TRF Forums

I have had a couple of recent experiences of large groups of ramblers trying to block lanes and start confrontations in northamptonshire. Luckily in both instances I was riding alone and the wide droving roads allowed me to ride around the situation. However, on the narrow walled lanes of the Peaks, combined with the nature of the day, problem situations are much more likely. It might be a good idea for groups to discuss how to react beforehand. If they try something stupid or dangerous to cause a confrontation, it could happen quickly and even the best natured people can act rashly in tense situations - better to have a fail safe plan in place and stick to it. A bit like everyone knows to pull up and switch engines off if a jumpy horse is coming the other way

Yes wise advice.

I don't really think that there is that great a threat of conflict on a Tuseday, the Peaks are pretty quiet in the week, but we can't rule out attempts by the antis to sabotage this event.

If someone seriously attempts to stop you exercising your legal right to ride a green lane then phone the police!

Actually it might be worth publishing the non emergency telephone number for Derbyshire police before hand although as I said, I can't really see this being a big problem.

I think tuesday will be a bit busyer than usual Richard. Ive been lucky so far in the peaks and not had a bad encounter. BBC news @ 6 this morning coverd the kinder trespass so Im exspecting some more media coverage onthe run upto and on the day.

Paddy

Well lets hope so!

Mind you, the coverage I've seen has tended to focus on Kinder Scout itself for obvious reasons and there aren't any vehicular rights of way in the immediate area.

We got a mention in the Guardian

And the launch attracted its own polite but determined protest, from members of the Peak District trail bikers' club whose noisy machines are banned from much of the park.

"Our share of access is going down from 5% to 3%, while these people have got 90% now," said Alan Gilmore, before heading home with the posse on his mud-spattered machine. "We don't want to break the law or spoil anyone else's enjoyment, but it's right that we should have a share of the countryside too."

Prof Harry Rothman, whose father Benny was the good-natured but determined communist organiser crucial to the trespass and its aftermath, took the point. He said: "I have mixed feelings. In an area as quiet and pristine as this, I don't think people would want to see motorbikes on the green ways. But there must be other places. Who are we to say that other users of the countryside can't follow their enthusiasms and be happy?"

The reporter who wrote the article needs a change of career! Probably needs to start writing fantasy novels judging by the accuracy of the factual reporting of events

he caught Alan just as they were leaving the carpark......about half a mile away form the moorland centre. too busy even to take a proper note of the Peaks Group Trail Riders Fellowship..........Its not all bad though and the one in the Independent is better


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/ho ... 76013.html

They just spout the same rubbish over and over again, if you don't want to come across vehicles don't walk down a road, stick to footpaths or bridleways, after all there is more of them than byways.