Misplaced sense of adventure

Colin Reed

Coming back from a shopping trip, I decided to have a slightly longer
evening ride as it's nice weather, and I really need to start working off
all of that parma ham and parmesan that I ate spending a week in Italy
without a bike!
So, cycling along National Cycle Network route 64 from Newark Northgate
station, I took off at one point along a little lane that then changed to a
bridleway (or so the signpost said!) If the link below works, then you can
make out the path running West to East from Clay Ln to Newbury Road.
Unfortunately, there's been a lot of rain and it's a lot more overgrown than
on the pic now.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en...037422&t=h&z=15

Plus, the field at the east end of the path is now waist high with wheat!
After battling through that (had to dismount and push) I found that the end
of the path is now pretty much blocked with a hedge. Imagine the surprise
on the man's face on the other side, out walking his dogs, when through this
hedge came a reflective yellow clad cyclist, but with a hybrid, laden with
panniers full of shopping. Maybe next time I decide to get adventurous I'll
do it out on my MTB, rather than on the way back from shopping. At least I
guess I burnt a few calories - enough to give me a reason to have a beer now
:-)

Colin

Paul Boyd

On 07/06/2008 20:46, Colin Reed said,

> Plus, the field at the east end of the path is now waist high with
> wheat! After battling through that (had to dismount and push) I found
> that the end of the path is now pretty much blocked with a hedge.
> Imagine the surprise on the man's face on the other side, out walking
> his dogs, when through this hedge came a reflective yellow clad cyclist,
> but with a hybrid, laden with panniers full of shopping.

I think I know how you felt! A couple of weekends ago I was exploring
local bridleways on my MTB. At one point, it disappeared into
waist-high weeds and brambles with a barely discernible path through,
plus lots of big holes almost hidden. I battered my way through and
emerged from what had by then become a solid mass of chest-high weeds -
fortunately no-one saw me emerge. At the far end was a hand-scrawled
sign saying "path closed". Gee, thanks :-)

I only kept going because to turn around would have meant going back
through the same field of cows that charged me as I walked my bike past
them. (Nope - no calves!)

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

Colin Reed

"Paul Boyd" <usenet@abcd.invalid> wrote in message
news:484b01db$0$2488$da0feed9@news.zen.co.uk...
>
> I only kept going because to turn around would have meant going back
> through the same field of cows that charged me as I walked my bike past
> them. (Nope - no calves!)

Yeah, I only kept going because I'd had quite a few sideways drifting
moments going through mud and deep puddles without knobbly tyres, so didn't
fancy the return journey. (Worried if I went over I might break the bottles
of wine in the panniers!!)
Strangely, when I got to the end of the path it was signed as a Public
Footpath, whereas at the end I joined it was signed as a Bridleway. I
wonder which was right, or where the change occured?

Colin

TerryJ

> Yeah, I only kept going because I'd had quite a few sideways drifting
> moments going through mud and deep puddles without knobbly tyres, so
> didn't fancy the return journey. (Worried if I went over I might break
> the bottles of wine in the panniers!!)
> Strangely, when I got to the end of the path it was signed as a Public
> Footpath, whereas at the end I joined it was signed as a Bridleway. I
> wonder which was right, or where the change occured?
>
> Colin

a couple of years ago i was doing a hundred miler alfreton to lincoln
and back and I did exactly what you did . Practically needed a panga to
get through to the field. It looked ok on the map. You don't like to
turn round when you've invested so much effort.
Terry J

Nick Kew

On Sun, 08 Jun 2008 13:42:13 +0100
TerryJ <jonestl@breathe.com> wrote:

>
> > Yeah, I only kept going because I'd had quite a few sideways
> > drifting moments going through mud and deep puddles without knobbly
> > tyres, so didn't fancy the return journey. (Worried if I went over
> > I might break the bottles of wine in the panniers!!)
> > Strangely, when I got to the end of the path it was signed as a
> > Public Footpath, whereas at the end I joined it was signed as a
> > Bridleway. I wonder which was right, or where the change occured?
> >
> > Colin
>
> a couple of years ago i was doing a hundred miler alfreton to
> lincoln and back and I did exactly what you did . Practically needed
> a panga to get through to the field. It looked ok on the map. You
> don't like to turn round when you've invested so much effort.
> Terry J

Heh. Try that sorta thing around our coastline and estuaries in the
southwest, and only turn back when you're up to the knees (or whatever
your personal turning-back-point is) in salty mud/gloop.

'twas a few winters back when I had just such an incident.
When I eventually did turn back and pedalled by road to the official
(paved) ford, it started snowing even as I deliberately went in
the water to wash some mud off.

--
not me guv

vernon

"Colin Reed" <colin-reed@nospam-lineone.net> wrote in message
news:6b06s8F3a69pvU1@mid.individual.net...

