Ramblers

2x10

Went out in the surrey hills today, muddy but fun. Met two large groups of ramblers, Nice polite and friendly, thought it worth a mention as sometimes its not that way. Such a pleasure!

homers_double

I think if you're riding legally (why wouldn't you :twisted: ) and each group gives way in an equal manner then there isn't a reason to get all arsey.

Walkers should move over as they generally occupy a wider area in ther numbers, bikers should slow down. Simples.

cooldad

This^^^^^^^^^^

I live in SH and apart from a few grumpy faces (like mine normally), I've never had any issues.

The Northern Monkey

Love a good walk.

supersonic

I always get the l and n keys mixed up too ;-)

I usually have no problems, but there is a group that go out in Greno woods to sabotage the marked trails and even throw stones at riders.

homers_double

I'd be taking issue with that...

rockmonkeysc

I have a real hate for ramblers from various rock climbing incidents. Usually while things are getting a bit desperate and I'm trying to concentrate on something which is literally life or death some cheery rambler always shouts "tgeres a path to tge top you know" or some equally unhelpful b0ll0cks. Or while stood at the bottom of a crag uncoiling 60 metres of rope while wearing a harness, helmet and lots of climbing gear the old bastards wander over, stand on my ropes and say "are you going to climb?" usually my response is "no, were here for some open air gay bondage in the mountains, please join us, the safe word is cigar". The red sock wearing, hill stomping old bastards.

Angus Young

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Or while stood at the bottom of a crag uncoiling 60 metres of rope while wearing a harness, helmet and lots of climbing gear...

You wear a helmet while climbing? You nancy.

rockmonkeysc

I climb on Mendip limestone, holds are disposable and rock falling on my head is a problem. On granite or gritstone I don't bother.

veronese68

From the other point of view, my son did his DofE hike in the Surrey hills this summer, it was the same day as a Wiggle off road ride, he said there were hundreds of mountain bikers. He and his mates tried to keep out of the way to let the bikes through and he reckoned every single one of them said thank you as they passed. He was really impressed at how nice everybody was.
Ties in with what HD said above, it's really not that hard and a little bit of manners goes a hell of a long way. Makes the world a much nicer place to be.

jimothy78

Yep - agreed, more positive than negative experiences here, too - often get folks who'll hold gates open for me so i don't have to dismount, which is nice.

I don't have a bell, but always call ahead to people if I'm approaching from behind them, and although I've startled one or two this way, I find they generally then laugh and move aside smiling - I've seen other MTBers fly past walkers without warning or slowing down, and then the walker often (justifiably) gets a bit lairy.

If I regularly rode on "shared use" paths, then I'd fit a bell - I get quite cross with people who ride the busier parts of the Taff Trail like it's a race track, and don't ever bother to announce their approach.

lappymatt

Ramblers suck.

Sprained my wrist falling off when avoiding ramblers who were walking UP a MTB track.

The Rookie

But was there anything to tell them not to?

Unfourtunatelysome trail centres I've been to are lousy at telling people approaching the trail (at a fireroad crossing for example) from the 'wrong end' that they shouldn't enter, you can't blame someone for walking up a path when nothing says they shouldn't - blame the trail centre.

homers_double

To be honest, most I've viseted will have some markings at busy junctions.

That said I've almost run into two old dears on FTD, and I don't mean the four legged kind.

Angus Young

Always had very positive interactions with ramblers. You tend to get back what you give.

homers_double

We didn't go off at them like they would if we'd have ridden down a footpath, just told them that it was a dedicated trail which was signed (we did check) at the entrace.

frankspencer1979

I've met lots of friendly walkers, a lot of them like to chat about my bike and where I'm going, which is nice. Lots of them are really miserable though. I rode past two completely joyless fellas yesterday, they said nothing and just stared blankly after I cheerily said hello. Then I got bitten by a dog so you know, swings and roundabouts.

Angus Young

frankspencer1979 wrote:

Then I got bitten by a dog so you know, swings and roundabouts.

I was humped by a rambler's Dalmatian on Thursday, so think yourself lucky.

2x10

Angus Young wrote:

frankspencer1979 wrote:

Then I got bitten by a dog so you know, swings and roundabouts.

I was humped by a rambler's Dalmatian on Thursday, so think yourself lucky.

How was it for you......

Angus Young

2x10 wrote:

Angus Young wrote:

frankspencer1979 wrote:

Then I got bitten by a dog so you know, swings and roundabouts.

I was humped by a rambler's Dalmatian on Thursday, so think yourself lucky.

How was it for you......

It was a very friendly encounter. And I was much heartened to know I haven't lost my touch, even though I was covered in mud.

batmo

jimothy78 wrote:

I don't have a bell, but always call ahead to people if I'm approaching from behind them...
If I regularly rode on "shared use" paths, then I'd fit a bell - I get quite cross with people who ride the busier parts of the Taff Trail like it's a race track, and don't ever bother to announce their approach.

