Hi,

I took my hedge trimmers down to my local country park today to clear the face high brambles that have grown over my favourite trails.

After about 1min a pair of very irate council blokes turned up. Almost like I was some numpty waving power tools around without permission…

Have you got permission? err. Have you got signs?, Errr. Have you got safety gear? Err. Have you risk assessed this? Err. Wildlife, kids, what if you cut yourself and bleed to death…..

So no trail clearing for me as a private individual on the country park. I don’t quite know why this wasn’t obvious to me before I started. Anyway it is now.

I’ve never quite been sure if riding a mountain bike is ok there. I’ve been riding there for 15 years and have passed loads of council folk who have never said anything, so I assumed it was fine. They absolutely did not say it was ok to ride there, but didn’t say it wasn’t ok to ride a bike. They were very clear on the no trail clearing.

They were also quite clear that the trail I was clearing was a “desire line”. I’ve never come across that term before. I seems to be that they have to maintain paths, but not desire lines.

So no guerilla gardening for me.

If still like the brabmles cleared. How do I go about doing it properly?

Can I voulenteer, get trained, risk assessed and all the other thinks I didn’t have today and then do it?

I’m asking on here before phoning the council as some trails local to me got demolished by the forestry commission. This might have been after some people asked if they could maintain them, or it might have been the jumps increasing in size. Either way I am not convinced that the council will be happy about the stated goal being to ride down an unsafe trail as fast as possible.

Help or experience would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Don’t know the answers, I think there used to be a website like fillthathole.org.uk called clearthattrail? doesn’t seem to be anymore. Sick of the nettles and brambles overgrowing on the bridleways and paths round here though. Considered taking power tools to it many a time.
Guess the councils only have people employed to stop others clearing the foliage, rather than to actually do it.
Looking for clearthattrail, found this
https://www.oss.org.uk/need-to-know-more/information-hub/what-to-do-about-overgrown-paths/

Desire lines ….= Cheeky trails that are not part of their network of paths.

Ergo they don’t want them cleared.

If you wanted to do it on the sly … Not using power tools would be a start.

As a former FC volunteer, desire lines are left to grow, we often blocked them with brash we’d cut to speed the process.

I’m with the council workers here. I assume you didn’t check the areas for nesting birds and other wildlife before you started?

Use hand tools and don’t do it during working hours😉
Garden shears are quite useful for this kind of thing.

Given that councils (and highway authorities) don’t have the funds to maintain the roads, they are not going to prioritize footpaths and bridleways unfortunately or cheeky trails!

Good gloves and some hand tools. Much move covert rather than lunatic running around with power tools in a public park.

Just do it in the evening when there’s no one around.

I was going to say – pop there when all the workers have gone home and use manual tools (probs not a machete otherwise someone is bound to report you as a nutter) and you should be grand. Some kind of shears should be pretty quick and effective.

If you wanted to do it on the sly … Not using power tools would be a start.

This.

Desire lines ….= Cheeky trails that are not part of their network of paths.

I’m pretty sure that you know what it means.

Desire lines are the “natural routes” someone wants to walk, you seem them in worn corners of grass at path crossings, hedges by bus stops and around supermarkts. Peopel want the shortest/easiest route betweemn points. A good landscaper would design the paths so they served the purpose well with pedestrians/cyclists in mind then plant up/landscape the areas that form un workable but desirable route between two points. If they don’t the ground will erode or compact further establishing the path.

I think the workers have a point. you can’t just go about swinging you trail clearing tools on a managed country park and expect not to be stopped.

Alternatively, the general public with a little concern might avoid the desire lines and follow the provided route?
To the OP. Leave it alone. It sounds as if MTBing isn’t officially allowed but they didn’t want to say “go away”. Too much creating of unofficial new routes creates problems later. Just stick to whats there.

I’m pretty sure that you know what it means.

STRAVA

There could be plenty of reasons for leaving the unofficial path overgrown, as I mentioned above there could be ground nesting birds in there, erosion control, an area where snakes or other wildlife are found, wildflowers, trees that like to drop branches (admittedly other restrictions would be put in place) etc etc. Or they could just be fed up with mountain bikers making illegal trails. But by all means break rule 1 and go back there at dark and carry on regardless and make the staff pissed off.

Or ask if they have volunteer workdays and chip in and get to see the work (and park) from their side

STRAVA

Hero lines.

Just do it in the evening when there’s no one around.

after ~3.30 should do it.

Be discreet. Don’t make it look obvious you’re carrying tools around and evenings are best. Make yourself aware of the patrol routes and times they are about.
I still managed to get caught once. Getting dark one Sunday in November. A couple of FC blokes who turned out to be cool about it provided I wasn’t building jumps or digging around tree roots.

Just go back after 4pm or on a Sunday.

this is surely a troll? nobody seriously would take a power tool into a staffed country park where they weren’t sure MTBs were even permitted and be surprised that they were stopped from doing unauthorised trail maintenance?

It’s much more discrete to start clearing a little way in to the trail, rather than from one of the ends, then clear the ends just enough to get through them. Bear in mind that it won’t be a one off job: the vegetation will likely grow back surprisingly quickly.

I work on the basis of discretion first and that forgiveness is easier to acquire than permission.

Power tools in a country park is certainly not discrete.

