Friend of mine had a ride today morning. Sad, sad view…

Cheers!

I.

That looks like road scrapings, asphalt? gads.

That also doesn’t look like the work of Fix The Fells, more that of a local landowner. Where was this and for how long does it go on?

it also looks like it won’t last for very long

That’s not the Garburn side though is it? It’s the farm track up from Kentmere Hall? Rode it a month or so ago and it looked like the farmer had just been generally patching up the track a bit as it was eroded from weather, use, etc. which seems reasonable enough. Might be worth keeping your outrage powder dry for now.

FFS that looks terrible. Is that Troutbeck or Kentmere side? EDIT: Yes, that’s up from the Hall towards Borrans, no?

As above, that’s road scrapings, and won’t be FTF.

Whoever did it it is sad state…

Quoting his text:

Just done Garburn. A ton of gravel has been steam rollered into place on a part of the climb. T’other side was sketchy baby head fill and lut of kentmrre patches of almost tarmac

Cheers!

I.

So, reading within the lines, he’s come up from Troutbeck and the gravel is on that side, and the tarmac pictured is on the climb ‘out of Kentmere’ ie the Kentmere Hall track. It could be that he’s coming across the ‘sanitisation’ of the Troutbeck side for the first time, or they’ve dumped a bit more on it, which is possible (either way not disastrous, as it was already pretty smooth for the most part).

While tarmac shavings ain’t a great material, the KH track does need to be used by the farmer to reach his stock.

As long as they haven’t screwed with the Garburn descent into Kentmere…

Might of been a gravel rider trail building……

(smoothing of the surface aside, that’s an almighty eyesore)

That does look nasty!

He is riding area regurarly so I do not expect him to overlook such a thing. Must be more, much more of the stuff…

Cheers!

I.

While tarmac shavings ain’t a great material, the KH track does need to be used by the farmer to reach his stock.

That’s a pretty rubbish farm vehicle that needs tarmac to reach his stock.

Is it within a National Park – they’re usually fairly hot on appropriate materials beign used…

That’s a pretty rubbish farm vehicle that needs tarmac to reach his stock.

He’s not really tarmacked it TBH, just dumped whatever he had lying around. It’s just an unpleasant variant on gravel. There were a couple of big ruts at that point, as you can see by the line off to the left. Presumably he wants to take a 4×4 and a trailer up there regularly, rather than a quad.

If the landowner wants to change the track to make his life easier, he has the right to do it. It’s only the choice of material that is a poor show. If that were gravel, I doubt we’d be that bothered.

I was pleasantly surprised riding by Garburn when we rode it in May.  I’ve avoided it for years after the Troutbeck side was comprehensively gravelled and then washed out.  In May it was all rideable up and pretty firm.  The descent to Kentmere Hall was a blast.

That photo is ugly as hell but I don’t remember that climb being much fun either up or down and I’d guess that will all wash off the next big storm

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m still a little confused as to where this is??

To me The Garburn Pass starts down at Howe Moor, up past Dubbs reservoir on Dubbs Road and over the top, dropping down Crabtree Brow and to The Nook in Kentmere.

Reading the above posts and from the picture, it looks to me as its on the track South of Kentmere Hall that goes past the (disused) quarry and Hall Wood on the Left.

Carlos

Might be worth keeping your outrage powder dry for now.

I think we all know that’s not going to happen.

Carlos, I thought that this was the track heading west out of Kentmere, past Kentmere hall which eventually leads up n over high borrans?.

If so, yeah it’s not part of Garburn.

NBITF – Yeah, that’s the same track I’m thinking it is, runs from the Church on the bend in Kentmere

Looks like a pretty standard farm track repair to me.

Tarmac scrapings don’t stay that colour for long, it’ll be brown in no time.

Looks like a pretty standard farm track repair to me.

Tarmac scrapings don’t stay that colour for long, it’ll be brown in no time.

Now just you stop right there with that sort of sensible comment! This is nothing less than the deliberate and systematic destruction of classic mountain bike routes.

Theyve been working on that track for the last 18mths or so, lots of re-grading up above the gate. It’ll wash through soon enough and the only tough bit about that section is the gradient.

That looks like the climb away from kentmere hall to me.

I rode round there a couple of weeks ago. Didn’t do that bbi specifically, but did climb garburn from troutbeck side, there was more repair work going on there as well, pretty dodgy looking patching up. But like already stated above, that climb is already pretty smooth anyway and it was only smallish sections of it.

Looks like there Asphalt plainings the farmer probable bought a few loads much cheaper than getting in virgin material. With this heat the bitchumen in them will soften and they likely start to stick together.

perfectly legal for him to do as long though if they contain tar then they could be hazardous. If they smell of creosote then there is a good chance they do contain tar at which point they have been illegally dumped or used

Looks like another trail I can add to the http://www.southlakesbikefest.com gravel ride :-). Defo not Garburn

I rode up Garburn two weeks ago on hardtail,  Dubbs Road to the top, turned round and back same way.   There was a very large pile (20t plus) of Road scrapings next to the reservoir on Dubbs lane.   Also a 3t dumper,  mini digger and three contractor vans.    I rode same route every morning for 3 days and sod all activity.    A mate rode it on Sunday and told me it’s low been sanitised leading up past the reservoir.    It’s fresh laid and grippy as hell for a bike.   It’s not a local farmer but a planned project.    I’m not sure why it needed It,  it wasn’t overly worn,  irrespective it’s now done.    Hopefully they won’t continue.

If the Daily Mash did this…

Countryside in not just for bikers shocker.

A mountain biker was shocked and angered today to find out that people actually live and work in the places he uses for recreation.

Ritchey Salsa was out for a ride on his five grand MTB when he discovered that someone, maybe a bastard farmer, had filled in his favourite potholes.

A purple faced Mr Salsa who lives and works in London stamped his little feet and bits of spittle flew out his mouth as he told us “this is a f*cking travesty. I ride here regularly, at least once every five years and now it’s different from the last time!”

He continued, “Landowners have a responsibility to maintain tracks in exactly the same condition as I first found them.”

The farmer whose land the track is on was unavailable for comment being far to busy f*cking up other tracks for visiting mountain bikers.

Lol!

Tbh, it’s not really ‘sanitising’ on Dubbs road, is it, it’s an access road out to a bloody reservoir. I wouldn’t be bothered if they did the whole Troutbeck side, as I only ever use it to get onto the footpath over Yoke, Ill Bell etc…

The descent into Kentmere is a bit shit anyway.

It’s not as though it’s a piece of highly technical singletrack is it? If that stretch was the highlight of anyones ride then they need to find better trails. Personally I don’t mind wide bits of trail being smoothed as I find them boring as hell and would rather just cruise up them as easily as possible to get to something more interesting.

My only concern is if that has tar in as it may leach o the surrounding soils.

On the plus side, surely you’ll all be able to get PR’s on strava now 😉

Bike Bob- the material they’ve used along and past Dubbs Reservoir isn’t road scrapings, it’s a 20mm to dust material similar to MOT but it’s not. It is the same material as in IvanMTB’s post of Caplerigg Lane

TBH, a good winter will prob ruin all the good work they’ve done recently (water soaked through and a good hard frost will break it up and it’ll turn soft, then washed away in the next downpour)

At least it’s on the climb side and not the descent side!

If the descent side of Garburn was like that, there’s no way it would be worth that climb

Quick question. Who owns it/maintains it?

if I am honest with you if I had to maintain something it would probably look like something Ivanmtb posted. Looks good for a footpath or bridleway. People and horses do not like technical sections.. possibly quite good for people out on a countryside pootle too…