I’ve done all the peaks local to the development

Sounds ominous. Hope Mr.Trump isn’t planning another golf course up there!

or maybe a huge wind farm in the middle of the Cairngorms??

…

If you logged in a with a different account (a new one) why would you expect to see the account history from a different account (the old one)?

The problem was my log-in details no longer worked and therefore I could not access my many years of account history. I wondered if they had experienced a security breach which meant they had reset peoples accounts but given the responses so far this appears not to be the case.

I’d be looking at my own PC before questioning the security of an online retailer, much much more likely that you have some sort of trojan/worm/key logging software infecting your system…

Thanks for the heads up. I’ll make sure my anti-virus is fully upto date and run a system scan.

Yep I add on a few miles to use quiet country lanes where possible and if conditions are right add a couple near to work to ride through a local nature reserve.

Happened to me this morning on the commute. 😡

Arm out, signaling right, checked behind and started to slowly move across then realised the car behind wasn’t intent on stopping. Just got out of it in time. The car was clearly in a desperate rush to join the back of the next traffic que.

His apparent bumbling style disarms the people he infiltrates who think he is

a stupid english Hugh Grant wannabe

then he hits them with the questions no one else dare ask.

Last night he was sat there with the union (mafia) head asking what service the “area boys” provide to the community for the money they collect from the shopkeepers, anyone else daring to ask that would probably have got a bullet!

There is an increasing trend in Scotland for the land to be managed to increase diversity not to increase game species – and its working and altering the landscape and increasing the numbers of rare species both plant and animal

I came across exactly this near where I was staying during my last trip to Scotland.

A large former National Nature Reserve was downgraded and stripped of its status with only a very small area managed by Scottish National Heritage remaining as a National Nature Reserve.

The problem was the deer stalking estates who are keeping hugely inflated numbers of deer on the land. These deer have munched up all the rare arctic/alpine plants on the reserve (some of which only grew on this particular site in the UK). SNH wanted the estate to shoot more deer but the estates weren’t interested as they like to keep numbers high so it is easy for their clients to find and shoot deer when out stalking.

Some of it may be a “rose-tinted view of the past” but many of these ecosystems and habitiats provide vital ecological services e.g. pollenating crops, locking in CO2, providing clean air and water. None of these services are factored in to the economics which results in these areas being undervalued and development / changes in land-use are permitted without evaluating the true costs.

Scafell Pike from Borrowdale

You should only consider it if you plan to grow a suitable beard to do it justice IMO.

Can’t say I’ve ever felt dominated by a supermarket

I take it you’re not a farmer or town centre retailer then.

Saw them in Hathersage after the hvmbc. For me its more a question of environmental impact.

I ride my bike on footpaths but try to do it as responsibly as I can i.e. go when trail conditions are dry/dryish and away from the popular times.

If I am riding a route where the habitat I damage will recover quickly then I am not too worried but if I was crossing a rare habitat such as the Cairngorm plateau where damage would take decades to repair then I question if i really need to do that route.

Whilst 250+ mountain bikers also cut up the wet trails around Hope yesterday at least some of the money we raised went to maintaining the bridleways we were riding on.

My impression (rightly or wrongly) is that a lot (but not all) of the MX’ers & 4×4 drivers seem to have scant regard for the environmental impact they are having.

looks awesome 🙂

Loving the sparrowhawk picture 🙂

A point worth remembering about some of the Cairngorm summits is that whilst they can appear smooth and rounded from one angle there can often be some precipitious drops on the other side (as I found out recently when viewing Glas Maol from Caenlochan glen 🙂 ) Watch those contour lines!

You're very lucky

Sadly not. I was just on holiday 🙁

It's an ignorant people thing I'm afraid, although the modern generation seem to be getting worse.

As part of my commute I stop to pick up a few pieces of roadside litter and drop them to the nearest bin on some of the country lanes or in the local nature reserve. I have taken a few days off from commuting last week and it is already filthy again.

On recent holidays to Germany and Austria I found their countryside and towns to be spotless by comparison, so it looks to be a cultural thing too.

Not sure how set you are on the wild camping but if the weather turns bad these hostels are well worth a look.

link[/url]

Great pics. Missed this the 1st time round.

Like the look of the frame bag too. Can I ask where you got it from?

In the last month I have seen brown hare (twice), fox, terns attacking a heron, stoat hypnotising a rabbit, buzzard (about 5 feet away) plus numerous other birds.

Never seen a deer though 🙁

Dug out a few pics to (hopefully) whet your appetite

Karkonosze

Góry Izerskie

Bory Tucholskie

Tatras

Sounds like your having a better commuting week than me.

