Part of my local loop crosses a National Trust park, I access the park using the national cycle route.

on a night ride the other day a security guard stopped me and said that as the park was closed, I was not allowed to be there.

When I raised the point that I had been on the bridleway and was heading towards the national cycle route, and in my opinion, you can’t close a bridlway depending on the parks opening hours, he maintained that as the park was closed I shouldn’t be there.

Any bridleway or cycle route experts have any advice in case I see the chap again?

thanks.

Don’t know about closures, but national cycle routes don’t have quite the same access rights as footpaths and bridleways. Part of national cycle route 6 goes through Newstead Abbey and there is a charge for bicycles.

If it’s a bridleway then it’s a right of way.

They cannot deny you the right to use it just ‘cos the sun’s gone down.

Phone the rights of way officer at your local council.

a bridleway is in essence a road, you are perfectly entitled to be there at any time assuming no TRO/restrictions/bylaws exist.

Is it a Bridleway that runes through the park or a cycle route?

When I raised the point that I had been on the bridleway and was heading towards the national cycle route

Reading this again suggests that he wasn’t on either the bridleway or the national cycle route?

What Park? Just so we can look at a map…

@wwaswas – thanks for confirming what I thought

@Drac – both – I enter the park via the national cycle route, when in
the park, I branch-off and pick up the bridleway

Map link?

There’s the problem then entering on the cycle route means the rights away are limited.

Park is Clumber Park, Notts

What confuses the issue is there is a road that crosses the park – Limetree Avenue, which is not gated or closed by barrier and is a thoroughfare between B6034 and A614, which my route crosses.

thanks all – will stick to the bridleway to avoid any issues with the rights of way on the Cycle route (during ‘closed’ hours)

Probably trying to feel important. I’ve ridden round there at night for a few years now and never had any bother from them. Theres always people fishing on the lake who must have got access past the security barriers from off the main road. Is it the security guard in the estate car with the flashing lights on top?

Interestingly (well, to me anyway) I had a similar issue on a Sustrans National cycleway route last night. I was stopped by a security guard and told that access to the route was closed after 7pm and that I shouldn’t be where I was, despite being firmly on the tarmac of a National Cycleway.

Can National cycleways restricted by local rules or are they accessible 24/7? Anyone know who at Sustrans to contact?

A public bridleway is a public right of way. Unless it is subject to a Traffic Restriction Order (which it could be) then no-one can stop you from using it at any time of day or night.

The National Cycle Route marked on the OS maps is NOT marked as a public right of way of any sort.

The only way to check properly though is to enquire with the local authority who will have defintive maps and records of any TROs or by-laws.

NT parks usualy close at dusk (or some nominated time in summer), this is for a few reasons.

1) Rights of way, usualy there’s an advantage to allowing public access, but not rights of way, so they have to prove it’s not open 24h/365days, usualy that means cloing it overnight and christmas day.

2) Keeps out undesirables, the one I lived on used to just nominaly close (i.e. there wasn’t a gate). But had issues with various people (doggers, ladies of the night, drug dealers) using the car park, and boy racers ‘drifting’ on the medows, so started closing the gates which are now locked with keypad access.

OS maps are often wrong in NT land, often showing footpaths/bridleways/roads when in fact there isn’t a right of way.

There’s certainly a section like that at the docks in Dundee. You can’t get through at any time without ID.

Get in touch with the NT, as per recent article in the mag, they are increasingly open to access these days. Guard working to rule, which is fair enough if he hasn’t been told otherwise.

Looking at a map both paths both N and S of the lake are BWs, no restrictions can apply.

Edit: if you’re on the path going SSE then once you cross Limetree avenue, no right of way. If you are going ESE, through Hardwick wood, the continuous right of way. But I would still get in touch with the NT ranger.

Can National cycleways restricted by local rules or are they accessible 24/7?

They’re allowed to charge to ride along them. I queried this a few years ago as the Sustrans site used to talk about ‘free and accessible to all’ when in fact they’re not always free.

Got a grid reference for exactly where you were at the time, or a link?

http://binged.it/15v9hjB

ok – if you view it in 1:50k, you’ll see there is a ‘green dots’ route from south lodge, past the aviaries and over clumber bridge to trumans lodge – I take it thats the path you’re on, as thats the one the National cycle network lists as the correct route.

well, thats listed on the OS map as an ORPA – but I can’t find a street name to cross reference it against on the list of streets.

if it is an orpa – then legally it would be a road, and open 24/7

Clumber Park is a bit sensitive to “anti-social activity” – they have to keep Limetree Ave open since it’s a public road, but a few years ago they closed all the little offshoots from that road to deter people from parking up. It’s had the positive knock-on effect of cutting down the number of vehicles driving into trees at night on that road 🙂

But I don’t know about the bridleways etc up there. Ask the Rights of Way people at Notts County Council.