On Sunday whilst riding between Holmbury and Peaslake I noticed many mtb trails had been deliberately blocked off by cut brances and in some cases (near telegraphs car park in Holmbury) trees alongside the trail had been felled to block it. Any ideas who is doing this and why?
Cheers,
Rob
Bike Forum
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Trails Blocked in Surrey Hills
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Posted 2 years ago #
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Well the old ending of Barry Knows Best was blocked off officially. There may be other trails which the ranger has deemed not part of the "legacy" network and has therefore blocked? Not certain which bits you mean.
Any new trail is likely to get this treatment because Hurtwood ave decided that new trails ain't happening.
Posted 2 years ago # -
The Ranger's blog mentions a large number of fallen branches due to the weight of snow - possibly the blockages are random? Trails blocked intentionally will be obviously chainsaw cut.
Posted 2 years ago # -
No these are chainsaw cut and laid very neatly. Some examples are the steep roll in to Peaslake car park from the graveyard side and the trail leading down to Telegraphs car park from the south west. Of course these not possibly on the 'official' list of trails but are very popular nonetheless.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Rob I saw some of these on the T trails on Sunday and the first thing I said was someone had placed them there. Matey said- just not cleared as they've fallen on the snow. Thing is- looked around (i.e. NOT on the trail and there is nothing similar).
It really does look like someone is placing branches across the trail.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Interesting - will investigate. There is still a good bit of negative feeling about mountain biking locally, despite our best efforts.
Posted 2 years ago # -
That drop into Peaslake car park is illegal though, dunno which car park you're meaning by the Telegraph one.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I think some of those trails are being closed as they're unsustainable.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I assume this is the last little chute on the T4 that has been put out of bounds.
Bummer that was always a laugh.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Umm we know it as telegraphs car park, its the one on your right as you come into Holmbury south from Abinger Hammer. There are a network of trails descending into it from the south west (so south of the main fire road heading up and out). They are acutally blocked by felled trees which have been cut down and in some cases still attached to the stump by the bark.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Ah well lots of other stuff up there.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I think I know where you mean now - not surprising because some of those trails pop out on to a busy fire road. Some bikers just don't give a monkey's and are very indiscreet when they come out into the path of (or even just near) other people - dog walkers, horse riders - and those people have ruined the situation for the rest of us.
Be stealthy, be (excessively) polite and considerate and we might hang on to the rest of our trails. We have long since stopped riding past horses for example - we always stop completely and let them ride past us.
Not blaming anyone here, by the way.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Luckily I always find the the walkers, horse riders etc. quite friendly. My group always slow down and recite the "good mornings" but as with anything there are the few who are inconsiderate I suppose. I think its probably a concern about the state of the ground given the current gloopy conditions, the tyres can really rip it up. However, some of the blocking is quite dangerous as it hidden round corners etc.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Nowhere near you guys but sorry to hear. Unfortunately a group of three t**sers can outdo all the good work that 200 considerate/polite/discrete users can do. It's not just restricted to use MTBers.
Used to get the same on Cannock Chase in the early mid 90's (possibly still do). Huge numbers of riders would mix happily with walkers then along come 3 or 4 "doing the latest trendy thing" types, pulling wheelies, racing past dogs/walkers etc and suddenly everyone on a bike is a maniac.
Hope that you can get it sorted without losing all your access in the area.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Nothing obvious on the Hurtwood site. My guess is it's not the ranger as he is taking new trails out of service and if these are the ones I'm thinking of then they've all been in use for yonks. Anyhow doesn't sound too promising
Posted 2 years ago # -
This sounds like an area suffering hugely with its honey-pot status.
Posted 2 years ago # -
We have to try and keep the fragile balance - this is why I bristle a little bit when I see out and out freeride bikes and stormtrooper outfits and so on. I have met people who live in Holmbury but don't feel safe or comfortable walking on Holmbury Hill at the weekend - now that can't be a good thing.
Anyhow - first I will find out who the chainsaw guy is… will report back!
Posted 2 years ago # -
its getting a bit busy there I must confess, it's all good but you get a good few hundred people past Peaslake stores on a rainy Saturday I'm told.
Only way to avoid it is to go up there at the crack of dawn now.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I'm sure Peaslake stores are happy - maybe keeps them in business so good for the village folk.
Posted 2 years ago # -
haven't ridden there recently but always suspicious about the number of trees/ branches that "just happened to fall" across the bridleways in Winterfold wood
Posted 2 years ago # -
news to me (hurtwood mtb trustee) although that doesn't rule out official Hurtwood activity. Have just tried to call the ranger without success. will email and establish facts now. Usually he puts signs up as well. unlikely that anybody else would be using a chainsaw, especially felling trees, and certainly shouldn't be if not the ranger. THere is felling works due at some point along the telegraph road hill - can't remember the dates but we were warned.
Posted 2 years ago # -
reply from range:
"We re-blocked off two trails before Christmas, the one that goes down into the Felbury car park No.9 more or less run parallel with the fireroad into that car park, comes out left of the gate as you look uphill. The other one is the alternative BKB one, which had some considerable jumps added the week before we blocked it. So we’ve only blocked the same two trails we’ve been blocking for the last year 18 months. Walking Bottom car park had a large Oak down near the wooden gate onto the Hurtwood, that we cut up and made safe, but shouldn’t have blocked anything? Locals? We cut the jump out at the top of Lawbrook lane on the left as you exit the village, opposite the layby before the road comes out onto Shere road, and we did some North shore type stuff on the right as you nr Pitch Hill car park. That’s all we’ve done anything else is possible snow damage breakages, that possibly the locals may have dragged across trails. If anyone one sees chainsaw cuts anywhere else I’d like to know."
