[Closed] Pentlands trail repair dates

Sorry for the delayed reply. I'll be there at 10 with a couple of non-STW mates in tow.

Excellent!

Looking forward to it. Fingers crossed its not pishing it down, might bring a stove for brewing up if it is!

TJ - as yo know, I'll be unable to make it along on account of me doing my LeJog.

http://www.justgiving.com/Colin-Cadden

However, I'd appreciate of you could ask whether or not some [i]ad hoc[/i] trail repairs would also be appreciated. Perhaps we could elect to be responsible for a bit of path and then look after it much as the Sustrans folk do?

druidh - thats one thing I shall be looking into. The friends of the Pentlands do some work at the moment - I am hopeful that we will be able to get some sanctioned autonomy as trust and confidence grows.

When you starte your lejog Druidh? gonnna let us know when you come past so we can ride out to [s]heckle [/s]support you

I head off to Land End over two days (staring tomorrow) then head off from LE on Friday. Wed 22nd sees me arrive in Peebles (Glentress Hotel actually) then on 23rd we head via Carnwath, Bathgate, Grangemouth(!) to Kinross. I'll post updates on Facebook and on my Justgiving page.

Good luck with the repairs and genuinely gutted I'm not around on either of the planned dates (I could've worn my old PHRP Rangers fleece 🙂 )

I got an email back from the rangers. They will be able to ferry people from the carpark to the site if needed. No private cars up beech ave. I'll sort details out when I get back - probably a meet point in the carpark.

Any more details about this? Should we be at the car park for 10 or earlier, to allow us to get to the uphill meeting point for 10?

Chris I have asked them to confirm this but am awaiting reply. I'll let you know detail when i know. A lift is deffo on tho

i think i can make it - woo! i'll probably cycle up as i need to get to work in the late afternoon 🙁

incidentally, i'm doing a uni dissertation on mountain biking and landscape. so as well as throwing my weight behind the shovel, i might ask a few relevant questions and make the odd note - hope that's okay! 🙂

OK - looks like there will be a ranger to meet folk in the carpark at 10 with a vehicle to get folk and tools to teh trail for repair.

Threipmuir car-park, 10am. Gotcha.

Nice one. I'll do my damnedest to make sure this works and your lift is there. Unfortunately this means I shall have to get up relatively early on a ruddy Sunday morning as its more than an hours cycle from my house 🙁 Is this being hoist by my own petard? or putting my metaphorical money where my mouth is?

I can give you a wake up call. ours usually starts at about 7 but can be earlier if she's had a nap the day before.

I'm still planning on coming along so will see you there. I'll post up if things change.

I'll not be able to make it, I'm afraid. Hope the weather [s]stays good[/s] gets better.

I'll be coming down. Can't guarantee 10am as out the night before but won't be too late, will cycle down I think.

Don't worry about coming down later. It will be fine.

I'm not sure if I'll make it or not as SWMBO has a 5k race on Sunday and may require my taxi-driver services. If I do make it I'll probably also cycle down as I don't have any tools to bring.

I shall try to make it along at some point on Sunday. That was me that said hi as we passed on the canal on Wednesday btw. I was having a late ride to escape the chaos of my flat move - much as I'll probably also be doing on Sunday. Only I'll not be that late.

Well 8 (ish) mountainbikers turned up. We completed a decent amount of work and got very muddy. Repaired a bit of path and a load of preventative maintenance in clearing drains and ditches.

Big thanks to the guys who made it, big raspberry to those who didn't.

Lets have a bigger turnout next time. You will be nagged Sunday 21st August. Get it in your diary now

Which path did you work on?

I missed today as I was in Ft Bill/on the bus back from Ft Bill, but will be there for the next one!

It was good fun, I didn't realise how much I miss playing in water and mud. We worked on the path from Bavelaw to Green Cleugh, digging out drainage ditches and pipes and some resurfacing. I rocked up at 12.30 and nattered away at people so the others did more but I'm still knackered. Stiff back tomorrow I think! Main think is the Rangers were very happy with it all too so the future looks good.

Well that was fun in a muddy messy kind of way!

Heres some photos - I'll try and get the video up later (I forgot to get one of the path before we started).

The drain that disappeared and caused the damage:
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After:
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On the other (muddy side):
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The pipe after being cleared: if I'd seen this beforehand there is no way I would have been putting my hand in there!
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Job done: maiden voyage:
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On to the next section: "Paul - are you in there?"
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I'd say that was pretty good turnout, well done folks.

**feels ashamed, briefly**

Good stuff guys. Sorry couldn't participate but it'll only take an emergency / unexpected turn of events to keep me from the next one...

(again)

Teej, were you directed straight to those points or was it a case of having a look & getting started? Just wondering how much the Rangers had planned out?

