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I see.
Strava times increased.
I saw someone doing that. Would have said something but I was worried they might take offence.
Boom boom.
Whoever did that must be completely unhinged.
mountain bikers getting plenty of blame on here
we do plenty of riding around there and sometimes go through those gates, don't think any of them affect any strava segments and if they do they would be shit anyway. only one of them could actually be part of a descent/climb.
Who'd stoop to such a thing?
Who wood do such a thing?
Certainly a stile-ish way to make your point.
Sawing gates? Not my style.
Curses to you martinhutch!
That looks like Cut Gate to me
Leaving aside all the bad puns, anyone who’d do that is, in my eyes at least, a complete malaka.
Like any off us doing anything “off road” need any more bad publicity...
I'm sure someone will have rung the police with information - they will catch them soon.
Probably a local runner. Some gait analysis is what they need.
Would have been easier to take the screws out of the hinges.
Sounds like some guards need to be posted, to watch out for suspicious looking Laplanders.
It's like Watergate all over again
Looks like Freedom of Access activists.
We used to do similar in Scotland back in the 50s & 60s to any gate that did not allow personnel access - but that was justified because we had the right of access and some landowners were trying to apply English law.
However we would never do damage like that shown, we'd cut a lock and replace it with a shackle, or if we went through a fence, lace it back up again with some coloured wire.
If they want that sort of thing to stop, introduce sensible access laws.
I don't think gates are an access issue really Brian, we have gates up here too....
It's not a locked gate, it's a well used tourist path but don't let that stop you from trotting out your tropes.
Looks like **** teenagers with a power saw found a thing to power saw. Or some tapper with a grudge against ldnpa or the estate
Vandalism of this sort is a gateway crime and the perpetrator must be caught
Maybe the police will latch on their MO. Either way I need closure.
It is White Moss Common, so an outside possibility that some nutter objects to common land being gated.
That looks like Cut Gate to me
This just deserved posting again. Well done fellow funk 👍🏼
Nobeerinthefridge
I don’t think gates are an access issue really Brian, we have gates up here too….
thestabiliser has just pointed out it was not a locked gate.
In that case there's no mitigating circumstances... 🙂
My only thought is if the wall is so shit as in that pic, why bother with a gate?
Gates are for sheep. If there is no wall, then the gate is unnecessary.
don’t think any of them affect any strava segments and if they do they would be shit anyway
Wouldnt the strava nutters want to keep the gates and just have a mate hanging around to hold them open (ok since a obsessive perhaps a paid person rather than imaginary friend) anyway? That way they would benefit but no one else would.
It’s like the middle of it just varnished
Laughing at your comment @dissonance we have a local guy who will strava stalk you if you knock him off his perch, next day he’ll go back and reclaim his prize.
After a social ride and beer the other week we discussed a few options to finish him..
Our favourite being a gps batton, stick all our gps devices in a bag, get the fastest uphill on a whippet gravel bike with a handover to the guy on the full sus to hammer it downhill.. Win win
All we need is 10 watches/mobiles/Garmins and he’ll be out of the top10
So **** the fells spend thousands on making the surface accessible to all then whack in a load of gates! Not very joined up thinking.
After a social ride and beer the other week we discussed a few options to finish him..
Our favourite being a gps batton, stick all our gps devices in a bag, get the fastest uphill on a whippet gravel bike with a handover to the guy on the full sus to hammer it downhill.. Win win
Sounds like you lots are worse than him, by some orders of magnitude!!
Absolutely, what a bunch of bangers! 🤣
I hope they 5 bar whoever did this from the countryside.
I've often thought, even as someone with a farming family,that there are more gates than necessary in the countryside. I'm not saying I condone chopping them in half but they aren't always required. For example, in the Peak District going up the Roman road to Hope Cross, the last 150 metre stretch of the track has a gate to get into it. It's then fenced in both sides so livestock can't get to it but there's another gate at the top. Why? Is this bit of track liable to walk off on its own if it isn't kept securely gated? And as the trail is the same surface as that preceding livestock aren't likely to come to harm on it.
Then, once you've descended the Beast from there and climbed up to Snake Pass there's another little gate. Despite this area being forest, not farmland, with no sheep in it. The gate isn't narrow enough to stop motorbikes and the track isn't wide enough for 4x4s so what purpose does that gate serve?
A few less gates and easier access would probably be a benefit to everyone.
So **** the fells spend thousands on making the surface accessible to all then whack in a load of gates! Not very joined up thinking.
The gates might be on the boundary between farmers/landowners which will nearly always be closed and latched to prevent livestock from straying. A gate in the somewhat tired looking wall is odd unless there's work planned to reinstate it or put a fence there.
Whitestone- this is in the Lake District where fell farmers tend to mix their sheep in with one another's.
Anyone who oversees a scheme to make a route accessible should be willing to try it out as a disabled user would experience it, i.e. vision limiting glasses or a powered wheelchair for instance, they will then see just how accessible their new path is
Munrobiker:
Roman Road to Hope Cross is as a result of riders, walkers and horse riders avoiding the rocky bit and going off up the sides. The farmer had enough.
On the bottom of the beast, knowing the land manager, I would assume it's to slow riders down.
@munrobike - I'm from the Lake District, I grew up on a fell farm.😜
The first photo shows a vandalised gate on a bridge. Becks and rivers are often boundaries and many bridges have gates at either end. The second might be the wall between in-bye and fell land in which case the wall and gate will be for stock management.
Anyway, all bye-the-bye, such vandalism is all to easily laid at the wrong door by those with an agenda.
Pook- I know in your eyes, or at least the official eyes of Peak MTB, there are no wrongs done by landowners in the Peak, but the fence either side of the bottom gate at Hope Cross, and the fence up either side if the track, completely stops the situation you're talking about. And if the landowner is so bothered about that, why hasn't he done the same further down the hill and filled in the massive puddles made by his machinery that everyone avoids?
We're not talking about the same gate on the Beast- I'm on about the one right at the top of the climb from the bridge at the bottom, literally on the main road. It's totally pointless.
I met that farmer at 10:30 on a Thursday night in October. He came to the top of Win Hill to tell me that the deep double farm track I was riding on, by myself at 10:30pm, wasn't bridleway.
He was *very* unpleasant.
Now, I'm not saying that's got anything to do with the hope cross gate situation...
The thieve's that stole the gate will be looking for a fence next.
The GQ (Gate Quotient) of a ride is a tangible factor in rating the overall quality of a ride. A low GQ is desirable.
The Ben MacDhui circuit has a GQ of zero, which combined with a number of other factors, makes it an excellent ride.
Some of the Lakes rides have GQs in the middling double digits, and hence, are condemned to be rubbish, despite significant other redeeming features.
To be clear, I do not approve of guerrilla gate removal in any circumstances. Just suck it up and ride elsewhere.
1030pm, all anyone wants to do is get home. Who's to have a problem with that?