Pro tip:

Secateurs and foldy saw in your rambler approved backpack.

Wear boots and red socks rather than ride there.

First rule of pretty much everything, don’t be a dick.

If the council employees have warned you off, heed it and don’t consider stealth management techniques as its clearly not allowed.

And you wonder why people get pissed off with various things 🤦🏼‍♂️

My tool of choice – https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/17033701873

but

probs not a machete otherwise someone is bound to report you as a nutter

it’s ‘maybe’ a little bit too machete like for some folk.

That is an amazingly useful tool for clearing/lopping and pruning…mighty sharp though and most folk will be seriously concerned if you are seen walking around with it.

Folding saw, folding scythe, pruners and lopping shears along with some thick gloves are in a back pack when we go out local. Kept most of the trails clear and ridable for years near us. Only ever had one complaint from a lady who said that we were not doing it sympathetically.

A lad I know weedkillers his fave cheeky trail at the beginning of the season. Its bloody effective.

Agree with above, do it by stealth.

That or get a high vis vest and a hard hat and look confident!

I’m with the council workers here. I assume you didn’t check the areas for nesting birds and other wildlife before you started?

I didn’t even consider that was a thing- hence looking for some informed guidance.

I think the workers have a point. you can’t just go about swinging you trail clearing tools on a managed country park and expect not to be stopped.

I’ve learned this today:-)

But by all means break rule 1 and go back there at dark and carry on regardless and make the staff pissed off.

First rule of pretty much everything, don’t be a dick.

If the council employees have warned you off, heed it and don’t consider stealth management techniques as its clearly not allowed.

Exactly the point of this post. I could do that, I’d rather do it properly.

Or ask if they have volunteer workdays and chip in and get to see the work (and park) from their side

Is this likely to work?

Bear in mind that it won’t be a one off job: the vegetation will likely grow back surprisingly quickly.

Based on doing in peak pandemic once a year seems fine. Someone else had been in there as well, there were plenty of cut brambles.

Is this likely to work? It can do, but might take a few spells at it. Depends on how much work the park takes to keep in shape and how much work the staff have to do – plenty do appreciate volunteer support and it could be a way in to allow you to also do some other work on the fly…just make sure you don’t make it obvious that you are also trying to find out how things work to allow other things to get done, but make it clear you want to help with clearing stuff.

It isn’t about hiding motives, just don’t broadcast them.

I think the workers have a point. you can’t just go about swinging you trail clearing tools on a managed country park and expect not to be stopped.

Not all country parks are managed to the same extent. I ride to work every day through Clyne Valley Country Park – that’s the name officially given to it by the council. It is a wooded valley that spills over on to a scrubby ex-landfill site to the east. It’s not fenced off, there are access points everywhere, tracks everywhere and loads of unofficial stuff of all kinds in there, including 2 official MTB tracks and plenty of unofficial ones which the council generally tolerates. The only work the council seems to do there is to remove the occasional fallen tree from the main cycle path, and once in a blue moon to remove the rhododendrons. The real clearance and drainage work is done by us MTBers, a fact which often escapes the tiny number of walkers who complain about our presence.

(I actually saw a council ranger there for the first time ever this morning!)

I’ve been riding this trail and others similar to it in the place for 15 years. No idea what cut them in initially.

this is surely a troll?

Nope.

County park in my mind this morning is a bit different to it now.

Mostly I just thought of it as the woods. Not as a country park. I’ve had what a country park means explained to me once today. In detail. Now I know the difference.

My tool of choice – https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/17033701873

but

probs not a machete otherwise someone is bound to report you as a nutter

it’s ‘maybe’ a little bit too machete like for some folk.

I bought one of those for this job last year. I doubt they would be any happier about that than the hedge cutters.

Thanks for all the advice and suggestions!

So

If volunteer+ learn how to do the clearing properly its not going to get me trimmed desire line trails to cycle on.

The council are not going to adopt these desire lines as trails. If they did they would have to make them safe and surfaced. The trails like that in the park are wide enough for a car and with a surface a normal car could drive over with a bit of care. That’s not what want to ride on.

Does that just leave me
A) cycling down them enough times I ride the brabmles into submission? No axes, brush hooks or power tools.liferaly clearing them with my blood.
B) being a dick and clearing them with non power gardening tools when there is nobody about
c) still hoping for a better suggestion

The real clearance and drainage work is done by us MTBers,

Someone has been clearing these trails, there are head high brambles this summer, they wouldn’t have died back unless someone was doing something?

I would go for speed rather than stealth.

We don’t have country parks around here but I use battery chainsaws and brushcutters (Makita) in “sensitive” areas. Just carry a few spare batteries in a backpack and it’s surprising how much you can get done, in a fraction of the time that it would take you with hand tools.
Makita are not only the best battery stuff but they’re not orange and therefore more “stealthy” than, say, Husqvarna….

What’s the best way to sharpen a brush hook like the one @convert posted above? I just don’t seem to have the tools (or the patience) to get the inner curve sharp.

A lad I know weedkillers his fave cheeky trail at the beginning of the season. Its bloody effective.

That’s pretty poor isn’t it – pretty random to kill everything, anything isnt it, and hope noones dog goes there too soon afterwards. Hope he takes care else it’s not good for his health either.

I use something like this

Sharp

The wheels can be pulled round the inside curve.