> So, cycling along National Cycle Network route 64 from Newark Northgate
> station, I took off at one point along a little lane that then changed to
> a bridleway (or so the signpost said!) If the link below works, then you
> can make out the path running West to East from Clay Ln to Newbury Road.
> Unfortunately, there's been a lot of rain and it's a lot more overgrown
> than on the pic now.
>
> http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en...037422&t=h&z=15
>
> Plus, the field at the east end of the path is now waist high with wheat!
> After battling through that (had to dismount and push) I found that the
> end of the path is now pretty much blocked with a hedge. Imagine the
> surprise on the man's face on the other side, out walking his dogs, when
> through this hedge came a reflective yellow clad cyclist, but with a
> hybrid, laden with panniers full of shopping. Maybe next time I decide to
> get adventurous I'll do it out on my MTB, rather than on the way back from
> shopping. At least I guess I burnt a few calories - enough to give me a
> reason to have a beer now :-)
>
The year before last I was doing the Birdwell 100km Audax nr Barnsley with a
pal and we managed to make a wrong turning. It was one of the rare
ocassions that I wasn't carrying a map and we made the mistake of asking
some locals for directions. After listening to them argue between themselves
about the best route to where we wanted to be, we took the short cut that
the more intelligent local suggested. We found ourselves riding on disused
railway embankments covered in brambles and almost impenetrable saplings.
Had to cross the East coast main line - there was a bridle path sign and
sets of gates to facilitate this. After struggling to cycle along a river
embankment we emerged after nearly 3/4 of an hour to find ourselves about
400m away from where we met the locals. Further misadventure with well
intentioned locals saw us do 130km for the ride....

I take a map with me for every Audax now and get nervous when any route
sheet mentions bridle paths or off road sections.

naked_draughtsman

On Sat, 07 Jun 2008 23:18:24 +0100, Colin Reed wrote:

> Strangely, when I got to the end of the path it was signed as a Public
> Footpath, whereas at the end I joined it was signed as a Bridleway. I
> wonder which was right, or where the change occured?

Did you cross a council/parish boundary?

There's a lot of bridelways which turn into footpaths and dead end
footpaths/bridleways around here, most of them at county boundaries. It's
something the council say they are going to do something about.

Also happens a lot at rivers where I guess the bridge has been removed or
there was once a ford.

peter

Paul Boyd

On 08/06/2008 18:06, naked_draughtsman said,

> There's a lot of bridelways which turn into footpaths and dead end
> footpaths/bridleways around here, most of them at county boundaries. It's
> something the council say they are going to do something about.

I really don't know why they can't do what they've done in Scotland -
abolish all these ridiculous designations and just let people get on
with it! What on earth is the point of a path suddenly and for no
apparent reason changing status - it's just a path on the ground.

On the OS map for hereabouts, there's what appears to be a bridleway
that cannot legally be used by horses, and can only be used by cyclists
who walk up to it, because the start and end are footpaths. Mind you, I
haven't seen this "on the ground", so it might be signposted sensibly!

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

Roger Merriman

Paul Boyd <usenet@abcd.invalid> wrote:

> On 08/06/2008 18:06, naked_draughtsman said,
>
> > There's a lot of bridelways which turn into footpaths and dead end
> > footpaths/bridleways around here, most of them at county boundaries. It's
> > something the council say they are going to do something about.
>
> I really don't know why they can't do what they've done in Scotland -
> abolish all these ridiculous designations and just let people get on
> with it! What on earth is the point of a path suddenly and for no
> apparent reason changing status - it's just a path on the ground.
>
> On the OS map for hereabouts, there's what appears to be a bridleway
> that cannot legally be used by horses, and can only be used by cyclists
> who walk up to it, because the start and end are footpaths. Mind you, I
> haven't seen this "on the ground", so it might be signposted sensibly!

then you get the paths that go to middle of wood etc and stop.

the other issue is that the folks putting up the signs are not allways
correct.

roger
--
www.rogermerriman.com

The Luggage

On 9 Jun, 13:59, N...@wodger.demon.co.uk (Roger Merriman) wrote:
[...]
> then you get the paths that go to middle of wood etc and stop.
>
> the other issue is that the folks putting up the signs are not always
> correct.

Like "Cyclists dismount" ?

<g,d & r>

TL

Paul Boyd

The Luggage said the following on 10/06/2008 13:01:

> Like "Cyclists dismount" ?

No, that is a perfectly correct observation. At the end of every
journey, cyclists do indeed dismount ;-)

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

TerryJ

On 10 Jun, 15:07, Paul Boyd <m...@privacy.net> wrote:
> The Luggage said the following on 10/06/2008 13:01:
>
> > Like "Cyclists dismount" ?
>
> No, that is a perfectly correct observation. *At the end of every
> journey, cyclists do indeed dismount ;-)
>
> --
> Paul Boydhttp://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/


like this:
http://s189.photobucket.com/albums/...cat/cyclopaths/

Tom Crispin

On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:07:14 +0100, Paul Boyd <me@privacy.net> wrote:

>The Luggage said the following on 10/06/2008 13:01:
>
>> Like "Cyclists dismount" ?
>
>No, that is a perfectly correct observation. At the end of every
>journey, cyclists do indeed dismount ;-)

If the journey includes a swim across a river, cyclists will need to
dismount.
www.johnballcycling.org.uk/photos/misc/dismount1