I nipped out to Swinley this weekend - a few trail closures due to flooding, a few due to maintenance work. However there were still plenty of riders ignoring the 'trail closed' signs, the signposted detours and the tape blocking the access. Why?
Had completely the opposite experience at Swinley on Saturday. In places the diversion signs werent that good but we didnt see anyone riding any of the closed bits. We got asked several times by people for help in working around the closed sections, (where the signage wasnt great) and there seemed to be plenty of other people who know the trails helping out those who didnt. We actually commented on how friendly and helpful it all was and that nobody was on the closed bits.
What's the situation at Swinley now - are the waters subsiding a bit?
Was wondering if it;s worth heading over this Saturday.
Why?
Human nature. It's the same with Skiing, you see people ducking under tapes to go down closed runs, with no idea why they've been closed.
It's daft though, most MTB trails are closed due to maintenance or for the ground to recover and ignoring signs and riding them screws them up further.
Most of the good bits are still open (bar one or two), the fire road sections are pretty muddy and very wet, there is a fair bit of standing water on the man-made trail sections but it's still firm underneath and rideable as you would expect. Well worth a visit.
Edit: As said above some of the diversion signage is pretty poor unless you know the trails so takes a bit of working out. To be honest if they improved this it might help stop people from going on the closed bits as it's sometimes hard to navigate.