Went out for a short ride today, A to watch the Duches of Sutherland thunder through Dawlish, and B to blow the cobwebs off the bikes.
All was going well having stopped several times for horses and ramblers.....the horses seemed to smile more.
We entered 192-216 from its eastern end and were almost immediately confronted by a guy, his misses and 4 dogs, all ofF their leads. He was waving at us to go back and shouting something about the forestry commission. Naturally I ignored him and rode up to them and killed the engine.
He said that I couldn't carry on as there was horses and people up ahead and that this was a forestry road and a foot path.
I showed him my OS map and explained that to my knowledge a right of way existed over the common, although it was not well defined. I said I was a member of the TRF and explained it was a rights of way organisation.
He said he worked for the forestry commission so I gave him my number and asked him to call me if he could get some clear guidance as to where the road went.
He calmed down almost as soon as we stopped to talk to him, I think Libby had some effect on the situation.
We discussed the discracefull and rapidly growing mess at the other side of the common and agreed that it needed dealing with probably more than rights of way
We carried on across the common as he realised that was what I was going to do anyway and didn't try to stop us, I have seen stuff on here before about this lane, I wander if he will call me.....
Trev and Libby
-- Edited by Trevor Foxon on Sunday 28th of April 2019 05:12:20 PM
Researched this green road many years ago now, on foot with GPS, if approaching from the N.E. the legal route is on song and correct until just past the second green dot (OS 25,000 map) the road then veers off to the right and ends up behind the bank on the right hand side of the track.
where the newly planted trees (plantation on the right) is the correct line of the legal right of way, this is just in over the bank, heading further South towards the scrapie yard the Public RoW goes straight through their houses/caravans
so we divert around to the South of this location before re joining the legal line further past the caravans, I ain't telling them they parked their homes on a legal RoW
Pick any face or number or organisation to find blame for this unfortunate circumstance, thats why its very important to correct things immediately or as soon as you can before the correct routes get lost all together!
There are a few legal lanes which need correcting/challenging/unblocking/releasing from overgrowth before they are lost to the wilderness
I hope I have gone some way to help explain or point out the correct direction or route, although from where you were stopped chatting to said bloke you probably were on the correct line at that point but after you joined the rest of us and rode the track that is wide + fun
thats about how I understood it from previous posts. I still intend to use it and if challenged again will just point to the illegal activities at the other end, which needs sorting out long before a bit of wayward navigation.
