We’ve done the Ladybower loop today they have diggers up Derwent edge when you stop at the 4 way crossroad the trail that comes from above its a walking trail but it had two 16 tonne machines up there grading it off and filling it in a similar fashion to Rushup Edge. Don’t now if they have plans to do any more up there but machines on trails is just the worst thing to see! How long before the entire area is like riding fire roads?

I was up there yesterday and saw that too. Interesting though since my map says that’s an undesignated path and therefore DCC have no obligation to repair it.

Do you have a grid ref? I really wonder what their agenda is. Must be costing a fortune. Wonder if a councilor has links to the contractor or horse riding or something. Or just an anti-bike rambler.

I was up on Win Hill Friday afternoon and I could see some plant on Whinstone Lee Tor. Can only imagine what they were doing. I was intending to ride that way but a mechanical meant I had to skip that bit out so couldn’t get a closer look.

There’s a digger in the background of the picture in the Pootle thread, I’m not too sure where we were but I’m sure on of the others will point it out.

It’s whinstone lee tor, there’s some stuff on the peak district mtb page on facebook. It’s apparently these folks…

http://www.moorsforthefuture.org.uk/

I run as well and it really was a cracking trail, apparently now a motorway that is a real scar on the landscape.

If you’re interested and want to help I would suggest joining…

https://www.facebook.com/groups/PeakDistrictMTB/

and

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Ride.Sheffield1/

From a friends facebook album.

http://imgur.com/a/zUiY2#0

The partnership is also hoping a second highly-popular route across Moscar Moor can be restored this winter – the Cutthroat Track bridleway. As this is a public right of way, it will require a public consultation with recreational users and other interested parties before work can go ahead.

On the public Bridleway the work is expected to be funded by Derbyshire County Council. The aim is to provide a hard-wearing, natural-looking track tailored for the needs of a range of users that will help protect its SSSI and Special Area of Conservation habitats for many years to come.

“This is another route that is suffering from its popularity,” said Matthew. “People inevitably try to avoid the poor surfaces, widening the route up to 10 metres in some parts which damages plants and disturbs wildlife.

Uh oh! They sure ain’t gonna please many people.

footpath works page

That looks like the page…

Surprising that it’s so poor given the involvement of the EA and natural England, the latter of which are renowned for their back to the dark ages attitude to any kind of development.

Yep, the cutthroat bridleway will be next. The campaign of trail ruin goes on. One thing to bear in mind on this one, though, all users have been responsible for widening this track by mincing around the edges and avoiding puddles and rocks. It has long been in guide books and magazines that this particular track should be ridden down the middle.

However, nothing justifies dumping tonnes of shite on it like Rushup. In my opinion this will be even more of an eyesore than Rushup as it snakes visibly across the hillside for a long way.

DCC are flattening the Peaks and trying to turn it into a slightly windier version of centerparcs. They’ll either sanitize the lost, or the works will disintegrate and make it unrideable.

See what the prats have done to Aspenshaw for one example:

Oh not whinstone le tor! Jesus, its bloody scandalous! Can Londoners not walk on rough ground or something?

WLT to Cutthroat bridge has been an obvious target for work for ages, as it’s been allowed to spread so wide. Sadly we are as much to blame for that as the walkers are, as everybody seems to want to avoid the rocks. Year on year, the trail has slipped further down the hillside.

It was the very first trail I rode in the Peaks, in I guess, 1996? It was maybe a foot wide, most of the way up. (I’d never encountered the phenomenon of pedal strikes before!)

I’ve not used it as a descent in ages – there’s better ways down, but it makes a nice technical climb if you take the uphill side of the trail and ride through all the rocks.

Whilst DCC maybe involved, they shouldn’t be *as* involved as it’s a bridleway, not a byway, so should be a different department. It’s also being managed by several other layers, not just a pet project by 1 guy at DCC. I imagine it’ll end up looking like the slabbed tracks across Derwent Edge. Personally if they can rein in the track widening, I’d say it’s a better use of funds than Rushup Edge has been…

<<edit>> I should also say, that we all now know about this before the work has started, so we now have the option to influence how it’s done by using PDMTB, Ride Sheffield, PDNPA LAFs etc. So join up, boys and girls, and let’s do our best to be heard!

I think caution needs to be shown over setting off the panic alarm every time maintenance of any form is done, sometimes it’s much needed, and if it was never done then the trails would be unusable.

Trails always look shocking immediately after work is done, even where it’s done sympathetically and carefully, it looks just as bad when they build a trail at a trail centre, after a short while it beds in and the colours settle, the vegetation comes back in binds things together giving a good trail surface and the character comes through well.

Equally there are times when it’s done really badly, eg by blindly dumping aggregate or without binding in fines.

There’s a balance to be had, but not all maintenance/repair deserves castigation or to be labelled sanitisation.

^ what the last two people said! couldn’t have put either better myself

+3 on the last three posts.

Cutthroat bridge has needed something doing for years, the top section was a mess when I was at uni in ’04 ten years ago.

It’d be unforgivable if they touch the rocky bit at the bottom though.