Peak District Erosion

Things are getting quite bad in Britain's oldest National Park - off-roading by 4x4s and trail bikes are badly eroding tracks to the point they are becoming impassable. If anybody doubts this take a look at the photos below, taken in February on Chapel Gate, just south of Barber Booth:



A quagmire even on a dry, cold day with frost in the shadows such as this.


A formerly asphalted surface worn through to a depth of three feet.

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The Peak District National Park Authority promises action - well, sort of, if you read this :


"Its guiding principle is that the best means to alleviate the problems is through a co-operative approach, involving all recreational users, landowners, community groups, highways authorities and the police, treating each route individually on a case-by-case basis." This is QUANGO-speak for not a lot, and not very quickly.
I must confess that when it comes to 4x4s I'm closer to Jeremy Clarkson than Ken Livingstone, and the countryside is certainly a more appropriate place for them than the school run in Fulham, but such is the level of damage here that it is difficult to see how anything other than severe restrictions (and a great deal of expensive repair work)can be effective.


The inevitable happened when one driver tried to use the track on our visit - grounding himself halfway up below Lord's Seat, eventually getting free after a quarter of an hour. The trail bikes which followed had fewer problems, though this was because they rode off the side of the track, thus furthering the erosion.


Things were little better on Rushup Edge at the top of the track; a deep pit worn by heavy vehicle use had flooded, creating a potential sticking point...


...which is then avoided by driving around it. And so the process begins again.



Video of a Land Rover and trail bikes on Chapel Gate. There was a complete lack of any acknowledgement from the bikers for us opening (and closing) the gate for them.
Note how they ride up on the grassy edge of the track at the end of the clip.


The affected area.

Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland.