Swinley Forest users ** PLEASE READ **

I think he belonged to a couple of riders who looked to be calling for a dog in the distance

Any excuse:

To my knowledge, the Crown Estate has not had any legal proceedings raised due to walker/bike clashes

All litigation cases has been linked to cyclists who have crashed trying to sue the Crown Estate

This matter really makes my blood boil – if your out riding a bike off-road, then you need to understand and accept the dangers

How on earth can you nearly hit something on stickler – its flat with no trees

we are not talking about only stickler though, some of the new trails have been built to carry speed.

I’ve had dogs run out on me as well in Swinley. No, its not nice, but i realise that i’m the one doing 20mph – so its up to me to be in a position to scrub the speed of

We just have to live with the fact that the trails are there to be shared.

but the new trails are not there to be shared, or so I understood.

There are loads of other bits of the forest where a dog can run out of control. If a dog crosses your path it is easy to fold a wheel if you hit it and also come off the bike and gain an injury, especially if, like CG, you are already carrying on.

To my knowledge, the Crown Estate has not had any legal proceedings raised due to walker/bike clashes

yet is the operative word, and the case will be clearer cut if they don’t mark the trails as bike only (not mtb only otherwise what happens to the few unicycles I have seen and all the crossers…)

There is 2,500 acres of Forest. No need for non-riders to use the mountain bike trails.

There is 2,500 acres of Forest

you should follow such a statement with ‘,init’ if you are going to use the word ‘is’…

I would imagine given the muddy mess a lot of Swinley always seems to be when I take a trip up the M3 that walkers have seen the newly surfaced trails and thought that for once they would have a walk without the risk of losing their wellies.

Thing is, bleating about how wrong it is on the internet won’t stop people, dogs, deer and the odd squirrel from using the ‘bike’ trails. You will have to accept it and ride appropritely. It sucks, I agree but live and let live or you’re just a heart attack waiting to happen. Lets you justify that cheeky footpath section you undoubtedly ride somewhere to yourself too…..

But people don’t follow signed instructions.

They ignore speed limits. They walk ride where the want and we all like to feel free from rules and regs.. especially outdoors. It’ll happen no matter what. Dogs are random animals, they’ll go where they like. As are people )
And big signs just make it worse, I hate signs and all that crp in the woods. Makes it feel like a Go-Ape park..

Micro-management of ROWs doesn’t work anywhere. We need to be responsible in this situation in the same way that cars need to be responsible in towns where kids run around at school closing time for ex – you’re the heavier + faster party. I’ve seen walkers at Afan, CYB, the Lindarets DH, the GR5 PDS bike section, the lot. I’ve mentioned that they’re on a bike path at times but only in passing for their safety, not a rant. I ride cheekies and I’m used to stopping / diverting when there’s people about, what goes around comes around.

Unless you have a number on and are within the tapes, you don’t have a ‘pin it’ card. Ride responsibly, accept the risks and look out for others. Situations in your OP are fairly rare and it’s just common sense and decency. Just my take on it that’s all.

I ride with the dog at swinley often and yes he does run the berms and walkers soon get out of the way if you shout coming through, shouldnt we all just accept that there will at times be close calls and thats just part of life, no need to be upset and segregate everyone from everyone….

It’s not some trail centre in the middle of nowhere but is a forest in the middle of a huge urban conurbation which has been used by walkers/dog owners, yadda yadda for years.

The signs will either get ripped down or just ignored by the belligerent few.

If it isn’t signed and restricted to mtbers then it is a massive fail in terms of liability management.

If people sue because they are using a built trail and it is not safe enough to prevent their accident, then they are going to sue if using a built trail but coming across an unexpected hazard, such as a dog or walker/runner.

As CG reports, it was months before the NHS fixed her arm.

If you are on such a trail and you crash and do something serious because of an out of control dog then the temptation to sue someone for medical damages will be high for some people.

Unless you have a number on and are within the tapes, you don’t have a ‘pin it’ card.

Or unless you can see far enough ahead. Not easy at Swinley of course. I learned a lesson on certain bits of trail, I crashed into another rider.

Seems to me they could’ve easily taken out a few bushes and massivley reduced the potential for crashes, but that’s not legally watertight.