Monday was memorable for the wrong reasons, yesterday was good and today the rain 'persuaded' me into the car.

I rode around the Szklarska Poreba area in the Karkonosze and Gory Izerskie mountains.

A beautiful area and not too far from Wroclaw 🙂

Others who know and love the mountains disagree with me on MacDui

I've just got a walking book about the Cairngorms and they pretty much agree with you TJ. Their advice "don't go any higher than you have to".

I was there 9:30am wednesday morning and first lap of the Monkey saw 1 other rider, by the time we were doing it for a second time, getting towards dinner, it was a bit busier. Would imagine its a bit of a nightmare at the weekends.

I was camping there the other weekend and rode the trails at 7:00am on a Sunday. Saw 1 other rider before riding the monkey trail where I saw virtually nobody.

By the time I got back to the visitor centre at about 09:30am it was rammed!. Car park was full and people everywhere, although there was some sort of running event taking place to be fair.

Was shocked at the amount of litter and fly-tipping on the Chase but enjoyed the trails though.

great pics 🙂

The Roaches & Lud's Church

surely the carbon fibre would spontaneously explode and shatter into tiny pieces when the bags are loaded onto the pannier

Looks like Cader Idris to me

+1 (or Cadair Idris never know which is correct)

There's a BW from Roach End down to Moss End Farm but it doesn't really go anywhere and ends up in a bog in all but the driest conditions.

I use this bridleway (technical singletrack) and link it up with three shires head further north from where you can link with Cumberland Brook etc.

Or if you are prepared for a bit of road work I nip through Dun Cows Grove and link up with the Hollinsclough descents (featured in the V-Graphics book).

As you say cerainly one for the dry weather though.

Some good stuff in Gradbach wood near Lud's Church and whilst the Dane Valley Way is marked as footpath on the OS maps I'm pretty sure it is a bridleway on the ground. 🙂

robin
bumble bee

great pics 🙂

Anybody got a council that are anywhere near providing the Sustrans multi-user routes that they outlined in the local plan?

Is it worth a hypothetical drive past Edale, Ladybower etc from Manc?

A hypothetical drive to a hypothetical place 🙂

If this place existed it would be quite a long journey from Manc. You would be passing a hell of a lot of excellent legal riding to get to an area where the best riding is cheeky and in sensitive areas that could be tricky to link without a guide / knowledge.

If a knowledgeable local offered to route guide it might be worth the hypothetical effort when the trails are dry and ideally outside peak hours.

Without the guide it could be canal…

& old train lines

I imagine if this hypothetical place did actually exist and it contained woodland, at this time of year they could look something like this

The-muffin-man is right though, the incomers burn well in these parts 😈

link

Some good walks in this book IMO.

I rode in the full 24 miles to work via tow paths this morning. saw the sun come up and loads of wild life yet only 3 humans just under 2 hours of bliss.

Now that's sounds more like my kind of commute than the OP!

I've meant to visit some shining examples of local woods for a while now (on a quiet week day, natch), hope to get the chance soon

I was walking at the weekend near the unmentionable riding spot and noticed that some of the latest routes have cut through the wildflower colonies again and a badger set which is what kicked off a lot of the problems before.

I was dismayed to see quite a bit of litter chucked down near the trails too. I picked up what I could but it certainly doesn't help.

Don't leave your trip too long though as the woods are in great nick at this time of year.

At one time there was talk of a massive housing development at Cinderhill not too far from there which would further increase traffic and congestion. The idea may well have been abandoned now though.

The housing at the former Stevo's Dye works at Ambergate is off for the time being I think but is a good few miles away from you at that location anyway.

There is a similar situation with many of the best trails near where I live. I don't mind being called a NIMBY because if I don't act in my self-interest nobody else is going to!

People posting videos of riding on footpaths is upto them but if they want to carry on riding mint trails in mint conditions they might be better served keeping stum.

Near where I live as people have posted about riding on certain footpaths the word has got out about the quality of the riding and the number of riders has increased exponentially. Whereas once it was just a few locals riding the trails now there are people travelling from much further afield. Often driving from nearby urban areas, parking inappropriatly and leaving a lot of litter around which causes further tensions.

In the end the landowners have felt the need to act by putting up new fences with gates across the trail. Whereas once the descent flowed uninterupted from top to bottom now there are a number of obstacles resulting in stopping to open gates etc. It's still an enjoyable trail to ride but not as good as in its heyday.

Some of the other trails which are less well known have remained less frequented and I can still ride them today pretty much as I did 15 years ago.

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