Trees on trails

Thought it might be useful to have a thread on trails or areas closed by fallen trees after Arwen. Might save some wasted journeys.
And updates when they re-open or news on work parties to clear things.
I hear Tweed Valley is a mess!

Grisedale forest also has lots of fallen trees.

Not seen the Tweed Valley yet but I’m 15miles away and it’s a right state here. My local woods are well beyond chainsaws I think, I’m expecting proper logging machines in there when they get round to it. Worst I’ve seen since I was in Suffolk in October 87!
Just sent the TrailFaries a message on the Facebook to volunteer for anything they need help with. Been meaning to join for ages but plague stopped that, now seemed like a good time to try again…
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As an aside, anyone know how long it takes to get a chainsaw certificate? I’ve used one before but not for a while, I’m guessing ‘proper’ groups like that won’t let you use one without such. Still, I guess if enough of us show up to do stuff it will make a difference.

@andrewh Chainsaw tickets. I first did mine back in 2003 via the nptc route, basic felling and cross cut, a week’s course with SAC in Lanark, now SRUC. Like all things in life, the course and assessment is only the start.

All the tweed valley bike forests are officially Shut. The weather after the storm’s not going to help. Mostly FC will want to handle the official trails themselves, so they can do all best practice and avoid anyone getting killed to death by hanging trees or a chainsaw mishap. THere’s been some bloody big falls this time round 🙁

But fallen trees on the offpistes mysteriously vanish 😉

My Mothers just sent me this text after hearing from her pal in Innerleithen!

“Eileen’s just text again to say biking trails in Innerleithen are all ruined x”

They’re both in their 70’s so there might be a bit of exaggeration/ dramatics in the text 😂

Eileen’s just text again to say biking trails in Innerleithen are all ruined x”

dunno she could be right,  our local trails are un rideable, trees are like kerplunk across trails and fire roads.

A before and after of another local wood

Was at Kirroughtree on Saturday. Hundreds of trees down.

Looks like it’s all the non-native stuff with their shallow root beds that are down.

Hedderwick Hills plantation, John Muir Country Park, East Lothian has more or less been flattened

(Fatty interest)

@andrewh – did my basic Chainsaw ticket (NTPC Level 2) in 2019 at a cost of about £1k, I volunteer with the RSPB in Dorset and they put me through the course. It’s one week long (5 days) which included the written and practical assessments. We did it at an Ash planation and all the trees had “Ash die back”, so we could fell as many as we liked. Very physical work and as I was 63 at the time and had always worked in an office environment the course was the hardest weeks work I had ever done!

@bruneep – Great videos, but while the devastation looks bad this happens all the time in nature and will create great opportunities for other plants and wildlife. Non native Pine forests are dead places for native wildlife, just listen in the spring you rarely hear bird song, so something like this event means that after a “healing” period and if left alone you will get a more diverse and much better mix of flora and fauna in the area. It always amazes me how quickly nature will take over and make things better if left to itself.

Looks like it’s all the non-native stuff with their shallow root beds that are down.

I haven’t been out yet but interestingly round by me it’s always the very much native beech trees that get blown over. I think this is because beech is dominant, and the roots are always shallow because the topsoil is shallow and the subsoil is impenetrable.

I haven’t been out yet but interestingly round by me it’s always the very much native beech trees that get blown over

Not sure where in the country you are molgrips, but beech is only native to the south east and some of Wales.

Marin/Gwydyr in N.Wales also in a state. Would deffo check before setting off before the weekend.

Not my video.

That forest on video and the ones we ride are managed working forests for FLS. They are not going to allow it to “heal” as you put it and become some idyllic enchanting woodland. They will harvest and replant, new trails will be born from that.

Ironic thing that FLS had not begun harvesting in the ones we ride and they were being very sympathetic to the existing trails there. Guessing its a case of just getting on with it now for them

I haven’t been out yet but interestingly round by me it’s always the very much native beech trees that get blown over

Not sure where in the country you are molgrips, but beech is only native to the south east and some of Wales.

He’s in Cardiff.

Plenty of beech trees down in our main ride spot, here in Swansea.

was up at my local in Northumberland yesterday assumed there’d be a few trees down but nothing could have prepared me for the devastation that greeted me. lots of damage whole areas of trees completely flattened sound not even uprooted just snapped off at about head high. I reckon half the trails there just don’t exist anymore.

Just to add to the chainsaw ticket advice, you’ll also need the wind blown trees course assessment too (and probably add the 380mm+)

Sheffield (as best I know)
Cannings- both trails blocked. (Top of Cooking on Gas is a proper mess)
Blacka – Devils Elbow, Piper House Gate and the bridleway linking parallel to the road were clear as of Saturday lunchtime, but I could hear stuff still falling in the woods while I was working, so don’t assume that’s still the case.
Wyming Brook – 8 or so trees down on the bridleway.
Greno – fireroads blocked, but I believe Steel City and DH3 were still clear. I think Pubrun is shut anyway.

Anyone know what Dunkeld or Pitlochry is like?

A couple of quick walks round some less popular borders forests and every path/trail have trees across them. Some I can’t see being fixed. Not all Sitka etc a lot of elderly hard woods are down. Probably as they have rot somewhere.

I’d say what I’ve seen is worse than what closed pennels vennel a few years ago.

i was out yesterday on a local trail (midlothian) and there were 4 or 5 trees that had blown over. sizeable conifers totally upended. it’s very remote and seldom visited but it’s the worst storm damage i’ve seen in a long time.

Anyone know what Dunkeld or Pitlochry is like?

Rode through Craigower on Saturday, only the lower part though- didn’t see any obvious damage. Might be different higher up. No signs of much damage along the riverside as far as Killiecrankie either.

Thanks guys about the chainsaw, sounds like considerably more than an afternoon of ticking boxes like on a first aid course. Think I’ll stick to a bow saw and reciprocating saw, for my own safety as well as not getting into trouble.
Going to have a look at Yair later and see what state that’s in, cleared a few bits there in the past but I’m expecting much bigger stuff down this time

local in Northumberland yesterday

A couple of lads I know posted pics looking up from the main car park at Thrunton yesterday, looked like the whole hillside has been totally flattened, hopefully I’m wrong but I can’t see any of the trails on that hill surviving. Hearing from another lad that Chopwell has been hit pretty badly as well, not just trails
blocked but completely gone, bad times for mtbing in North East England

Saw a sit from guy that builds at Yair it’s fairly goosed from what he walked didn’t think FF would be salvageable

Mixed outcomes here in western Angus, around Glamis; some woods are almost unscathed while others look like they’ve been trampled by Godzilla. There are several holes 100m across in the middle of a forest with not a tree standing. It’s bizarre how this happens in some localities and not others. Douglas fir and sitka spruce are the worst affected, although plenty of Scots pine and birch are down too. Out on the farmland, some of the dodgy die-back ashes have fallen but at least they’re rarely on the trails and will get moved by farmers. It’s going to take a whole winter of work to get the local network back but some areas are far beyond what can be fixed by fairies/enthusiasts with chainsaws.

It’s bizarre how this happens in some localities and not others.

I’d imagine soil structure, whether sandy or clay, and depth of this, may be a factor?.

Not sure where in the country you are molgrips, but beech is only native to the south east and some of Wales.

I googled this before posting it – and the accepted wisdom is SE England and SE Wales, where I live – but that’s now being challenged by genetic studies.

It’s bizarre how this happens in some localities and not others.

Yeah what Nobeer said. This is a favourite subject of mine. There’s all sorts going on under the ground. For example here trees fall down because the subsoil is glacial till and is about 50% stones, but being mild and wet the top few inches is rich loam. So the trees can’t put roots down deep but they do grow outwards quite well. The woods by my house is an interesting example. It’s shown on every old map back to the 1850s and I don’t know of any industry or even villages here before that so there’s a good chance it’s quite old woodland – but there aren’t many old trees in it. However there are lots of young (or at least skinny) ones blown over.

Glaciation can leave kettle holes, so if you have an area with glacial till soil and large holes the holes might fill in with good soil, and you’d be left with some areas where the trees can put down deep roots and some where they can’t. Or it could be actual bedrock underground, or even water that causes the trees to be more unstable.