There were two rangers in the work party. The rangers had noticed that the bit we started on was in a bad way. Sorting it out took about half the time. Then we walked back along the path and checked each drainage pipe as we game to it. Some were silted up badly enough that it took a ranger's eye to even know there was one there.

rob - this what what the rangers suggested as a good task for the first time - and they were there with us today all day.

It will be a while until we are let lose on our own I guess

Thanks Ronin for posting the picture of me taking it easy letting the others do all the hard work 🙂

Was a great effort guys and we should feel proud about this little piece of work, it was no small effort, my muscle pains are testament to that!

The Rangers were great and were getting stuck in with the digging work as much as anyone.

TJ, do you know where the second session will be?

PaulGillespie - Member

TJ, do you know where the second session will be?

To be decided yet. The rangers have their criteria and priorities, we have ours, I shall attempt to seek a consensus / compromise.

What bits do you think we should aim for?

I don't think Pistachio will get any official work any time soon as I think the Rangers said it was not in the Pentlands Park. We should maybe have a discussion offline about this.

Phantoms is the obvious choice. Although i've not been down here for about 9 months so not sure of the current state.

At the end of Logan Lee, before the wooden bridge, is getting pretty rutted and cut up. I don't think it will be long before this place turns nasty. The path is already widening as the ruts are so deep that it's very hard to pedal through. I think this area could do with a look.

Either way, I'm happy as long as I have a spade in one hand and cake in the other 🙂

Pistachio is in the park and is on the list - it would involve a lot of work and could do with some consultation with the horse riders who use it. Needs a lot of work doing and runs the risk of folk complaining of "sanitisation" more work in Green clough / around the Howe ( the bit you mention) might be a good one as well

Pantoms has work being done on it by the "friends of the pentlands" - don't want to clash with them but equally that might be a good place for us to put in the labour as it needs a lot of work

'twas a great day, my back is sore today and I think I nearly blocked the shower drain with mud when I got home!

Thanks again TJ for organising.

If the Friend of the Pentlands are doing something on the top of Phantoms what about us tackling the lower bit below the gate?

Alternative, I'd like to see some drainage added to the Kirk Burn path.

However, as Paul says I'm happy to chip in with whatever.

Well from chatting to Susan yesterday, where and what gets done is all down to landowner negociations and permissions, but if we continue to work with them they are keen to hear what bits we would like to work on and our other ideas on making things better and see what can be done from there, which is fantastic.

It might be a good idea to 'get in' with the FoP, and attend some of their sessions.

Martin was saying that no one turned up to their own advertised repair session on Saturday, though it was a bit damp.

When I ran back to look for my gloves it was quite satisfying to see water flowing through the newly cleared ditches!

Well I don't think we'll be short of places to work then.

Working with the FoP could be a good bridge builder, if they see us doing our bit then will be more accepting of MTBers, not that i've experienced any grief but it's always good to re-enforce the ties.

Strangley looking forward to the next session!

It was a good session yesterday, it was gratifying to see that we'd done a visible bit of work and that it started making a difference as soon as the rain started again. 🙂

I'm pretty disappointed that I won't make the August session but hopefully I'll be able to make other dates in the future. And thanks and congratulations again to TJ for making it happen!

I'm all up for working with the Friend's of the Pentlands they make cracking cakes 😀

that was great yesterday! feeling pretty tired after working til 4am, mind! 😮

not sure i can make the august date, but if i can i will! 🙂

It was indeed good fun. And I reckon we achieved a pretty respectable amount.

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Anyone else feel a bit broken today? I must be getting old.

Bloody hell, based on that second pic I'm not sure I should be allowed a shovel!! 😈

Just got this from the rangers

Hi Jeremy,

Just to say a big thank you to you and the team for all your hard work yesterday, please pass on our thanks to everyone who grafted on the day. I really enjoyed working with you guys on a very worthwhile piece of practical work that will have immediate benefits - you can certainly see where we've been!
I'm looking forward to the next one in August, we need to discuss what would be best for then so if you want to put the word out and perhaps we can draw up a list?
If there are any photos we'd love to see them, maybe put a link from our website.

kind regards,

Susan.

ps definitely need a cake input for the next one.......

ps definitely need a cake input for the next one.......

Does that make me a good or a bad influence? 🙂

Chris, thumbs up in my book! 😀

Great work guys! If there was one section to chose to repair it was that one. Nice to know why it suddenly became a rutty mess, reason wasn't that obvious when riding past.

Quite disappointed that the dates clash with races/weddings etc, but then it's hard to avoid a race these days. Where are the rangers own repair dates published, someone mentioned they do saturdays too.

Where is Pistachio?

pistachio is the bit in the woods above kinleith farm next to the rocky road. Used to be nice singletrack now a sprawl o multiple lines and muddy pits

These two dates were the only possible ones this summer for the rangers