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How about installing donation boxes at the start of these legacy trails, explaining that you are entering a legacy trail, and any donation will be put towards maintaining it. It would then become apparent that any trail without a donations box is not part of the sanctioned trail network, and should be avoided/ reported/ ridden at riders discretion. That way, we could be seen to be making a contribution beyond joining the foth.
People should also use the car parks. I cycled through peaslake at 8.30 last night and there were vehicles parked by the memorial, yet the free car parks both within 30 seconds drive had plenty of space.
t-i-m; It's a genuine question, the point is that i don't. I don't read the maps (I should) and I'm not that familiar with the distinctions between Hurtwood and Winterfold access priveleges, hence I'm asking.
I've 'found' these trails by exploration or by riding with other people who've shown them to me. No-one has said they are / are not legit. Last time I rode them a few weeks back they were open from top to bottom. Now the top is open at both ends, the middle is open at the top and blocked at the bottom, the last bit is totally blocked. The switchback trail was open 8 weeks ago, now is totally out of action.
If they are on private land i won't ride them, don't want to be doing anything to antagonise the landowner. Hence the questions about whether the fireroad between S1 and S2 is the boundary, and if it is I'll keep riding S1 but drop S2 from the repertoire. But by doing that I end on a fireroad which appears to be the boundary but is not marked as a RoW, so can i use this to get to the next RoW / road
"don't want to be doing anything to antagonise the landowner."
I wouldn't worry about that. He will concrete over half of Surrey and fly in 300 747s a day given half a chance. If you are local then a fair chunk of your parish council stipend will be spent in clerk's time writing objections to his hair-brained schemes.
Antagonising him is your civic duty.
Just remember - careless talk costs trails.
My understanding is the boundary is between Section 1 and Section 2.
careless talk costs trails.
I've edited right back to keep sense but lose any location. It might be obvious to you but you couldn't find the trails in question from description. In fact - starts on a fireraod and ends on another one is about as unspecific as you could ever get 😉
Who is the landowner (I know, JFGI)
Joolsburger - someone was trying to get something going a few months ago, but it all seems to have gone quiet. Maybe Mark (not Ranger Mark) could post a few words and let people know what is going on?
Winterfold YGM. 😉
I'm genuinely struggling to understand why this is causing so much confusion. I'm getting the feeling that you're already a considerate rider, who isn't really causing any problems.
I hope that is the case but like theotherjohnv I have definitely stumbled on to problem areas recently by mistake!!
Except for posting up directions to tails
Guilty as charged m'lud. Beginners error (albeit to well known trails, surely) 😉
theotherjonv - sorry if i over reacted there. Take a read through this whole thread. I'm sure that there is a link or two to the boundary maps for Hurtwood/Winterfold. Given you're knowledge of the area, it should be pretty easy to work out which trails are on which land.
No worries. Genuinely, i don't read maps, at least not in the right detail, simply because these trails aren't on maps, they're all stuff I just ride / have been shown. If i do look at a map it's to see what roads / bridleways link up the starts and finishes of trails that i know exist. The experience of Tuesday and the fact that s1 was untouched while s2 is blocked, and then the realisation looking at the 1:25K on streetmap and seeing the trees are a different colour on the map gave me an 'aha!' moment.
If I was totally honest, I was under the misconception that Winterfold was just about everything to the west of the road from Shere to the Windmill, so if anything thought the whole of the trails I've ridden were Winterfold ones, but as i've never had any hassles either with people or blockages thought they were OK. I know more now......
Is it just me, or do others feel the way that logging activities across the Hurtwood has been conducted and left the landscape, makes it difficult for the estate to take the moral high ground here?
I now live in the area, so as well as riding, I walk there with the family so have a vested interest in access, trails, and the visual appeal of the landscape. Recent activity has spoied much of the visual appeal, and whilst I get the fact that the woodland needs actively managing, much of it looks a mess and in the process they have trashed a number of bridleways such as the one that climbs up the hill from the bottom of Barry's.
Whether its Hurtwood, Winterfold, or Leith I think we can clearly see that in working forests the 'mtb erodes/harms the environment' line is utter BS. If we couldnt see that before...
I much prefer something honest like 'its our land so if you want to ride on it please ride where we ask you to'.
I agree that forestry work makes a massive mess - but there again it is their land to make a mess of! Plus it is relative - the woods will recover in their own time.
If it were a SSSI it might be different - having said that the woods between Abinger Common and Friday Street are SSSI and Wotton Estate have made a right mess of that and nobody is prepared to bring them to account for it.
[i]Is it just me, or do others feel the way that logging activities across the Hurtwood has been conducted and left the landscape, makes it difficult for the estate to take the moral high ground here?[/i]
Yes
[i]Whether its Hurtwood, Winterfold, or Leith I think we can clearly see that in working forests the 'mtb erodes/harms the environment' line is utter BS. If we couldnt see that before...[/i]
Totally
How about installing donation boxes at the start of these legacy trails, explaining that you are entering a legacy trail, and any donation will be put towards maintaining it. It would then become apparent that any trail without a donations box is not part of the sanctioned trail network, and should be avoided/ reported/ ridden at riders discretion. That way, we could be seen to be making a contribution beyond joining the foth.
becuase its not 1950 and a donations box in a secluded bit of woodland would get robbed, unless it was basically a valut set in concrete.
Up at Pitch today for a quick spin - millionaires mtb - no-one else around, just me and the deer. I was coming back up from the graveyard to the fork with the big cairn and there were two beautiful, young males just standing staring at me. I slowed right down and they didn't run away. Great sight.
Having been frustrated by lack of knowledge on first trips, I am now shifting to understanding how much fun it is to simply find tracks on your own. Ok it takes more (wasted) time but a thrill to do your own exploring. Found some new, slightly steeper and slightly off camber stuff which made a really nice variation. Not too difficult but a nice change from the well known routes and not as rooty as the obvious off-camber route on Holmbury (that we cant mention!!). Still need to work on technique/confidence on final drops onto forest road - still find some of these a little scary given the height of some of the drops and the flat landings.
Good to see the signs from Friends in CP3. Made note to make donation - its the least we can do. Plus stop the chicken lines - I noticed a couple of new ones to the side of the obvious steep bits. Making a bit too much mess IMHO. Surely better to avoid the steep stuff or walk the tough bits than cause lots of lateral erosion. One area (a steepish drop of after a lovely easy stretch of ST from the top) is looking badly eroded now. I was having fun thinking about the comments on another thread here (£30 etc) about Surrey having no hills when faced with some of the drops today. Hmmmm!!
Ok winterfold and t_i_m, I finally get it 😉 Epiphany up on the Surrey Hills today 😉