A quick check suggests lots of glaciofluvial activity in the Glamis area so quite possibly the ground varies in composition a lot.

A couple of lads I know posted pics looking up from the main car park at Thrunton yesterday, looked like the whole hillside has been totally flattened, hopefully I’m wrong but I can’t see any of the trails on that hill surviving. Hearing from another lad that Chopwell has been hit pretty badly as well, not just trails
blocked but completely gone, bad times for mtbing in North East England

can confirm, had a good ol pooter around, all of the north facing hills have had massive upturn of trees, and nearly all the trails down towards the stream have at least some sort of blockage. Its gonna be a while before they’re up and running again properly!

Trees been down on the edge of the Galloway forest at Forest drive for years now, their root beds are 20m wide, but less than 2m deep.

I was scoping a local hill for digging some new trails last thursday night, wide open, no trees anywhere near, it’s the future! wind can help dry trails off too, aye there’s no protection from wind, but then it won’t get destroyed by storm or forestry work.

I had a walk on Ben Vrackie yesterday. Very little sign of damage in the woods around Moulin. However windthrow can be an all or nothing thing. One tree goes and a whole coupe can be wiped out or every tree survives.

I saw no obvious areas of windthrow in the plantations, visibility was good

Some really sad stories just as so many trails were looking good after lockdown build efforts.
Pic of some impressive roots in Stirling/BOFA area. StirlingCrispin’s photo.

Heard from a friend that there was lots of Strava action at Dunkeld on Saturday suggesting it it not too badly affected but second hand info!

Not holding out much hope.for bowhill. There was some felling around Illuminati not long ago and the tree guys managed to not touch the trail at all. But when the trees further in lose the shelter that usually leads to lots falling over.

*TRAIL UPDATE*
Our team is heart broken to learn of the destruction to Scotlands trail network on Friday night.
Storm Arwen ripped through Strathearn. Our local community is devastated to see our natural trail network obliterated in one go.
We do have some good news😁
Thanks to the incredible efforts of some awesome chainsaw wielding humans:
Russell Newham Maria Orourke Colin Harper Josh Rose & Digby 🤩
95% of our trails are now open.🙌
🚵‍♂️The full BLUE trail is open
🚵‍♀️All of our RED trails are open
🚵’Hairy Coo Black’ & ‘Sloppy Joes’ are open – these are our BLACK trails accessed from Decision Rock.
*IMPORTANT*
⚠️Natural Gold remains closed⛔️ Please do not attempt to ride this trail, it is completely impassable and requires some serious thought and work to re-open it.

Text from Comrie Croft FB page.

@Gaz.dick Thrunton is one of locals too, was planning a night ride next week. Do you think it’s a complete no go for the foreseeable then?

Do you think it’s a complete no go for the foreseeable then?

The lads I know that were up yesterday were saying months at the very least, most if not all fireroads blocked and no rideable trails at all that they could find ( they regularly ride there and know the place very well) . Both said a lot will probably be gone for good

I’d post a pic but no idea how I’d go about doing it

@dan30237 – i think trails down towards the stream – or off the crag will be able to be fixed pretty quick, but anything North facing, i wouldn’t expect – 50% of the trees are flat around the car park (and that is not an exaggeration!).
I didnt get round all of the trails, mainly because so many fireroads blocked, and it required some interesting routes to get inside the forest proper.
Can’t see it being a quick jobbie- but will be easier to tell if FC can clear the fireroads at least..

One thing that tends to cause a real domino effect is when a block of timber’s been removed- suddenly the trees behind it that are used to having the wind protection have none, and down they go. Doubly so if they’re an oldschool solid forestry block so it’s a wall of trees with maximum wind resistance. But this storm seems to have taken out a lot of natural wood, and also notably stuff that’s been really stable- Comrie’s a good example. Five Year Plan at GT a good one too, it’s obviously the edge of the forest but it’s always been that way so for whatever reason this year’s first real storm has demolished stuff that’s resisted for years. It didn’t seem that bad just being out in it but it was seriously gusty I suppose, you’d get moments of near-calm and then huge slams of wind.