Been asked to write this on behalf of friends who do not have an STW login so this is based on friends account from half an hour ago…

Group of 9 riding Primrose Wood this evening, completed a loop (including singletrack alongside the fence by the equestrian centre) and were heading back over to the forest via Grestys. As they got to the road a chap appeared from the trees and started on at them about how they had ridden through his field (they hadnt). Tried to reason with him but he was having none of it as the rest of the group convened another 3 blokes appeared from behind trees. Basically exchanged words as far as i’m aware but friends reckoned if they hadnt outnumbered this chap and his pals it may have turned a bit nasty.

Reckon this farmer (only one farm bordering the woods) had seen their lights on the singletrack alongside the fence and presumed they were riding on the horse tracks on his side of the fence. Either way, he would have had to get his mates and drive to where he met them just to confront them.

If you’re heading that way on a night ride, be aware of this chap lurking in the bushes and, as my past accident with wire across the path would suggest, maybe keep an eye out for anything that might be set in place to catch you out for a while.

Be careful out there.

Tell your mate to call the police.

The police won’t do anything, nothing happened.

Where abouts is Primrose wood, is it the wood on the side of the Windsford road.

Get orff moi land!

Apologies for the above. I would hate to be in the position your mates were in.

I am a regular there – cheers for the heads up – I will pass the word out – that bit off trail is a great bit of singletrack

ditto the ring police comment in case things escalate – where was the wire out of interest? I ahve had probs in the past with logs etc up on the xmas tree selling side…

email me

snowpaul at hotmail co uk

Call me old fashioned, but why not ring the farmer rather than the police? Tell him what you are doing, when you will be there, and try to make a friend or two, instead of going to the police?

Mountain bikers and their sense of entitlement… 🙄

Just ride with bombers 😆

Cheers for posting that up Tony, turns out I do have a login it’s just not been used for a while.

In response to speaking to the farmer, that’s great looking back and maybe one for the future, However, it’s not his land and there’s no reason to go through all the effort if he’s going to be so aggressive. He could have turned up on his own, and just asked politely if we had been in the fields, and asked us not to do it in the future. Instead he was really aggressive and adamant that we had been in the fields and came out in force with three mates to obviously intimidate us.
He wouldn’t listen to reason that there’s actually a trail right next to the field and that’s where he saw us. Not sure he is one to reason with to be honest. And it has got absolutely nothing to do with “Mountain Bikers entitlement” we just weren’t in his field at the end of the day

I think next time we are over there we will be looking for booby traps on the trails sadly, he seemed pretty angry about it all.
Not sure what’s in that field, it’s got a hardpack riding track around it, no crops or livestock. Maybe he’s got buried treasure in there and thought we were looking for it 😀

sadly, he seemed pretty angry about it all.

All the more reason to talk to him about it; tell him that you are not out there to cause problems, that you understand his reaction, but that you will tell him when you are going to be there in future.

The sense of entitlement thing is important; the more you use the countryside, the more you should be engaging the people who live and work in it.

To be honest, if had spoken to us in a rational manner, then maybe but I’m not one for poking an angry bear.
And I do engage people in the countryside, as you say, it’s very important to be civil with the people we share the countryside with.
I do however think you are being a bit idealist with your comments after us meeting an angry and aggressive man that came with backup….. We tried speaking rationally to him, nobody from our group had raised voices or used offensive/aggressive language, he however was the opposite.
If you want to have a chat with him, feel free. Myself, I don’t fancy going near such an angry man again!!

Surely one of you had a camera phone to record the episode,also report it to the police and the access officer of cheshire east and west councils.

Project, it was all over so fast, but that was exactly mine and others thoughts. Phone is always in my shorts ready for emergencies. If it happens again it’s exactly what will happen.
Sad that we have to think about it like that though, I think we were all so shocked that nobody had chance to think about it to be honest.

I still think he’s hiding gold in the field somewhere…..

Are you sure it was the farmer not others up to some other deed, The delamere way is marked as a bridlewauy and goes that way, so there would be no need to use the field.

Cheers for the heads up..

We did wonder why there was so many of them, but he seemed pretty sure they were “His Fields”
We did say why would we ride the field when there’s trails but he wasn’t listening!!
Strange chap….. maybe he is at home in front of the fire relaxing now….. or maybe he’s still angry and ranting at trees and the squirrels for using the trees to run up and down….. 😉

Doesn’t sound like the guy who owns the equestrian centre according to Mrs Pembo. Suggest you contact them tomorrow and find out if it was the owner and confirm you were riding inside the wood and not on the field.

He may have had some problems with people riding in the fields and jumped to the wrong conclusion.

Kelsall Hill Equestrian Centre

Try the RoW officer in the local authority?

Not such a “legal” option and, in theory, these are the professionls at dealing with such issues.

Not sure why someone posting before thinks a group of folks legitimately using a public right of way ought to announce their intention to do so to an arsey (or any other for that matter) landowner / occupier? Weird way of looking at the world IMO.

sadly, he seemed pretty angry about it all.

All the more reason to talk to him about it; tell him that you are not out there to cause problems, that you understand his reaction, but that you will tell him when you are going to be there in future.

