Overgrown trails

Horrendous ride yesterday, round the Winchester area. by percentage of the total ride, I think it was about 7-8 miles of riding were fully overgrown trails. Mostly overgrown with head-high stinging nettles. I was in agony by the end, arms felt like they’d been burned in a fire!

Haven’t ridden round there for a few years, but when we did I never saw bridleways as overgrown as they are now. Are there fewer riders these days, horse or bike? Fewer people out walking? Only ever seem to see walkers within a few hundred yards of a car park. Or is it just local councils don’t look after the pathways anymore?

Miles and miles of this  😟

To be fair even in the last week trails have gone from “ooo thats a bit tight” to “how the **** are we getting down that nightmare of brambles and  stinging nettles”…

Huge amounts of rain plus warm winter plus warm (not hot weather) means a perfect storm of growth.

Yes, think it’s mostly about recent growth rather than lack of maintenance.

Agree, it’s perfect weather for the weeds to go crazy this year, warm and moist. It was similar last year but happened earlier. I think it’s a combination of the massive growth spurt and less people using trails because of the constant rain and waterlogged ground.

My cheeky off-road route to work is now off-limits. It’s only ever rideable for a glorious few weeks where it’s dry enough to ride but you can still see the trail.

We’re well into the invisible trail period now. And I just don’t need that many nettle stings.

Yes, think it’s mostly about recent growth rather than lack of maintenance.

Bit of both around my way. Typical MTB trails affected by decent growth due to brilliant growing conditions. Local path network/canal paths etc that usually get a trim hasn’t been looked at whatsoever. They’d normally get a trim each year before now but I guess this is a sign of the financial cuts.

The weather has been a massive pain for it this year.

I cleared a trail with a mate 4 weeks ago and on Friday I couldn’t see the trail any more.

Hopefully heading out with a hedge trimmer later today.

Bracken is a pain in the arse

Aye,a lot is well overgrown,but I decided the other night that I much prefer dry narrow trails and tingling legs over ,careering around in a mudfest and drizzle.  👍

I can live with some stings or scratches but you wouldn’t catch me going down that trail, OP! Not without a scythe attached either side of my front hub like some mad nettle killing Boudica, anyway.

I’m getting destroyed this year. Never enjoyed it but its a necessary evil, however every ride is ending in a arm/leg/hand savaging this year. Aside careful route planning (i like long xc rides so very hard to predict), im thinking of switching to long sleeve tops, full finger gloves etc to try and reduce the damage. Bites seem to be taking longer to heal too

That’s not overgrown – you can still see the dirt.

Yep, legs on fire last night as well, I made the mistake of following some trails which I had previously only ridden in winter which are now 1″ wide slots between the nettles 😖

Scienceofficer
That’s not overgrown – you can still see the dirt.

Lol.. the others I couldn’t stop and take a photo on!

Also I think the very wet winter and spring meant fewer riders were out. But mostly I think it’s just crazy growth from warm wet weather. I wore long sleeves yesterday because my arms have been getting so scratched/stung. My hand guards are proving useful!

Any recommendations for a tool to clear trails like this? Ideally looking at something manual as some of it is cheeky and I don’t want to draw attention to myself too much whilst doing it.

A year or so back I saw an old fella clearing a path with what looked like a long thin steel rod. About 1 meter long and thinner than my little finger. Almost like a thick rigid whip. Not sure if it had a honed edge.

Anyone seen or aware of anything like it? Would rather not go out tooled up with a machete or similar!

a long thin steel rod. About 1 meter long and thinner than my little finger.

You can get them in B&Q if you’re just after a simple metal rod. Seems like a good idea, if awkward to carry.

Folding saw works well.

But you need a long blade which looks a bit dodgy if you can’t fit it in a bag.

I have a silky bigboy with the outback blade,  that works well.