I learned a lesson on certain bits of trail, I crashed into another rider.

they are also going to have to make the trails directional now – at least on the trails that have more flow to them and so will carry more speed.

the speeds in this video are not unreasonable and it would be difficult to miss someone coming the other way at this speed:

obviously you may have riders down in front of you as well, but they won’t be coming towards you so you have a little more time to react.

When the new trails open they are going to all be one way, so should remove the chance of a head on collision. The Seagull trail used to be bad for this as you could carry quite a lot of speed in both directions, and especially in Spring and Summer when the bracken grows up there where a few blind corners. Hopefully the new trails will have massive no entry signs at the end of each trail. It still won’t stop people stopping in the middle of trails…

It still won’t stop people stopping in the middle of trails…

then they get hit – it is like skiing, init?

I can’t fathom people walking on the made up trails, however I met at least 3 mtbers riding at speed the wrong way on the new one way trails having gone right past some no entry signs. And if it was anyone on here who careered the wrong way towards me and my little lass on the new ‘blue’ trail and glowered at me when you had to stop then I was just willing you to open your mouth so I could f*****g start on you!

Hello all.

Was it Sunday at about 2pm? the last of the three riders going the wrong way effectively played chicken with me on the large hump bits, he gave way I suspect when he noticed I’m quite heavy and my bike is mostly from the last century.

Nice new trails open so far, I know they’re blue runs but I do find it slightly ironic that the trails are smoother than my local roads. I ride Swinley a lot so if the trails are all going to be pretty smooth I’ll go back to a rigid fork.

Not fussed about dogs on trails as squirrels and deer have caused me nearer misses, as long as they don’t leave dog eggs.

Trails will probaably not stay smooth for long given the amount of traffic they receive.

Problem with England is that there’s lots of space but you’ve been corralled into a tiny proportion of it, and now the response to the inevitable contention is to try and restrict it even further.

Each to their own.

Having lived in the US for a few years I now find the UK kind of crowded..

I think he was refering to the South East where you can’t get out of sight of a town anywhere. Compared to say the North Yorks Moors, Northumberland or the Forest of Bowland where you could do 20 miles in any direction and not see anything more than a farmhouse.

Never fails to amaze me quite how empty the Forest of Bowland is, it’s bordered by Lancaster, Preston etc, yet for a 25x25mile square on the map it’s criss crossed by only 3 single track roads!

Let’s say 2% whereas the walkers, etc have the other 98%, so it is a bit selfish to decide they want that 2% as well!

Ban MTB’ers from Stanage in the Peaks then, it’s part of the ‘2%’ motorbikes and 4×4’s are allowed.

Walkers would argue that they’re restricted (not at Swinley) to footpaths rather than open access, so would probably like ‘their’ trails to themselves too.

Could almost be at swinley from the scenery…

Never fails to amaze me quite how empty the Forest of Bowland is, it’s bordered by Lancaster, Preston etc

…

cinnamon_girl – Member

There is 2,500 acres of Forest. No need for non-riders to use the mountain bike trails.

There is a damn sight more than that at Thetford and the trails are full of walkers early on a Sunday

…No step away

JamesOz – bingo!

Thought so. It was the scowl thing, big wizards sleeve that one. I was showing a guy round who had the worlds creakiest/heaviest bike at the time.

No phone call received. 😐

Guess it will start getting busy now as news of open trails filters through.

We we there at the weekend. Bly a few cases of folk going the ‘wrong’ way on new stuff. Hopefully this will improve once proper signage is in. Disappointing to see clearly unfinished stuff being forced open and ridden anyway.

My friend was telling me that she saw mums with pushchairs on some new singletrack. 😯

Also, an update to say that a phone call was not received from Crown Estate. Civil servants eh. 🙄

Sorry but double standards …..
How many on here post about their use of cheeky trails, aka footpaths ??

Im not tarring everyone with the same brush cg but its crown forest so folk presume that its open to all and just go for a wander in the woods – youll never stop that.

Maybe call Jeremy Vine.

My friend was telling me that she saw mums with pushchairs on some new singletrack.

Will they be helping out on trail- building days?

Things like this, this level of user-conflict, the level of population density, is why I’m moving out of the SE.