Went for a pootle on my CX bike yesterday and chose a route that went down a marked bridlepath (both on OS and signposted on the ground) and there were numerous signs saying no cycling.
Are they able to stop you from riding your bike along a bridleway?
Its tarmaced and seems to be a driveway, I saw a couple walking their dog and cheerfully said afternoon to which I got no reply and a cold look.

Route in question is south of Andoversford near Cheltenham, between 024184 and 023194

http://i.imgur.com/uEf2WIK.jpg

View post on imgur.com

Carry on and report the signs to the local RoW officer.

#nimbys

Could be a permissive bridleway with permission only for walkers and equestrians

Bit like local farmers making bridleways just disappear!

With “bridleway” fingerposts and marked as a bridleway on OS maps, na.

It is possible, eg permissive or conditions legally attached. Sounds more like a landowner not wanting bikes for a particular reason. Why not just check it out with the local RoW dept then report it if there are no restrictions.

The OS map is not definitive, check the “master map” on the local council’s website. If it’s a proper bridleway, carry on and report to RoW officer.

Had this once in Croydon got on to the R.O.W and they took the sign down.

Vanguard way in Croydon, zippy?

I have two of those, both on separate routes I use.
One has actually got restrictions on it, no cycling, and is going through the process of being downgraded to a footpath. Until that happens I will continue to ride it.
Another, the Farmer has placed signs just beyond the official Bridleway sign that state “footpath” with arrows <- and -> however someone has felt penned a strike through line through it, this route is popular with Neddie riders 😆

Can be a bit awkward riding the 1st one, I’ve checked on Hants.Gov webbie and there is an application in for its downgrade but it’s not planned to be submitted until 2016… But you know, it goes through a Farmers Yard and out back, pass his dogs pen and there’s always Chickens pecking… 😕

Cotswolds you say?
Sounds about right for some of the “land owners” round that way.

Lots of signs like these on Chobham common – Bridlepath – no bicycles.

I ignore them, just like the horseriders there ignore the footpath signs…

Comes to something when you can’t ride a cheeky footpath because it is unpassable after the horses have mashed it up!

Some of the bridleways/bridlepaths have had substantial rebuilding because the horses eroded them so much, so anything I am doing on the bike is inconsequential compared, so I am not too fussed.

According to Gloucestershire Council’s rights of way map it’s a bridleway.

The only “rool” you need to know is that the only remedy in law for riding a bike somewhere that isnt a bridleway is through damages.

How much damage an MTB tyre does compared to a walkers foot is one for a Saturday pub debate. But damages are a relation of losses. So…… as long as you make sure whatever you do doesn’t create a substantial loss (riding through a poult pen 2 weeks before the beginning of the shooting season and scaring them all away, say) I reckon the quick offer of 50p to cover the “damage” of a cycle track (paid “in to court” 🙂 ) will suffice. And even then, you need the landowner or the agent to catch you*.

Quite simply, if you’re not being a douche, there’s no real reason why you cant ride any reasonable path. That’s my tenet and Im sticking to it.

* doesnt work with by-laws though.

It does have the disclaimer that it’s not the official definitive map, but it certainly appears as a BW on https://gloucestershire.firmstep.com/default.aspx/RenderForm/?F.Name=B75apJt4Qgo&HideToolbar=1 (if that doesn’t work, click on the link in http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/prow )

For those you just have to be able to ride away fast enough.

I think some of the Chobham ones where marked as Bridleways once befor they changed the signs – I mentioned this to some horseriders I saw on the bridlepath and they said they will still ride their bikes on it…

“the Farmer has placed signs just beyond the official Bridleway sign that state “footpath”….”

slack farmer – standard practice is tractor to pull out LA sign and “Private Rd” signs

Stoner » * doesnt work with by-laws though.
For those you just have to be able to ride away fast enough.

I wonder how many prosecutions there have been nationally across the country for cycling in breach of byelaws over the past, say, twenty years?

I did FOI the ministry of defence about this recently regards aldershot etc, despite all the threats of dire consequences they were unable to come up with a single example of them actually following through on the byelaws

Frankly, we’re getting into the realms of ‘illegality’ that deal with carrying a plank along the pavement or failing to carry a bale of hay in your taxi…

I’ll hazard a guess that it’s a nice round figure, and probably similar to the number of cyclists who have been taken to court to claim damages for trespass.

From a recent meeting I had with the local police it is clear that some laws in this country simply don’t apply in reality because the police won’t ever prosecute anybody for them.

Ha! Twice in the last few years I’ve had farm vehicles actually drive towards me on singletrack public mettaled roads in Somerset. One guy even got out and told me where the M5 was and that I should be riding there instead 😯

On the damage MTB vs feet, the other week heading up the tourist route to Leith Hill tower from one of the main car parks, and there’s a footpath “no cycling” section and a bridleway kind of path for everyone else. Muddy day, the footpath looked horrendous. Churned to hell by feet. The other path was much better condition and walkers were deciding to use it also.

And don’t even get me started on popular horse bridleways that are impossible to ride or walk on due to the horse prints.

None of it is really damage. It’s just churned up mud.

None of it is really damage. It’s just churned up mud.

some of the bridleways around Chobham have definitely been built back up to counter some depth that has been dug out by the horses, so I don’t think that is completely true.

Elsewhere (Epsom way) I have seen where the bridleways get smoothed back into a good passable state after winter by bicycles – whereas other bridleways where no cycles go remain a hard version of the mashed up ground from the winter, so not so nice for walking on.

From the map, is it the one past Owdeswell (sp) Manor? Never ridden it, but if it’s marked on the map and on the ground I’d have no qualms riding it, and explaining to anyone who complained why.

I saw a couple walking their dog and cheerfully said afternoon to which I got no reply and a cold look.

That may have been unconnected to where you were riding, you may instead have simply had a sighting of Cotswoldicus Snottybuggerata, they’re a very common species around these parts…

Still one of my favourite encounters went something like:

Nimby: “You can’t ride along here”
Me: “Oh I’m really sorry, I though it was a bridle path”
Nimby “It is – but not for bicycles”
Me: “Oh. Um. Ok. Sorry”.

Still makes me smile… (and I still ride that way, naturally).

That is definitely a bridleway & well used by bikes for many years. Ignore the signs & keep on riding!

Perhaps HONC can go that way next year!

Pz_Steve – Member
Still one of my favourite encounters went something like:

Nimby: “You can’t ride along here”
Me: “Oh I’m really sorry, I though it was a bridle path”
Nimby “It is – but not for bicycles”
Me: “Oh. Um. Ok. Sorry”.

I get those but I answer “and where does it say that?”. Usually followed by a huffy argument from them without providing the evidence or they shuffle off with a dirty look. Some try to insist bikes are only allowed on roads and dedicated cycle paths (though ride on a cycle path you get a walker on there who moans at you).

I’m still waiting to catch out one up on The Hurtwood. There’s a dog walking spot (end of appropriately named Dog Shit Alley), and several times now I’ve overheard someone moan about “bikes not allowed here” right at the car park. One even said to someone else “it says no bikes on that sign back there”… which it doesn’t. I’ve got a printout of the Hurtwood area map showing the boundaries and the story of the open access policy including bikes, walkers & horses, which I want to show to them if they stop me and see how they react.

Met someone who was walking on a trail centre mountain bike trail. I rode past carefully while they gave me a dirty look. I overheard one say to the other “it says no cycling”. I looked back and they were looking at the ‘no entry’ sign to stop people riding the trail the wrong way.