Hedge Clipping

[Sweep]

Who would have thought that you'd get mud on country roads left by tractors! A bit like farmyard odours and cockerel noise. How dare they!

PS Sweep must have posted at the same time as me. Great minds!

[TrevA]

Farmers are also guilty of dragging vast quantities of mud onto the roads. A friend works in the building trade and he says they get fined if they leave mud on the roads, so employ sweepers, but obviously different rules apply to farmers who seem to be able to do as they please, with no consequences.

I think you need to cut them a bit of slack on this.
Farming and soil/mud/slutch - who'd have thought it?
Maybe you shouldn't go into the countryside.
You might encounter the odd cowpat/farting cow.
There's a bit of difference between mud on a country lane and mud deposits left in a town/city.

I don’t mind a bit of mud, but sometimes it’s so thick as to be dangerous. There was a recent report locally of cars spinning on a muddy lane. I’d ridden on it the day before and had wheel slip.

Perhaps I should just buy a gravel bike and abandon the roads altogether.

[Cyril Haearn]

Dry-stone walls are the thing, in parts of upland Britain there are no hedges

Cymru am byth!

[Pebble]

Farmers are also guilty of dragging vast quantities of mud onto the roads. A friend works in the building trade and he says they get fined if they leave mud on the roads, so employ sweepers, but obviously different rules apply to farmers who seem to be able to do as they please, with no consequences.

I think you need to cut them a bit of slack on this.
Farming and soil/mud/slutch - who'd have thought it?
Maybe you shouldn't go into the countryside.
You might encounter the odd cowpat/farting cow.
There's a bit of difference between mud on a country lane and mud deposits left in a town/city.

broadly agree with that, minor country roads then fair enough, what are they supposed to do. But then caking busy 'A' roads in 2 inches of clarts is taking the proverbial. Most farmers are very good but like with everything else some are a total nightmare

[Paulatic]

Farmers are also guilty of dragging vast quantities of mud onto the roads. A friend works in the building trade and he says they get fined if they leave mud on the roads, so employ sweepers, but obviously different rules apply to farmers who seem to be able to do as they please, with no consequences.

Not true. Report them I do
....

Who too? Highways via pothole reporting (as I'd expect them to do nothing until next summer they are so slow at doing anything).

Ian

The road I reported to police.
The core path to access officer.

[9494arnold]

Hedge Clippings are Litter , pure and simple. And using what is effectively a large lawnmower without a grassbox on a Hawthorne hedge and not sweeping up afterwards is simply NOT acceptable .
Most large building urban building sites have wheel washes for HGV's exiting the site.
Don't get me wrong, I love the Countryside but this sort of behaviour really spoils it for me .

[Cymro74]

My marathon plus tyres have picked up a few big thorns, but never had a puncture. I just stop and pull them out.

[tim-b]

Hi

I think you need to cut them a bit of slack on this.

There's reasonable slack and there's making the roads dangerous and leaving them like that through the night without signage. Then you take a bit more slack and leave the mud to freeze/dry into solid lumps

Farming and soil/mud/slutch - who'd have thought it?
Maybe you shouldn't go into the countryside.

I live there

You might encounter the odd cowpat/farting cow.

Tongue-firmly-in-cheek? Strangely, no. Dairy and arable around here, but I can only think of one road where cattle cross the road regularly. When the grass stops growing and the fields get wet then most dairy herds will be brought inside

There's a bit of difference between mud on a country lane and mud deposits left in a town/city.

Why? With the exception of agricultural machinery there are fewer off-roaders here than you'll find in that there London to deal with mud
Regards
tim-b

[roberts8]

A couple of winters ago I was going a bit quick for thawing conditions and hit a patch of cow slurry where cows had been moved for milking as is daily. I slid gracefully along on my side but no damage to the bike and gravel rash for me. Went home stinking and the dog thought it was wonderful so into the shower fully clothed. At no time did I consider complaining about the farmer, I was just going too quickly for the conditions. Also wondering about tubeless for thorns which should be cleared. Still love the back lanes but cycle slower.

[mattsccm]

"Don't get me wrong, I love the Countryside but this sort of behaviour really spoils it for me ." There is an answer.
Crap on the road, clippings everywhere. Part of life and a darn site less objectionable that idiots driving faster than the potential conditions might allow.

[xerxes]

Had one a few weeks back, clippings all over the road was weaving in and out of it and then - click click click click click click - I had a 4 inch piece of hawthorn attached to the rear wheel, decided just to leave it, 10 mile of that clicking noise before the wood wore away, tyre was still inflated when I got home after another hour of riding. Found the embedded thorn and prised it out followed by the hiss of the air coming out. So it was well worth leaving it in, if I had pulled the whole twig out I would have had to mend it roadside. I have had a few like this with marathon plus, they seem to be able to hold the thorn and keep the air in ?

Yes this is a good tip. I discovered this to my cost many years ago when I picked up a thorn. The tyre didn't go down, so I stopped and pulled it out, in the belief that this would stop it working its way through the tyre. Big mistake!

[roberts8]

You have a point about removing a thorn. A motor mechanic said he got home once by screwing in a wood screw to act like a plug. I suppose it might work on an inner tube but as I always have two tubes and a repair kit I won’t have to try it. Could a tubeless be fixed by a plug?

[Oldjohnw]

How many times have people ignored signs which say "Hedge Cutting in progress" or "Mud on Road"?

I often wonder how I should react to a sign which warns me of falling rocks, though. Should I put up an umbrella, perhaps?

[TrevA]

Highways Act 1980

Section 161 Penalties for causing certain kinds of danger or annoyance.

(1)If a person, without lawful authority or excuse, deposits any thing whatsoever on a highway in consequence of which a user of the highway is injured or endangered, that person is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding [F623level 3 on the standard scale].

Ones could argue that mud and/or clippings can endanger you if you consequently lose control of your bike. So it is an offence to deposit mud or clippings on a Highway if they cause endangerment. The law makes no distinction between town and country roads.

[ossie]

How many times have people ignored signs which say "Hedge Cutting in progress" or "Mud on Road"?

I often wonder how I should react to a sign which warns me of falling rocks, though. Should I put up an umbrella, perhaps?

Mud on the road falls under the Highways Act (beaten to it above by Trev). Back in the day when rural cop shops existed it was often reported and farmers made an effort to clear it up or risk facing the magistrates. Nowadays it appears ignored.

Hedge cutting is a necessary evil but we're out of the nesting season so its full steam ahead. It wouldn't take much to have someone following the tractor with a broom and also act as traffic control.