Are they footpaths or BW’s?

We started in Pecket Well (its the first place we get to from Bingley) down the stone BW, right at the bridge, down to Hardcastle, coming out by the toilets.
Over the bridge past the Blue Pig and up the BW’s to Heptonstall.
Right turn till Lumb Bank and with a touch of luck found a nice set of steps and a great descent with a couple of steps to finish.

Climbed up the long track towards Jack Bridge, left up the hill and made our way to the Penine BW/Gorple before dropping into Hardcastle by the footpath that splits the BW at the top and the river at the bottom.

Down t’mill, crossed the bridge and climbed to the Gibson Mill car park.

Back to Hep and reversed our route to a well deserved pint at the Robin Hood.

Loving the area but like newcomers to Wilsden its easy to miss the good stuff. I’m assuming we passed Slack Tracks and Midgets Pit but did we ride em??

I detect Beechnuts, possibly Tron, but not Midgets Pit or Slack Tracks. No.

No neither of those trails from your description. There’s a million trails round that way. That’s why we love it here.

Ed-o, please drop me an email re a little guiding. stunt_monkeyathotmaildotcodotuk Cheers Jason

Maybe you thought I was joking when I mentioned footpaths and OS21 ?

I wasn’t and from what I’ve seen from the STW videos etc. most of the trails given these strange names (although some do relate to the area they’re in) are designated footpaths both by signs and on maps. It’s not that you can’t ride them, you shouldn’t, so if riding them, please bear in mind their status, make allowance for people walking and consider the sense in publicising it.

Recently I rode what they appear to call ‘Midgets pit X’ in one of the videos, being able to locate from the video and a map. It was fun, a weekday and no-one around. But I found it on the map because most of it was a footpath. In the video a guy walking his dog steps aside for the riders and comments that “it’s not a cyclepath” – true it isn’t. I would just have said thank you, but one of the crew in the video shouts back “it’s not a footpath either”, false, it is. Perhaps riding so many of them has blinkered some people to the trail status and responsibility ?

yeah, there are a lot of not quite legal trails in the area, it would be silly to be advertising their exact location on the internet as this would bring more people and most likely an enforced ban on bikes instead of a blind eye.

see the cheeky trails thread for more info / arguing.

manners cost nowt & some local trails should stay local

I have to admit there are one or two of mine that are best kept to myself. But there is no harm in asking..

As for footpaths/singletrack not marked as BW’s, life would be pretty dull without em. You are right though, manners cost nowt. Most walkers in the face of good manners can’t be too grumpy.

Looks like its more dog walking for me, i find its the best way to research a new place, especially one so bloody steep..

I agree with some of your points steel4real. There are more of us out there riding and it’s vital that we ride with courtesy and respect towards all the other people we meet on the trails. The impact of a few idiots is felt by us all.

i love beechnuts……………. 😥

Ed – fair enough. I think those of us living in & around the area are very lucky and most of the paths/trails are pretty robust, withstanding the passage of a few bikes well.

Ton – I love “beachnuts” but fail miserably to ride it fast by gapping all the rocks ! Anyway I thought you cut your chest on “tron” ?

Mugboo – I’ve spent quite a bit of this last winter walking various paths in areas I don’t normally ride. It’s good for finding new lines.

I have to say that many years ago I was dead against riding footpaths at all ! I’ve changed my mind(set) partly because Calderdale Council seem keen to sanitise many bridleways etc. that were once fun (but probably became impassable to horses – witness the zigzags from near Popples down to Colden clough)combined with mass use (like so called ‘challenges’) rendering several routes water riddled quagmires. Plus I wanted more technical riding, thrills and fun (probably the real underlying reason). Of course if you’re a walker or out walking – and I like walking as well, especially hill walking – it can be quite unerving being ‘startled from behind’ (ooo err !) when you’re not expecting it.

It’s probably all down to courtesy and consideration for other trail users and the trails themselves that should see us and many others continue to enjoy them. I guess most people know that ?

And from now on I may only ever refer to routes as ‘trails’. 🙂

steel4real – keen to sanitise many bridleways etc

i’ve known this happen in a few places, kinda sucks