Rough Stuff rides for LFGSS folk, join regular rides that avoid tarmac

Shoes tied together over the toptube, and you've got the look.

I was wondering if there was any idea of schedule for this? I'd like to get the book, but as I'll be doing my own brexit later this year I have to choose between UK and EU shipping.

Previous books were about four months. Might be totally wrong of course. Paris again?

Fair question, shall we ask @maxl?

i can ship to you

Don't trust this guy^

We're aiming for October / November this year. (Thanks @Skülly)

EU prices include the relevant VAT we (the senders) will have to pay by then, so no import costs for the receiver.

If you're unsure where you'll be, choose the EU option - we'll ask for your address when it comes closer to shipping time, and if you happen to be in the UK, I can refund the difference :-)

Thanks for the info, I’ll have to have it sent to France then by the looks of it :-)

@amey that’s very kind thanks. Don’t want to bother you though.
@fussballclub yes or thereabout, at least until crossing a border isn’t a pain anymore.

Just over a day to go on this, time to get involved!

Hey people anyone got any experience at getting Bridleways looked at by a County Council?

They (the relevant County Councils) seem to have 'report a problem' covered paths, but not entirely on the path I was trying to use on Saturday. It's down near East Grinstead , between Forest Row & Cowden. It crosses a country boundary.

Thing is, I wouldn't normally get into this sort of thing but this track is a great linkup between two really nice long stretches of good bridle way. You hit a by road from one of these heading south, continue a hundred yards along it east, and there's another Bridle heading south that starts just as you cross a stream from Kent into E Sussex. Problem is, that bridge is about 30 yards from the road. There is a pathway off a deadend lane marked PRIVATE No Right of Way, essentially a drive. If they decided to put a locked gate up there, there's be no access to this bridleway. So travellers who want to access the bridle are forced to:

• Ignore the sign and, from what I can see, trespass. Basically, reliant on the goodwill on the householder, which, given the signage, may be in short supply.
  *head down a high-hedged path that seems to be allowing access.
  *pick up the Bridle path which has been obscured by a messy overgrown bit at the end of the garden.
  
  

Kent's Rights of Way reporting only allows you to click on a labelled path to report an error. This path on the Kent side does not appear.

E Sussex has a record of this track (it's called Forest Row 70/1), I have reported some significant overgowth of the path itself, which is their responsibility (unlike trees and hedging alongside paths, which are the landholders' responsibility). But the track stops dead in someone's garden at the river at the north end.

Seems odd. Can't figure out if the 'Right of Way' does actually cross Kentish land to the road (Smithy's Lane), OS seems to record the Bridle as stopping at the river (well, it's more of a brook), suggesting it doesn't. So at that point, it's basically a private right of way since no-one can access it at the north end.

I decided to contact the local Ramblers' Assoc group too. Maybe they'll respond!

Wonder if @Oliver Schick has any experience of looking at difficulties with rights of way? Or anyone else?

I suspect a polite email to graham.rusling@kent.gov.uk might bear some fruit.

I've written about this somewhere before, when Stayer Cycles sent people along paths that locals claimed were not public rights of way (they've since changed that route). The experts on all this are the Ramblers, so you've already done the right thing. *If* there are local activists (always hard to find younger people to succeed!), they would know all about the stretch in question, and if there's been a bit of a battle about it, it'll have a long history.

The responsible councils have to maintain the key resource documents that show the existing legal status of such links. I can't remember what it's called exactly, but I think it's something like Definitive Map. It can be held at different levels of council depending on how the authority is organised. I think quite often it's the district council, as some county councils have huge areas to cover.

I can't remember where the earlier discussion occurred or who participated in it, sorry.

Found it with a very small effort of UTFSing:

https://www.lfgss.com/comments/15320139/

Thanks for UTFS
I actually had already found some good resources, based on the Definitive Maps, at East Sussex Council's website.

I had already dropped them a line, and the Rights of Way Officer, somebody named Rachel, got back to me really quickly!

After I'd mailed them, I was looking really closely at various resources, includin Kent's 'report a problem' interface, and the Bridle literally stops dead, at the place I mantioned, at the stream. Rachel also informed me that attempts, since the 50s when these Bridleways were enacted, to rectify this anomaly by Kent CC had come to nothing. Basically, the owner of the land at Basing has no obligation to allow the bridle to continue through their land, and as such the sign stating No Public Right of Way seems to be entirely accurate.

Disappointingly, the track in East Sussex will not be cleared any time soon as it doesn't go anywhere. It's rather like a Wiki Stub of bridle paths. Sadly, the E Sussex council are responsible for clearing the surface of the path (I think they have misinterpreted my message that there is overgrowth from either side, which would be the landowner's resposposibility) but it looks like they won't act there.

Really cool that they got in touch!

Ah well. I trespassed.

So, bear in mind that that's the official position. A campaigner's view may well differ, e.g. that there may have been a historic RoW (as I said elsewhere, these things can be extremely complicated). It's still worth delving deeper if you feel strongly about it. Memories are short and there may well be evidence in an archive somewhere that shows the landowner's position to be wrong. Or there may not be, I'm just saying that there may well still be room for doubt.

Interesting, we learned it looks like there is bridle right of way on open cycle.

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And it was @Fox who made me what looks now like we trespassed, but the farmers were really nice! (he must have made the story up who’d entrusted him with the route we followed).

these things can be extremely complicated

Yes, that seems to be the case. Rachel seemed to know of Kent’s attempts to join them up at some point in the past. I have contacted them too.

It certainly seemed like one of those ancient roads to me, possibly joining from another bridle I used travelling south from an ancient hill fort site named Dry Hill.

Here’s the gap at the boundary, not 100 metres from the lane running east-west.

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That's maddening. I see so many promising routes which just stop, peter out, are too badly signposted to risk or are too overgrown to explore.

Finally got around to joining The RSF, been loving reading through the old journals on the site. Being based in South London it doesn’t seem there’s a huge amount of rides in the area, though I could be wrong (not having had a proper look through yet) any of you London based members got any nice routes?

I started this thread to have this^ conversation, and maybe some small group rides.

I’m a fan of riding somewhere I know on lanes, then using bridleways to go somewhere new. Did this last Sat down past Oxted, then off road (apart from the odd moment joining up paths) for a few hours, ended up at Forest Row, then west along Forest Way to E Grinstead, train home. Lovely! was out about 7hours in all.

I try to avoid footpath routes through fields cos gates & stiles bore me.

Sounds like a really great ride!! Definitely up for some action along these lines. I need to start looking out for more bridleways on new routes I take.

I get the part about gates being a pain!!