rareposter wrote: ↑13 Mar 2024, 9:44am
pwa wrote: ↑13 Mar 2024, 9:08am
if signage does not indicate otherwise, I would take to have tacit acceptance of cycling. Where the tracks seem to be of adequate width to allow walkers and sensible cyclists to pass comfortably. That is my default approach in public access forests without signage to indicate otherwise.
I agree with that comment and in fact if a signposted FP is of suitable width and surface to permit cycling, I'll often just ride it - with suitable regard to weather conditions, how busy it is and so on.
Not far from mine there's a stretch of moor with two parallel tracks, one a well-surfaced FP, one a muddy BW. The BW is the legal route for bikes. No cyclist uses it because it's on a peat / grass base, is muddy, bumpy and slow. The FP is on a rock base so its pretty much impervious to erosion, it's wide and well-cared for cos it can (at popular times) get a lot of walkers along it but at quiet times, given a choice of the two, which would you ride?!
No-one bothers about it, the legal designation is effectively understood to be a historical hangover from way before bikes were invented so the sensible approach prevails.
In fact, the more cyclists ride routes like that, the more clout there is to get trails upgraded. This case for example:
https://www.cyclinguk.org/blog/success- ... walla-crag
The whole Rights of Way thing is a bit of a tangle of imperfect law and varied practice, wonderful but deeply flawed, and a bit of discretion is required to get the best out of it. To go to an extreme example to illustrate a point, a Public Footpath that I would definitely not cycle on is a stretch of the Wales Coast Path a couple of miles from here, where the surface is dense clay (slippery after rain, soft after weeks of rain) and the path is a narrow channel between a fence and gorse/ blackthorn. It is well used by walkers. Opposing walkers can pass with care, but the introduction of wide MTB bars would create an awkwardness that would be unwelcome. If that stretch ever became popular with MTBers (which it, to their credit, hasn't) that would be a cause of friction.
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.4001746 ... ?entry=ttu
But as you say, other Public Footpaths are different. It is a case by case thing. And many Public Footpaths are officially open to cycling because of other reasons. I will be walking on one such this afternoon, in publicly owned forestry. And if I meet anyone on a bike, from experience I can say that I will gather up my whippet, the cyclist will say thank you, we will probably find something friendly to say to each other, and everyone will be happy.