Unfortunatly there’s a lot of litter around Tilgate forest in general, mostly around burnt out fires and most probably not MTB riders but who ever has been leaving loads of empty Lucozade energy drinks and crisp packets around that newish gap jump, just take it home! I’ve made a start for you as I picked up as much as I could get in my camelpak.
Rant over…Grr

I fear this is not enough and you’ll need to catch them in the act and explain that it’s wrong and why. Kids just don’t understand that it’s wrong. My opinion after having confronted a lad about his littering recently and seeing his reaction. He must have been in his early 20’s.

It’s not kids, it’s dicks. Their age isn’t that relevant. I knew as a teenager that it was a dickish thing to do.

Are the mini downhill runs at tilgate still open? I thought they had closed?

Spotted a few places where this happens, myself, generally at the bottom of the descent that is to the left of the most northerly of the 2 motorway bridges.
Had to call out the fire brigade, earlier this year, as a smouldering fire had taken hold in the peaty/mossy top layer of the forest floor and we couldn’t extinguish it.
Not sure if confronting people is that practical as they are usually outnumber us and don’t give a fig anyway.
At least we can take comfort from the fact that the onset of winter should curb their activities for a while. The biggest obstacle for several months is going to be dodging the deer, on night rides.

P.S. Do we know each other, @muddylegs

Are the mini downhill runs at tilgate still open? I thought they had closed?

Are they there to be ridden? – definitely.
Are they being maintained? – nope
Are they still in a decent condition? – used one as a ‘shortcut’ early in the summer, and my mincing skills weren’t unduly tested.

P.S. Do we know each other, @muddylegs

You should do Bob, you rode with him yesterday and he’s often on Tilgate night rides 😉

You should do Bob, you rode with him yesterday and he’s often on Tilgate night rides

Busted! 🙂

Slight hi-jack..
I took my son to Hamsterley last Thursday and the amount of discarded plastic bottles was unreal ..disgusting was how my son described it and he is 14 years old .
It could well land me in trouble at some stage ..but if I saw someone discarding litter I would sure as hell be doing my best to make sure they picked it up and took it away with them ..

I took my son to Hamsterley last Thursday and the amount of discarded plastic bottles was unreal ..disgusting was how my son described it and he is 14 years old .

Yes, noticed it worst around the cabins at the start of the Descend track but also generally at the start of other trail sections. In a wombling mood I managed to collect a pack full from Chopwell a few weeks ago without even trying. Funny how Lucozade, Monster et al doesn’t provide enough energy to carry the bottle when its empty.

Your son is right of course its filthy behaviour – I’d like to suggest a bottle / can tax or maybe just a repeated application of big heavy stick to the offender but am sure there are reasons neither of those would work. Dicks.

It’s not kids, it’s dicks.

’tis mostly kids though.

Is it mostly kids? Who is chucking out all the litter you see along the road side? Or carefully piling up dog sh1t bags in random corners hoping it will summon a fairy to remove them?

Dicks of all ages.

@Muddylegs, Ah, I see, although I thought your online persona was Shirley 😉

Thread is about litter at bike trails joemmo

Yep that is what the thread is about ..litter at trail centres .so what does it matter who is littering ..it needs to stop .
Kid dicks or adult dicks they really should know better

joemmo is making the point that kids probably aren’t responsible for road litter, so it’s also likely that they’re not responsible for trail litter either.
(The fact that, due to being an old git, more people are ‘kids’ to me, is irrelevant)

Njee has it. It’s lazy and unfair to blame it on ‘kids’.

It’s dicks you need to be blaming.

Thread is about litter at bike trails joemmo

yes it is, I’m not having a go at you, just letting off steam but I see way more adults than kids / teens at trail centres. In the case of Hamsterley that Hogynd mentioned it’s not that near a town that would make it accessible for many children to ride to so chances are most people there are old enough to drive.

If its litter in the local suburban woods jump spot then probably its teens but it’s a larger problem than just that age group unfortunately.

You have to be a bit dim don’t you not to understand that an empty drinks bottle with no liquid in is lighter when it’s empty? Cheers Shirley