I'm a Rossendale local but due to family matters didn't ride last year.
I went up Cragg and Lee yesterday - it's knackered!!! I know they had a land slip on the lower bit of Lee but the Cragg to Lee downhill run is bombed out with geofabric exposed in places, Lee Quarry itself is quite unloved and needs some general attention. The usual scroaty nobbers ragging around the place on 'crossers.
Considering the nice weather the place was pretty deserted.
It used to be rammed on a weekend a few years ago. I know cash strapped councils havnt the money to be spending on things like this and the private funding/enterprise never lead to anything but it such a crying shame. It's never going to be a BikeParkRossendale at this rate
That's all!
Yep, seems to have gone right downhill since the council publicly pulled the plug. Thanks Tories.
Crossers are the reason I haven't been back for a while. Cragg had been torn to pieces last time I went about 6 months ago.
Real shame - I used to go there regular like.
Rossendale council had a fair go at screwing things up as well as Lancs CC. There would have a trail head shop, cafe and car park there now generating revenue to maintain the trails if they hadn't stuffed things up.
The annoying thing is that 'crossers have their own quarry to play in (Cowm) but that costs money so they rip up Lee/Cragg and the moors in general for free.
Unfortunately it will be a self fulfilling fate for the quarries, the more mx activity the less MTB, the more the "nobbers" take over the place, the damage and weathering ramp up and soon it is just a magnet for anti social behaviour etc etc and the place that no longer gets listed as a trail centre.
geofabric
What the **** are you talking about?
Genuinely.
It's that cloth stuff used sometimes to reinforce the base of trails in construction- terram cloth and the like. If you can see it, something's gone wrong, it's the equivalent of seeing the floorboards in a carpeted room. Bit surprised they used it much at the quarry considering the ground conditions but it's good stuff
There were some guys up there on motorbikes when I was there and tbh, I couldn't totally blame them since it felt so abandoned even then. Such a waste.
The geofabbric was used on the link between quarries across the peat. It's inevitable it'll show through eventually unless the base layer is laid properly. Most contractors just use machines to tip in the base layer which often includes too much fine material, this gets washed and eroded out.
It's alĺ a far cry from the days of helicopters bringing in trail material and the plans for the adrenaline gateway.
Mind you the council can't even maintain the roads so what chance does a trail centre have?
GMP and Lancashire police need to try new ideas on enforcement.
If they wanted they could recruit Special Constables to tackle the off roaders and other wildlife crime rather than just using them to boost numbers on a Friday night in towns. It will probably get more people willing to join as if they have a defined purpose that isnt fighting scrotes
Give them the kit, bikes, drones, cameras and a bit of leadership and watch the problem disappear.......hopefully
I've not been up to Cragg for ages. In fact I rarely venture over that direction. Last time I did the trail down to Waughs Well was just 3ft deep trenches where the crossers had been tearing it up, then there were a load of crossers ripping around Cragg Quarry itself.
The other thing is that the landowners have clearly had enough of it (and who can blame them?), so you have stuff that was previously rideable, like the trails down through the woods to Michaels Wife Lane which have now been completely fenced off and are now inaccessible to everyone
The worrying thing is that having torn the shit out of all the trails on that side, when I rode up Bull Hill last week, it looks like they've now set about this side too, judging from the tyre tracks. At least with this side being National Trust land they'll probably do something about it. Hopefully so. The damage they've done already is depressing to witness
Same as others , I haven't used either quarry much recently despite them being on my doorstep .I have reported crossers several times using the special number but have never got a response .I suppose it's the same as the argument about funding- if the police can't cover the streets how are they gonna manage the hills ?
You know those two coppers on DR400''s you used to see riding about the place, keeping an eye out and deterring the ****s?
That was the combined police off road presence for most of the north west. Just the two of them and I've not seen them for a few years.
And yes, it's a disgrace.
Haven't used it in ages, last time felt like I'd stumbled into an mx group ride by accident.
Yup full of MX lads the last two times I went up there. Seen-em hitting the tables and hip near the skinnies.
Philips park the same, theres quite a bit of damage as well!
It's annoying when you go to other managed trail centres - Guisburn, Llangdegla, BPW etc etc and see how successful they've been although it is Rossendale council so you can never expect to be anything other than disappointed.
To defend the council to a point they did explain a few years back that because of budget cuts places like lee/crag were going to suffer. They didn’t excuse or hide it. Real shame though.
Enforcement tends to be cyclical, we are just at the bottom of the cycle climbing slowly out. There have been a couple of enforcement actions recently but not enough to discourage the mxers