Right,

I’m planning a ride for when the when the weather changes and the days are slightly longer (yes, yes I know, but it is the winter solstice next week, so things are looking up 😀 )

There is an expanse of moorland which I have explored over the last few years of which a good section is an active tank training range.

There are a number of rights of way criss crossing this, all of which are accessible when the red flags are down.
There is also a number of military roads, farm tracks really, that would make up some good linking sections and also have (viewed from a distance) potential to be fun.

Do I have any right to use these roads if the flags are down and if I were to accidentally use them, what might be the consequences?

no idea. but be assured, a marine, in full camo gear, face painted, carrying an M16 at night is very hard to spot… until you nearly ride over them.

saying ‘evening lads’ doesn’t provoke any response either.

Don’t touch any shiney things.
And a fully-loaded Apache is very scary when it pops up above hillock 100yds away! One would have thought the noise would have given it away but they are surprisingly quiet, I could tell that there was a helicopter in the area but didn’t realise it was that close!

Anything that looks like unexploded ordnance give it a kick just to see if it is live or dead.

The old seal;and ranges in north wales, climbed over the gate riding down the potholed road, a landrover suddnly appears behind me, lights flashing, 2 RAF personel , first one says you shouldnt ride your bike here, you need to go back, i ask politely what happens if i dont, He points to his non speaking collegue, he just shoots you he says.

Almost toilet moment, then they laugh and say put bike in back and we will take you to the other end, as there is live firing going on.

Now its rented by the bird watchers who dont like cyclists.

TBH, the public access routes are very intermingled with the military ones.

I shall try to avoid any shiny metallic objects and not use them to get air as it would probably be more air than I wanted.

Seriously though, who doesn’t want to ride down this;

I ride on the ranges of the Plain pretty often. Some simple advice
Obey the rights of way
Obey the flags
Don’t touch anything that you don’t recognise
Don’t ride through deep puddles, you’ll never know what’s in them!
Obey the wardens/rangers
Chat to the wardens/rangers 🙂

Happy trails!

The ranges at Warcop are not used at the weekends and as long as there are no red flags flying you are ok to use the tracks/bridleways. I wouldn’t recommend going “off piste” due to the amount of UXO that is strewn around the place having been hammered by Tanks on and off for the last 50 years!

Popocatapetl – Member

The ranges at Warcop are not used at the weekends and as long as there are no red flags flying you are ok to use the tracks/bridleways. I wouldn’t recommend going “off piste” due to the amount of UXO that is strewn around the place having been hammered by Tanks on and off for the last 50 years!

Cheers, It wouldn’t be fully off piste, just may be possibly using the other access routes.

The ranges at Warcop are not used at the weekends

since when? the small arms ranges were heavily used at weekends

also note that 105mm artillery also uses the range

just because a red flag isn’t flying it doesn’t mean troops aren’t training