I have found that if you ring a bell, people can't always work out where it's coming from and if you call out "Hello! Excuse me! Coming past on your right!" they seem not to hear you until you're too close.
Bizarrely, loudly calling "Ding-Ding!" seems to work better than either!

Angus Young

Interesting article that looks at co-existance and touches upon mountain biking, though is not specifically about it...

https://www.thebmc.co.uk/illegal-offroa ... k-district

batmo

That is an interesting article, but repeats a common misconception in the first paragraph; cycling on a footpath is not "illegal" i.e. committing an offence under the law (unlike cycling on the pavement for e.g.) You would be commiting trespass against the landowner, if you don't have their permission.
There's some really clear information on rights of way on the Ramblers website!

stubs

Few months back I was on a section of footpath that linked 2 bridleways (why the hell a bridleway suddenly becomes a footpath for 100 yards is something else to discuss) and came across a bunch of about 30 walkers. I jumped off stood to one side and let them walk slowly past. I got 29 "good morning or lovely days or nice bike", then the last walker stopped growled I have taken your picture I am reporting you to the police. :roll:

Goes to show about 1 in 30 of the population is a bell end.

jimothy78

stubs wrote:

Few months back I was on a section of footpath that linked 2 bridleways (why the hell a bridleway suddenly becomes a footpath for 100 yards is something else to discuss)

Actually, in these situations (except where the transition occurs at a junction, property or road), it's often the case that the route remains a "permissive bridleway" as well as being a "public footpath". Unfortunately, because the "public" status of the footpath has a legal bearing on access rights, etc, it's this information that gets drawn up on the map, and the bridleway information is effectively lost.

rockmonkeysc

stubs wrote:

Few months back I was on a section of footpath that linked 2 bridleways (why the hell a bridleway suddenly becomes a footpath for 100 yards is something else to discuss) and came across a bunch of about 30 walkers. I jumped off stood to one side and let them walk slowly past. I got 29 "good morning or lovely days or nice bike", then the last walker stopped growled I have taken your picture I am reporting you to the police. :roll:

Goes to show about 1 in 30 of the population is a bell end.

And how does the bell end expect the police to find you from just a photo? Were you holding up your passport for the pic as well?
What a codpiece.

Lewis A

Angus Young wrote:

Interesting article that looks at co-existance and touches upon mountain biking, though is not specifically about it...

https://www.thebmc.co.uk/illegal-offroa ... k-district

Some of the comments on that article make my blood boil,
"Wheels belong on the road" ,
"They are just "bikes", after all. The knobby fat wheels, dual suspension, and disc brakes don't do any damage at all"
and
"They have gained a lot of inroads because they have been so good at fooling people like Ed Douglas and other landowners by telling them they are just out for a nice bike ride in the woods, and care about the environment. Don't mind the motorcycle-like full-face helmet, nor the full body armour many mountain bikers wear"

I forgot that wearing a Full face helmet means that you don't care about the environment...

stubs

RockmonkeySC wrote:

And how does the bell end expect the police to find you from just a photo? Were you holding up your passport for the pic as well?
What a codpiece.

As I was a MTBer he probably assumed I was on a criminal database somewhere. After all isnt everyone who rides 2 wheels a criminal.

rockmonkeysc

stubs wrote:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

And how does the bell end expect the police to find you from just a photo? Were you holding up your passport for the pic as well?
What a codpiece.

As I was a MTBer he probably assumed I was on a criminal database somewhere. After all isnt everyone who rides 2 wheels a criminal.

Are you from Liverpool? If you are you must be on on a criminal database.

Ferrals

The obvious thing if you are going to ride a footpath is to get a friendly moto-trials rider to razz along it before you to inform an walkers of your impending presence. In an ideal world they'd take a chainsaw with them to cut through any pesky stiles too

ilovedirt

Batmo wrote:

jimothy78 wrote:

I don't have a bell, but always call ahead to people if I'm approaching from behind them...
If I regularly rode on "shared use" paths, then I'd fit a bell - I get quite cross with people who ride the busier parts of the Taff Trail like it's a race track, and don't ever bother to announce their approach.

I have found that if you ring a bell, people can't always work out where it's coming from and if you call out "Hello! Excuse me! Coming past on your right!" they seem not to hear you until you're too close.
Bizarrely, loudly calling "Ding-Ding!" seems to work better than either!

I've had a few people get arsey with me for not having a bell. Usually I'll politely shout "excuse me" if they've not heard me approaching. What difference does it make to either party if I don't have a bell?

When I was a kid, I actually had a grumpy old witch shout at me for not having a bell, while I rode around the side of her, after having been ringing my bloody bell for a good half a minute and being ignored. There's just no winning with some people, is there?

I also had one person (moron) shout at me for riding on a footpath whilst riding a couple of years back. Reason I say moron is because it was on a green lane and it would have been perfectly legal for me to have ridden a motorbike down there if I wanted to.

Generally though, I've had a pretty good experience with walkers, bar the odd few. Smile and say hello and most are friendly back.