Green lanes and repair

[Mikekitts81]

I was stroling throigh my newsfeeds today to find a go fund me page that is trying to raise thousands on repairing green lanes like the old coach road .

Some may think its a good idea and some quite the opposite personally i dont think it would be the same if every green lane had thousands spent on it and the lanes were just all stoned out ... or even rubbled as leveled roads

Some of the lanes can get quite techincal which is part of the riding isnt it or is it just me

Do we really just want striaght level fire type roads we can cruise down at a wekeend and feel the wind in our vaginas or do we want the techincal stuff and testing terrains aswell

For me if the lanes were all stoned over and flat leveled out i dont think it would be the same .

[johnnyboxer]

REPAIR is a great alternative & preferable to CLOSURE

That is the nub of the issue

[dibbs]

I agree. Some of our local lanes have been graded flat and it does make for a fairly uninteresting ride! And slightly more dangerous as being flat everyone hoons along at a fair rate of knots! Apparently it takes about 4-5 yrs of 4x4 abuse to chew all the lanes up again then we can get bat back to some muddy deep ruts etc... leave em be i say

[Richard Simpson Mark II]

There is a lot of debate about this in RoW circles.

Mountainbikers like bumpy downhills, but aren't quite so keen on pedalling up them.

The Disabled Ramblers want everything to be accessible to 'Tramper' electric chariot things.

Horse riders want steps rather than slopes.

Horse-carriage drivers want slopes rather than steps.

The Ramblers want it all to themselves, and ideally paved with the kind of stone slabs you find in the shopping centres where they buy their boots and cagoules.

So you will never maintain a route to the satisfaction of all.

The point with the Old Coach Road is that it was once a metalled road, and was washed out in a single episode of flooding, thanks in part to decades of neglect. If nothing had been done, then the next episode of heavy rain might well have obliterated altogether (this happened to a green lane in Boscastle Cornwall, during the famous flood). In this case, the cash-strapped local authority would probably just have closed to to all users, forever.

Hilariously, the famous Chaplegate road in the Peak District (which was closed to motorcycles after repair, because motorcycles had "damaged it") now needs repair again, although motorcycles no longer use it. I wonder which user group damaged it this time, and whether they too will be banned?

What's that...oh, it was damaged by the weather. Oh well PDNPA can ban the rain then. Yes, that should work.

[JMoandpiglet]

There is a lot of debate about this in RoW circles.

Mountainbikers like bumpy downhills, but aren't quite so keen on pedalling up them.

The Disabled Ramblers want everything to be accessible to 'Tramper' electric chariot things.

Horse riders want steps rather than slopes.

Horse-carriage drivers want slopes rather than steps.

The Ramblers want it all to themselves, and ideally paved with the kind of stone slabs you find in the shopping centres where they buy their boots and cagoules.

So you will never maintain a route to the satisfaction of all.

The point with the Old Coach Road is that it was once a metalled road, and was washed out in a single episode of flooding, thanks in part to decades of neglect. If nothing had been done, then the next episode of heavy rain might well have obliterated altogether (this happened to a green lane in Boscastle Cornwall, during the famous flood). In this case, the cash-strapped local authority would probably just have closed to to all users, forever.

Hilariously, the famous Chaplegate road in the Peak District (which was closed to motorcycles after repair, because motorcycles had "damaged it") now needs repair again, although motorcycles no longer use it. I wonder which user group damaged it this time, and whether they too will be banned?

What's that...oh, it was damaged by the weather. Oh well PDNPA can ban the rain then. Yes, that should work.

Thanks Richard - I was just going to mention Chapelgate as an excellent example of where an old road was allowed to deteriorate so far that the local authority chose to close it to certain users, rather than affect repairs that would have stabilised it for everyone to continue using.

Now of course the National Park may not have had the budget to do this, and this is where the initiative for the project in the Lakes has stemmed from. I agree that in an ideal world, the public purse should be used to support and maintain public resources, but in this instance some key users of this lane (it forms part of the current TET route don't forget) feel that stepping in for a few quid each will help to stave off any further closures, and maintain the trail for many more years to come.

Don't forget this is not about paving over the Old Coach Road, it's about stabilising the ground so that further erosion does not continue [certainly not at the current pace] and filling in the seriously disrupted parts so that the trail is not considered 'damaged' or 'dangerous' - easy excuses to close a trial to certain user groups.

As Greg and the team suggest in their video - they are only asking for the price of a cup of coffee (or more if you feel you can afford it) and it's only a few keyboard clicks away - please do what you can, the positive PR from this being a success can only help reenforce the message that recreational motor-vehicle users are both responsible custodians of the countryside and legitimate users of the right-of-way network.

Video links here: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ctfr

Jenny x

[Richard Simpson Mark II]

Good to see you back on the forum...have you been away on an adventure?

[JMoandpiglet]

Good to see you back on the forum...have you been away on an adventure?

Hee hee - just a little bit ;o)

I'm spending a lot of time in the USA at the moment, and most recently I bought one of the new BMW G310GSs and fitted the Rally-Raid wheel and suspension kit to it - and have been ragging it from coast to coast (so far) over the past couple of months on some of the TAT plus Death Valley and Moab etc. - and when I get back there next week will continue back east again, before finally heading up into Canada over the summer.

I'm currently running a ride-report/blog on ADVrider (ahem), but will aim to put a summary together on here and/or for the magazine a little later this year.

In the meantime, there is also a video that Juan Browne put together of our recent week in Moab:

More to come as they say!

Jenny x

[Richard Simpson Mark II]

Nice!

[DavidS]

I refuse to watch the Moab video.
I’ve been there twice by car and done one 4x4 trip out into the back end of nowhere.
All the time I was crying inside because I didn’t have a bike. Maybe in the next couple of years it can be part of yet another US road trip but now with more time on our hands.

[catcitrus]

I see its rumoured that KTM will be bringing out a 390 based adventure next year--we'll see--and if the price is right!!?--and they have finally tested that 390 motor! I know RR try hard but Honda with their low budget and very popular 250 Rally seem to have got it about right--and that will cruise happily at 70 mph anyway. I've just done a 1600 mile round trip down to the Vezere(Dordogne), did 2 weeks trail riding when down there, and rode back no problem--full camping gear AND a 3mx3m tarp with poles--WR250R--which did Bulgaria and back last year. I still struggle to see the advantage of buying a new bike and then spending at least another 2k on it to make it remotely offroad capable. Having a 21 front and 18 rear gives you so much more choice on tyres. This time I ran a part worn 644 army special on the front and an E09 on the rear--did the mud and rocks well and also didn't chop or wear much at all on the road--the advantage of starting with a light bike ?