Honestly though nothing works as well as a hedge cutter

A metal rod is the simplest version of a grass whip. It should be pretty effective for non-woody stuff, but you do need a saw for the firmer stuff.

Graham is right though.

Battery hedge cutter is best. I usually make a special trip with a backpack full of useful items and spend a battery charges worth working on stuff.

I use the G-tech one because it breaks down into a back pack fairly well.

I’ve given up trying to find adequately protective gloves in these days of minimalistic apparel – I bought some enduro hand guards. They look terrible and work really well.

Does feel like a battle this year trying to keep our local trails running, there are a few of us that usually spend a few hours a month with hedge cutters/scythes which is enough. Would be a quicker/easier job if more people would put in a bit of work in. Also, hand guards – hideous looking things but better than wearing gloves.

I’ve got a thin metal rod (from B&Q) on the end of a CD rack, that sort of thing would work – guess you’d have to strap it to the frame.

Also have a folding sickle – that was from B&Q a few years back. Didn’t notice them the other day when I was looking at their tools. Would be easy to carry, but the way those nettles were on the weekend you’d have to wear protection!

Peak growth season, and maybe, less xc riding nowadays, and maybe social media makes certain tracks busier and others less used.

And yes, in comparison to some round here those look pretty clear, it’s where the long grass and nettles disguise the brambles and dog roses that really get you though.

Fewer people out walking?  ,   Based on my volunteering “job” and the mrs being a cough/spit rambler I’d say yes, our volunteering lot is diminishing (age, illness)  and the mrs rambling group is getting ‘similarly older’, possibly related to the change in pension arrangements and also less people doing the ‘simple’ outdoor stuff (*walking with a flask and sarnies) when they’re young so not keeping it up when they’re older.

If you are cutting back this stuff or any other hedge please remember it’s peak nesting time for birds and its not cool to disturb nests.

The other thing is to try and avoid leaving sharp sticks poking out across the track. I cycled into some singe track that looked like that and got impaled on the jagged ends of the sticks. Ended up with nasty cuts on my arm.

This year I have discovered riding trousers,  and an unattractive long sleeve top in the Polaris sale that has “bramble proof” material on the arms.

On the plus side, monster dock leaves

Never seen it this bad before, lots of rain and spring sunshine (when you were stuck in work obvs)

Funny thing about nettle stings is riding solo I just grimace and plough on through, but I turn into a kid when walking the dog with the mrs

Still, it adds an extra dimension to the ride, I’ve been going one-handed trying to avoid brambles while unable to see the actual trail, hasn’t ended in disaster. And I’ve spotted a couple of flattened places where deer were sleeping, they often seem to sleep right next to trails

It is the bracken round here.  Sometimes so tall that it grabs your bars and can put you off course at best,  on the floor at worst

This year I have discovered riding trousers,  and an unattractive long sleeve top in the Polaris sale that has “bramble proof” material on the arms.

longs and gloves and just plough on through 🙂

Be careful what you wish for. I complained last year that the track at the top of our hill had become overgrown. Council turned up and gave the farmer a slap on the wrist. So this year the evil $41thead reversed his tractor down the track with a topping flail on taking out most of the hedgerow, obliterating the path and a few aspiring trees. Council came out again but because the hedgerow was patchy (<24m continuous lengths?) it doesn’t count as an illegal removal & so they can’t do anything . I’ve seen less wanton destruction from mine clearing vehicles.

I use one of these, if you sharpen the edges & keep them sharp you can get through clumps of work of ferns and most brambles in one swipe. I can clear a full trail on Cannock Chase before resharpening.

https://www.diy.com/departments/heavy-duty-800mm-weed-slasher-slash-clearing-long-grass-weeds-whip-scythe-sickle/5060719486699_BQ.prd?&&&&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwvb-zBhCmARIsAAfUI2ub5q7W-QWb_1OSvDHLv6UXpag3wLEKfxWVlXrRIanKjr_w44Y3-IQaAlfzEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds