Went for a night ride in Tunnel Hill, which is MOD land. Its usual to see the odd trooper hiding in bushes, its just part of the character of the place.

Two of us riding along minding our own business, lights blaring, and were half way through a particularly lovely piece of twisty singletrack, and just getting warmed up when a loud voice shouts HALT, STOP IMMEDIATELY!!! 😯

We did.

A voice in the inky blackness beyond the piercing beams of miniature suns set on our bikes stated that we had entered a military exercise zone, and more importantly we had somehow evaded trip wires set all around us 😯

Flashbangs and other devices were all armed, ready for my nobby nics to innocently rail round the next corner! We did an about face and valiantly ran away….

to the pub 😀

Is there a website that can tell me when the brave men/women in green are developing their unique skills so I can go ride where my life is in slightly less clear and present danger?

I could tell you…

…but then I’d have to kill you.

Ha ha how rad is that!

flashbangs ?
seems you were in a Hora Operational Zone

we had somehow evaded trip wires set all around us

so they put all the trip wires away from the obvious path through the trees?

as long as they’re not using live IED’s or owt it’s probably nothign to worry about?

Settign a thunderflash off might scare the poop out of you but it woudl be a good anecdote 😉

What tyres for riding over trip wires?

They’re getting quite touchy down at Tunnel Hill and other MOD land about groups of MTBers. They don’t mind if you don’t take the piss, but they are getting increasingly annoyed about people blundering into exercises.

It might almost be worth staying away from there at night, as you won’t see them until you’re almost on top of them. I’ve been told off a few times, and always apologise politely and back away while maintaining eye contact. The important thing is not to show fear. Or is that bears?

Many years ago – we stumbled out of the local pub, a long way past last orders, and found a bunch of men in black, armed to the teeth, crouched under the beer garden tables!!!

We found it hilarious – they didn’t.

and always apologise politely and back away while maintaining eye contact. The important thing is not to show fear. Or is that bears?

😆

Ask on the tunnel hill trolls forum?

But I do not think that there is.

Just don’t go night riding in a burkha would would be my advice.

I have learned that tripwires are surprisingly long and sturdy, and do a very good job of wrapping themselves round mechs, spokes, hubs and stays if you manage to hook one up in your back tyre. Best avoided whether they’re attached to something live or not.

You should of said:
” Thunderflash?. Pah, I’ll burn your retinas out with a lumen liberater .” 😀
Oh and don’t tell him your name Pike.

and more importantly we had somehow evaded trip wires set all around us

they should be bloody ashamed that amateurs can evade the traps they’ve set, then 🙂

Is this a bridleway?

TandemJeremy – Member
Is this a bridleway?

No, permissive access land owned by MOD

TJ, no. The area is riddled with MTB trails created by the army in the past. They’re used by Gorrick too for race events too.

Mind you, at night there are parts of the trail you have to do by memory, as it’s not that obvious due to leaf litter etc.

TJ – No, this is MOD land with illegal-but-tolerated singletrack going through the woods. All of the signs insist that cyclists stay to “established” paths I think, which is their way of saying “Look, we know you;ve been riding here for ages, with tacit permission, but please stop building stuff, and if we think you’re being an idiot, we reserve the right to take your bike off you and kick you out”.

You were just dying for an opportunity to shout ROW law at someone, weren’t you? 😉

What do the MOD in Scotland with the whole right to roam thing? Just drive their tanks around beligerent tandemists determined to make a point?

If it were me, I’d have well and truly ruined my undershorts.

wwaswas – Member
What do the MOD in Scotland with the whole right to roam thing?

same as the other parts of Scotland which are excluded from the ‘right to roam’ 😉

When we got back to my van, we were tempted to go over the other side to Porridgepot, and just as we agreed to go, we heard big BANGS and rapid fire gunshots NOT coming from the ranges 😯

Me thinks they were having a lot of fun last night. Fantastic weather too, warm, temperature inversions with mist in the valleys..

My idea of perfection….erm…. apart from nearly being blown to bits or being shot

essentially you should stick to the PROW on army land as they can’t put pyro down near these

I imagine that eventually you are going to lose your access to the area, the mtber who impales himself on a tripflare stake, get burned by the pot and falls into a trench (ok a bit OTT) and tries to sue the army will see to that

you have to put yourself in their boots, they are training for operations where people fire real bullets at them, your “singletrack” is their training area, they want to practice putting out the kit properly but can’t because you choose to ride any and everywhere

so they put all the trip wires away from the obvious path through the trees?

they are probably told to due to mtbers riding through them

as long as they’re not using live IED’s or owt it’s probably nothign to worry about?

this kit has safety rules and distances for a reason, they aren’t toys and can bite even at a distance

Settign a thunderflash off might scare the poop out of you but it woudl be a good anecdote

should lead to the exercise getting stopped and a formal investigation due to a civilian setting off the pyro, you’ll be really popular with the unit training

Is there a website that can tell me when the brave men/women in green are developing their unique skills so I can go ride where my life is in slightly less clear and present danger?

No. The only thing they do is raise red flags at various points around the area, but they would not be obvious to you in the dark head down, also, if you put it on the interweb the enemy would know where you are!

they should be bloody ashamed that amateurs can evade the traps they’ve set, then

No, they stopped them didn’t they, trip wires are only part of the defence, after that it would have been the pit with sharpened sticks, then drawing pins, then mossy covered rocks.

I think next time you go there, you should put a cowbell on your bars so they can hear you coming, make sure you have ear plugs in, if you are next to a thunderflash when it goes off it ain’t good, rapid bowel evacuation is likely if you are not expecting it. Good luck on the next trip.

You sure you haven’t been playing too much of this?

I appreciate that its their land, and have no grudge or axe to grind. Quite the opposite. I don’t want to cause issue or concern. TBH the forces do a sterling job that I made the choice not to do. CCF was as far as it went for me.

MY uncle was a Marine, and I have friends in all of the forces.

The point of my thread was to ask if there was a way to find out if exercises were planned, so I can plan NOT to be there.

On top of that, I also appreciate the choice the MOD made to allow muppets like me on to their land.

It did bring back memories of being demonstrated the effective damage a 303 blank can do at close range 😯

I avoid nightriding around Deepcut and Mytchett nowadays for this very reason, it must be a right pain being on manoeuvres and getting your nightvision ruined by 900 lumens blasting in your face! I stick to Swinley at night.

The important thing is not to show fear. Or is that bears?

You’re right the second time, its bears “The important thing is to show no bears”. In a tense situation like this introducing a bear, even if its quite a cute one, can frankly turn a drama into a bit of a crisis. One of the squadies could be allergic to the fur and and itchy trigger finger combine with an itchy nose is a lethal combination.

hilldodger – Member

wwaswas – Member
What do the MOD in Scotland with the whole right to roam thing?

same as the other parts of Scotland which are excluded from the ‘right to roam’

Not quite IIRC – for instance much of the pentlands is used by the army for exercises and is MOD land IIRC but right to roam still applies. The only bits it doesn’t is to live firing ranges such as cape wrath or a very small part of the pentlands – all IIRC. not land used for running about with practice stuff.

16stonepig – Member

TJ

You were just dying for an opportunity to shout ROW law at someone, weren’t you?

Not really – just interested in how this is managed

TandemJeremy – Member

hilldodger – Member

wwaswas – Member
What do the MOD in Scotland with the whole right to roam thing?

same as the other parts of Scotland which are excluded from the ‘right to roam’

Not quite IIRC – for instance much of the pentlands is used by the army for exercises and is MOD land IIRC but right to roam still applies.

Urmmm not sure that is quite correct, check out the map of MOD land in the pentlands

Map

Pawl – the training area right to roam applies – its only the live firing area it does not and then only when live firing is actually happening?- I thought that was the case?

Restrictions/Access times
Live firing is restricted to the Live Firing Range at
Castlelaw. The primary land use is for military dry
training (i.e. use of blank ammunition). Red Flags
(daytime) and lamps (night-time) are flown/shown
when firing is taking place and walkers are not allowed
into this Danger Area. The circular walk is accessible
at all times and the firing range is clearly demarcated
by a fence. This fence must not be crossed at any
time.

much of the pentlands is MOD land

I’d reckon about 10% from the map

Ah – OK