The sense of entitlement thing is important; the more you use the countryside, the more you should be engaging the people who live and work in it.

It’s all so easy when you’re sat in front of a computer in the warm isn’t it? If I was out at night and a guy with 3 mates jumped out ranting at me from behind a tree I would be pretty shocked.

Notwithstanding the OP has already said that they tried reasoning with him anyway.

How exactly do you ring a random farm anyway? And has been said over and over here why ring someone to tell them you won’t be riding on their land? It sounds pretty suspicious to be honest. Was the confrontation near to any farm/other buildings? I just wonder where 4 blokes manage to appear from to confront anyone unless you are in their front/back garden. Poachers possibly? I feel the Police should at least be informed. They may not “do anything” but I’m sure that you could insist on it being recorded as an incident. At least then should there be further trouble for whoever there is a record of what has been going on.

Trackmaxi (Matt I think)

I haven’t ridden over at Primrose for a while sadly so I don’t recognise the ‘hardpack’ track you refer to but MrsMc tells me there is a new horse gallop in the field as you climb away from the A556 towards Primrose. I assume this is where you mean and you were riding the path between the fences at the edge of the field. IF so then I think you need to pause for a moment. Without checking, it is most likely wrong to say that it is not his land. That singletrack is a footpath (part of the Sandstone Trail). Unless the land between the fences is owned by the County Council it IS the farmer’s land. The fact that a public footpath crosses the land does not change that fact. I assume the fence has been erected by the farmer to prevent walkers from straying from the legal width of the right of way onto the rest of the field (as he is entitled to do) or by the Council as a goodwill gesture/to minimise conflict. Again I stress that I have not checked the legal ownership but it would be unusual for the Council to have purchased this narrow strip.

You (and me too when I ride it) are technically trespassing by riding a bike on a public footpath and IF it is his land he is legally entitled to ask you to stop. (Placing wires/traps is another matter).

Complaining to the police/rights of way officer is unlikey to help – it doesn’t sound like a technical assault was committed and as you were tresspassing the ROW officer is unlikely to have much sympathy.

The last thing needed is to create a conflict with the landowner/flag up a potential problem to the ROW team when you were legally in the wrong. The ROW team would be likely to seek to prevent MTB use as they would see an obvious (in their mind) risk of walker/bike conflict.

Personally I don’t think that path should be ridden when lights are needed as there is scope for conflict with the landwoner. Lights on the path are clearly visible across the fields. It is one best left for summer evenings I think.

Call or mail me if you want to discuss.

Paul

Crikey, you are a typical example of the sort of smug keyboard warrior that ruins this forum. They have a sense of entitlement because they are legally entitled to ride those trails. All the OP was trying to do was warn other riders about some nutter. Should I call ahead to warn the scally kids that hang out at the end of my street when I want to walk past? This is no different. The person suggesting that they call the police after an aggressive confrontation has a vlid point you do not. Put the mouse down and ride your bike mate.

I suggest you read my post properly this time.

IF it was where I think it was the OP had NO legal entitlement to ride THAT trail. It is private land.

Take your vitriol somewhere else.

Erm…I think the point was “mind the nutter in the woods”…

Hmmmm……. maybe everyone could just stop with the keyboard warrior antics for a moment and just treat this as the gentle warning it was intended as.
If it is private land, then there should maybe be signs up? The only signage in that area says to stay out of the fields, and they are very prominent at the gates which link the fields.

If folk really want to contact him on riders behalf, feel free, he will probably moan about it and prosecute you for harassing him if every tom dick and harry phoned in advance of riding near the fence that might be bordering his field.

Chill out people, stop typing and enjoy riding instead….. it wasn’t open for discussion, just a little biker to bikers warning, guess some people have far to itchy fingers to just read and not comment with silly remarks….

Me, I will ride it when the weather permits, and if I see him again, so be it…..

PaulMC – I suspect b..shins crikey comment is aimed at the poster “Crikey” and not as an exclamation “oh crikey”… crossed wires perhaps.

Trackmaxi – don’t ask me to do any more bloody favours for you on here! 😉

And for the record, if the OP didn’t know it was private land, that still doesn’t give him the right to be so aggressive and come in force to intimidate people….

Just ride bikes people….. now I know why I never come on here, I was only offering a little warning to people, the kind of warning I would like to receive from fellow bikers. Think I’ll keep my trap shut next time…..

PaulMc, got your wires crossed pal

Your post appeared whilst I was typing. It was directed at ‘Crikey’ not you. Relax…

i hope i meet him on a night ride, would be funny

if your aggressive to me you`ll get the same back.and if you do it in the dark this would just escalate it 😐

I just wonder where 4 blokes manage to appear from to confront anyone unless you are in their front/back garden. Poachers possibly?

My money’s on the possibility that you met the local poaching crowd – a Bastid bike light looks very similar to rabbit lamper’s light.

No idea where Primrose Wood is, but I’ve been challenged by neds in the local woods here in the North East when walking the dog, and when riding through local woods. Said neds were hunting with dogs. They claimed it was their woods and that I’d better not be hunting there or there’d be trouble.

I know the local landowner – he’s a dick, but he wasn’t there. Also, my dog looks like this, so is unlikely to be mistaken for a hunting lurcher;