-trained dogs and have the hassle of running round after it shouting "Fenton!, Fenton!" or having to grab it every time another dog, a biker, a horse etc comes into view. Must make for an exhausting walk.
But that's based on my experiences with my sister's two dogs which will do anything you want on a whistle or gesture or word. Really well trained and behaved and because of that, they're fantastic to walk.
I regularly meet a chap with 4-6 standard poodles, they're amazing. Almost always all of them are off the lead, but totally under control all the time. Just a quiet word, and they'll all sat at his feet. Then round the corner it's some mad half trained cockerpoo, or snorgi with some idiot running after it "snoodles snoodles, come here"...etc etc
But you are saying that it is PIA to be considerate to them while demanding that everyone else is considerate to you.
Not sure if that was in response to me, but if so that's not what I'm saying at all. I'm very patient and considerate to horses, walkers and dogs and they have priority as far as I'm concerned. My issue is with the Rights of Way system that lumps bikes in with horses and that it would be far better not to mix bikes & horses in the first place, but allow bikes greater access to better suited paths or provide more infrastructure aimed at bikes or shared use paths that are designed for less conflict. Or open access roaming where we can all make our own way. See a horse or walker, pick another track.
Bloody horse riders got out for 20 mins this morning managed a bigger jump than usual decided to just have a mess around in the woods and I get a phone call d1ck head horse has dropped her shoulder on a jump and wife has slid over and off her, ride cut short
Walk in centre later
If it's any consultation, you get it running as well as being on a bike. I did a lot of trail running this weekend and so many walkers had no idea what was going on around them. Even a polite "hi, can a sneak past please?" gets a look of disgust back. Saying that, as it was warm I spent much of this weekend running in a pair of short shorts and no top, running past one group of walkers an older lady did comment "what a lovely sight to see", made my day that did!
Did 15-20km down a towpath with my 8 yearold yesterday. Biggest pains in the bollocks were other cyclists who seem to think riding fast at an 8 year old on a narrow track with water on one side is a good idea. One bloke on his gnarpoon almost went in the canal!
The problem is never really walkers or runners or horse riders or cyclists or drivers or whatever.
The problem is tossers.
They are everywhere. Like the masons, less organised, but more numerous.
It amazes me that people can put up with badly-trained dogs and have the hassle of running round after it shouting “Fenton!, Fenton!”
Fenton?
2011?
Sunday teatime / evening dudes. Have the place** to yourself.
** Footpaths at National Park honeypots included. You can even go racing.