Could well be wrong, but it looks to me as though someone’s trying to make life difficult for riders on Um Bop – careful if you’re in that neck of the woods. Today there was a rope swing (complete with stick T-bar) dangling mid-trail just before the first switchback, then the crumbling wall after the second switchback has been partially rebuilt making it tricky/impossible to ride, and just after that wall there was a plank with nails right across the trail.

Ride it?
I can barely walk it.

Those steps are bloody lethal!

Not sure if we’re allowed to talk about it but which one is mmbop? There was a load of big rocks (not ones you could really ride over placed in the middle of one of the paths through the woods underneath heptonstall the other week that made me wonder if it had been done deliberately.

Get it reported to Calderdale Rights of Way team Will

Thanks for the warning.
I trust you removed the offending nailed plank.
Woud be a good idea to let the local cops know too.

grum – think I know where you mean, and I think it might be a different trail. Unless I’m mistaken (and without giving too much away), Mmbop (or whatever it’s called) has two very tight switchbacks in it, first right, then left, and then a knackered set of greasy steps.

Ecky – I moved the plank – can’t say for certain it was deliberate, and there was only one big but bent nail in it. Just watch out if you’re riding around there – I know there’s been a bit of grief from locals over the last couple of years. I rarely bother riding it nowadays.

Last I was up there, it was like a jungle on the flags at the top, so I’ll be leaving that trail a few weeks yet for the vegetation to die-back a bit.

Get it reported to Calderdale Rights of Way team Will

Not sure they’d be interested if it’s “cheeky”…

As long as it’s a footpath they’ll be interested in nailed planks across the path.

If it’s ‘proper’ cheeky (ie no right of way at all) then they won’t be interested. Police might be though?

Dave – didn’t even realise there was such an organisation. It was FP, but not private land, I think. I suppose planks with nails across trails are always a no-no – still potentially dangerous to walkers and/or their dogs. I might have been walking the trail myself 😉

It was FP, but not private land, I think

Doesn’t matter if it’s private land, a PRoW is a PRoW. Report it. You were on foot walking your dog, remember?

Not ridden Hebden in ages.. tend to just stick to my end of the valley. Might see if I can squeeze a morning in this weekend.

RoW team are interested in anyone sabotaging trails…