This is going off topic but I had a heck of a lot of trouble with Mountain Bikers cutting up paths in our woodlands. We have also had a few near misses with walkers as well.
They are a ****ing menace and it is only a matter of time before somebody is killed or seriously injured.
I will doing quite a bit of weekend stealth camping again with my young son this year...and we shall be using mountain bikes to get to certain woods ..I have very basic but good kit ..my son loves the adventure and tells his young friends who in turn pester their dads to take them lol...I work.but money is still short...and to me bushcraft is about freedom and should not be over priced so that only the elite can learn..I can thanks to the net..learn what I may need to know..or read a book.or ask in a forum..lol
POINT BEING...
No petrol...just muscle powered push bikes.
Son gets to learn bushcraft..then tells friends who get interested..maybe a few seeds take root
Not a GUCCI kind of kit guy so it costs me hardly anything to do something I enjoy.
Last edited by El; 04-04-2012 at 07:52 PM. Reason: point was missing lol
I agree that mountain biking is getting bigger, this is also pretty annoying. The majority of mountain bikers do trash nature and do make trails that were never there. However, the majority of bushcrafters leave no trace that they were ever there, following the code that many campers believe in. It seems odd to me that many privately owned forests will allow MTBing but will not allow wild camping or stealth camping, even though the majority of wild campers take care of the nature around them.
Last edited by exaem; 04-04-2012 at 08:54 PM.
We must be careful of two things here, the first is stereotyping. I personally haven't seen that much of an impact on the countryside from mountain bikes, whereas every woodland I have visited has fire pits/scars, bags of rubbish, old knackered tents. It would be very easy for other woodland users, including mountain bikers to get a rant on about how Nobody should be allowed to camp in the woods because of the mess they make. The way humans tend to stereotype means that LNT bushcraft folk will get tarred with the same brush. Same as the way that All mountain bikers, according to the opinions on this thread are disrespectful tearaways that need banning from the countryside to make way for our peace and quiet.
Personally, I feel resources like public access to woodland should be used and respected by all and to target a specific user group as the bad guys is a bit off.
As for bikers being allowed to bike and campers not being allowed to camp... Has this ever stopped anyone camping? Not me
The second thing to be careful of here is that this thread has gone massively off topic.....
Cheers
Phil
Storms have a way of teaching what nothing else can.
ALWAYS Leave a Trace
In my experience, down here on Cornwall's toe, mountain bikers tend to stick to the 'roads' and give the woodland/moorland a miss, so I have no issues with them.
The people who do upset me are the sneaky doggers. There is nothing worse when you are scouting for a sneaky overnight site, than to come across (not literally) two folks as old as your parents, starkers demonstrating position no 47 from the Good Sex Guide.
It is the kind of sight that can put you off your pasty (for an hour) and what do you say "Good technique you have there, but you might want to think about putting your back into it a bit more" ?!?
Get a tent people (or at least a tarp).
Ansum La
Ohh, and there was me thinking the dog inn car park was a place at the back of the local pub.