He's a busy guy! still too many renegade builders out there giving us a bad name and costing the Hurtwood charity money to deal with (and they will always deal with it so guys just give up if you read this).
So if you definitely saw chainsaw cuts that are not on this list can you please advise here with the nearest u can get to an OS co-ordinate/exact location.
Thanks.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I was with Hora (I must be the one referred to as "Matey") and the branches we saw were definitely brought down by the snow, unless someone had the weirdest and most knackered chainsaw in the World. They could possibly have been dragged over the trails but it's unlikely as I don't think I've ever seen walkers on the trails we were riding.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Stopa How was the ride? sorry i couldnt make it!!
Off to germany later today for more cold shitty weather!!
RB
Posted 2 years ago # -
Was okay Ratters; the fireroad climbs were a bit of a shitter as they still had a lot of snow on them but the singletrack was nice, if a bit wet. Thing is, it was that wet that the mud was liquid, so easy(ish) going. Hora rode like a puff, of course.
Posted 2 years ago # -
We parked in coldharbour and rode summer lightning and sacked it!
only as the "rodies" i was with where Crap Even worse than hora.
Lowering on Summer Lightning ffs!
Posted 2 years ago # -
Sounds to me like the Ranger has done his stuff in just a couple of places and the rest is fallen boughs from snow. Some of the pine branches that have fallen are really massive yet have tumbled a long way - I was looking at one the other day and could not see where it had fallen from, yet it could not have been dragged either.
Posted 2 years ago # -
1111/ratters- I rode Summer Lightning on Sunday (got my days mixed up)- apart from the approach to the start of Summer Lightning the whole lot was fine/snow free. I did come across a large group halfway down though that had left a bike in the middle of the trail- you werent with them were you?! Weirdly Landslip carpark etc- was snowy yet Deliverance side etc was totally clear of snow!
Posted 2 years ago # -
OP here again; no one particular trail blockage was definitely felled by saw, not snow. The others were blocked with branches which, if due to snow, must have been gathered from distance (unless one particular heavy snowfall occurred just on that trail!). I haven't been back since but am due there on Sunday so will take camera. The trails haven't had anything artificial built on them.
RobPosted 2 years ago # -
I saw this and its deffo the rangers work. The annoying thing is that its an old trail he has blocked, not the newer illegal one just up the path. I thought the agreement was that legacy trails can stay, this one has been used for years
Posted 2 years ago # -
I haven't ridden the area this year yet, and I only live a 15 min drive away. I have mixed feelings about it really, whilst I rarely ride the boring (to me) 'popular trails' like Telegraph and BKB (sorry trailbuilders, just my opinion) they are useful as a means to getting to other trails and tucked away areas. Blocking them is an inconvenience to me, but I won't really miss those trails, and can sympathise with some of the local view. The place really has exploded with Mtb'ers in the last decade, especially the last few years, seems to be the same at Swinley/Brackenell reading the posts on here. I think it's down to magazines like MBR (I may be wrong) with features siting 'Telegragh' etc as trails worth travelling to - from London. On a Sunday the area around Peaslake is brimming with so called 'trail centre bikes' (sorry Spesh owners et al) yet, twenty minutes riding away, hardly see another soul, let alone biker.
If I'm fortunate enough to have time to ride the area during the week, Peaslake is a ghost town - or should I say village!
I don't have any leanings either way, the above is an observation, that I'm not totally shocked that the rangers are taking action to preserve what THEY value. We used to ride regularly with one of the NT rangers there, which helped with public relations, and seemed to relax their view a bit.
Posted 2 years ago # -
so called 'trail centre bikes' (sorry Spesh owners et al)
Spesh bikes are 'trail centre bikes'?
Agree that you can stay away from people up there if you want to though, Winterfold is usually totally dead even in the height of summer!
Posted 2 years ago # -
Had a few run ins with a guy when we were putting in T.0 who was putting logs and branches across the trail as we were building it and the same on XP when we carried out some maintenance a while back. The same happened with XP when it was first built, every week there was intentional debris across the trail which went on for a month or so and then stopped (they may have got bored?). Its nothing new and can understand the "locals" getting a bit cheesed off TBH as the place gets a bit swamped at the weekends.
Does make riding at night a bit more fun/chalenging though?.
Posted 2 years ago # -
If you go early enough it's pretty dead, I'm usually up there at 7.30 and it's fine.
On the one hand it's brilliant that more and more people are getting into MTB because it gives us more of a voice and leads to some really well made trails being built which can be fun, if a bit tame. On the other hand I really do fear that with the numbers involved there will be a time when it'll be designated areas only for MTB which would be tragic for those of us who like to go off pieste.The Surrey hills are a victim of their own success I suppose but I'm not sure it's really that bad only on the hottest days in summer does it get a bit too busy.
I count myself damn lucky it's my local spot and can't blame other people for wanting to ride there..
Posted 2 years ago # -
I have two questions. First what is it that people think the locals are actually upset about? Second assuming there is something that they are upset by in what way is that concern legitimate?
As far as I can tell the only thing that might upset the locals is that a large number of people use the woodland tracks near to where they live either on bikes horses or foot. When you put it like that though it sounds ridiculous. It's barely any different to someone living in London getting upset with all the people coming to shop there.
If nothing else their concerns aren't even remotely legitimate; anyone has as much right to access the Surrey hills and the surrounding villages as anyone else.
The concern about sustainabity is valid but is the preserve of the land owner not the locals and every step is being taken to ensure that those issues are addressed.
Posted 2 years ago #
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