Bumped into a guy walking the Ridgeway this evening, into his 3rd day of wild camping, had to check & see if he'd heard of the said spraying despite being off grid - yup he'd heard.
I wonder if anyone already has.
I did, a few days ago. Know the area quite well. Missed a phone call from Devon and Cornwall police this morning but they didn’t leave a message.
^^ 👍
I did, a few days ago.
Nice one. Hopefully the farmer is about to receive a ripe crop of karma.
Not really in the spirit of wild camping IMO, but an over reaction from the farmer.
I may have missed it earlier but is the tractor driver the farm owner or a contractor?
If he’s a contractor there’s a good chance he’s had a chat with his boss with neither coffee nor biscuits by now.
If he’s a contractor there’s a good chance he’s had a chat with his boss with neither coffee nor biscuits by now.
Yeah. I was thinking along the lines of whether the camper HAD asked if they could stop there, the farmer agreed to it, and the Mr Slurry arrives at 6 the next morning not having known about it... It's assumed that the camper didn't have permission but nobody knows his story.
And I don't know many farmers these days but, when I did, those with big farms didn't tend to drive their own tractors.
Couldn't this be incredibly dangerous?? Surely that stuff is filled with harmful bacteria and coating someone in that much of it could easily result in an infection, potentially fatal, especially as you could end up inhaling some of it.
If he’s a contractor
Tractor man is apparently the son of the farmer that owns the farm
the whole thing might be staged. Get a mate to pop a bike and tent in a field, tell him to duck when the tractor comes past. Get a million views on youtube, profit.
I very much doubt it's staged, looks like a nice MSR tent from first glance. As mentioned above, you'd buy the cheapest festival tent off Argos if you were setting something up with a mate.
Surely that stuff is filled with harmful bacteria and coating someone in that much of it could easily result in an infection, potentially fatal, especially as you could end up inhaling some of it.
Farm boy has presumably been snorting it since he was a nipper, judging by his general vacant demeanour.
On Vine / R2 right now!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!
!
I'M FURIOUS!!!!!
Love to the family.....
A good reminder of why I never listen to Jeremy Vine. God it was just painful listening to that lot. The farming forum was far more sympathetic to the camper than that phone in crowd. It would have been nice if Jeremy had said how the farmers were generally kind to the camper rather than just reading one pro and one con message.
Despite the fact he’s often personally quite sensible, his show is the radio equivalent of the Daily Heil website comments section.
Was he just talking about this, or did he have the bikepacker on? If not, does anyone know how he’s getting on?
@Flaperon did you hear from the police again?
Even if the victim doesn't want to take it any further, it's in all our best interests to ensure this doesn't stay just another "also in the news" story.
@Flaperon did you hear from the police again?
No, I didn't. Unfortunately I'm guessing from the fact that it was on the Jeremy Vine show the police have confirmed to the BBC that they aren't going to take it any further. It's not particularly surprising given the general uselessness of Devon and Cornwall Police.
No names, no pack drill…
But I know of a land agent who manages some land in the central belt. The owners were keen to make the land (which is former mining land) a haven for wildlife, particularly ground nesting birds and waders.
But, it was too near to civilisation and plagued on a monumental scale by dirt bikers and quad riders. No amount of gating and signage made a bit of difference, and local plod were far too busy/underresourced to intervene.
A bit of work and it was discovered that the land was suitable for the use of human slurry, and after the necessary hoops were jumped through, and the necessary licences obtained the land has been liberally anointed with what has turned out to be a massively effective deterrent. The abundant and informative warning notices were only ignored a few times after that.
Having visited it I can only conclude that Curlews don’t have a very good sense of smell
@Flaperon That’s piss poor. I’d be willing to bet this isn’t the slurry sprayer’s first episode of adverse behaviour.
Probably more accurate to say farmer's son, 29, sprays bikepacker with slurry using his dad's tractor. Not so hard now, daddy's little helper eh?
And as always plenty of people reaching for the like button on social media when anyone does anything to cyclists.
Did someone post on this yesterday? Has appeared in my notifications (and as above it would be good to know if the cyclist involved finished his route)
That's disappointing. Oh well!