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...had a Trailhawking adventure in Norhamptonshire


Trailhawk

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Who said you need to go the Pyrenees or Alps to have an adventure? (well, actually, I have said that and more than once). But if you have a cheeky day off work with little else to do, why not head out to the green lanes of Northamptonshire for a pootle around? Just a solo adventure this time due to dastardly work interventions for TH2...and no Jeep Cuisine either due to the impromptu nature of the trip (but both will be back for next time, so don't worry boot-cooking fans!!!).

Hope you enjoy!  TH

 

 

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A very very professional film and did you ever work on Top Gear?

Looks like you have discovered some very nice lanes in Northamptonshire so would you consider running a JOC event around these lanes?

The JOC team will help out anyway we can.

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On 15/08/2021 at 21:00, JimC said:

A very very professional film and did you ever work on Top Gear?

Looks like you have discovered some very nice lanes in Northamptonshire so would you consider running a JOC event around these lanes?

The JOC team will help out anyway we can.

Thanks Jim, sadly I must have been washing my hair when Top Gear called...

Re an event, I'm happy to provide the Trailwise2 references to the lanes, but not sure I'm management material...maybe suggest approaching the regional GLASS rep?

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Nice work.

 

I reckon the Kelmarsh wind farm was there and a trail from the road by the wind farm through to Haselbech. Not sure about some of the other shots.

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I lived in Mawsley once upon a time. I recognised some of those lanes. The one at 1:36 in the clip is concerning due to the sign post. A number of byways in Northamptonshire have a permanent TRO for vehicles with more than two wheels. You may want to remove 1:36-1:38 as the video is otherwise well made and enjoyable to watch. You never know how observant or sympathetic viewers may be.  

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54 minutes ago, V said:

I lived in Mawsley once upon a time. I recognised some of those lanes. The one at 1:36 in the clip is concerning due to the sign post. A number of byways in Northamptonshire have a permanent TRO for vehicles with more than two wheels. You may want to remove 1:36-1:38 as the video is otherwise well made and enjoyable to watch. You never know how observant or sympathetic viewers may be.  

You had me worried there for a moment re the TOR as I'd be mortified if I'd inadvertently breached one...just gone and checked the evidence to reassure that it was only a seasonal TOR (Oct to April)...phew, all seems good as per the below!  Most of the lanes had the same restriction which is probably a good thing as they all looked in great condition. Infact its probably only this one that could easily get badly rutted. Lets hope though that they remain with only a seasonal restriction and this is not the thin end of the wedge.

snapshot2.jpg

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10 hours ago, DaveX said:

Nice work.

 

I reckon the Kelmarsh wind farm was there and a trail from the road by the wind farm through to Haselbech. Not sure about some of the other shots.

Thanks Dave X. Maybe this is a new game we've invented? "Spot the lane" - you deffo get the prize this time. Sadly on my last video from the Lakes I did film the signpost with the road name on it which kinda spoiled the fun! But I'll know for next time 🙂

 

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On 17/08/2021 at 22:22, Trailhawk said:

You had me worried there for a moment re the TOR as I'd be mortified if I'd inadvertently breached one...just gone and checked the evidence to reassure that it was only a seasonal TOR (Oct to April)...phew, all seems good as per the below!  Most of the lanes had the same restriction which is probably a good thing as they all looked in great condition. Infact its probably only this one that could easily get badly rutted. Lets hope though that they remain with only a seasonal restriction and this is not the thin end of the wedge.

snapshot2.jpg

A lot of Northampton’s lanes have that seasonal TRO on them, been like that for years so doesn’t seem like the thin end of the wedge, although, as V says, some of them are permanent. It has made a big difference to the surface of the lanes, I remember driving some of them them 25 - 30 years ago before they restricted them and they were really heavily rutted. In the days before GLASS the AWDC and LARA tried putting voluntary restrictions on them but in the end the council took matters into their own hands.They have recovered well over the years in the most part, nice lanes and a good video.

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I was against the illegal continuous maintenance TRO's they used to slap on the lanes. A lot of the lanes had obvious damage from agricultural users over winter. A lot had poor drainage due to blocked gulleys, with years of hedge cuttings just dumped in the ditches. It didn't matter how many photos you took of bar grip tyre tracks, or rotting foliage in ditches, the Northamptonshire council always blamed the 4x4 users. I guess now that the public cannot drive them in winter, agricultural user's have nobody else to blame.

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On 19/08/2021 at 23:10, V said:

I was against the illegal continuous maintenance TRO's they used to slap on the lanes. A lot of the lanes had obvious damage from agricultural users over winter. A lot had poor drainage due to blocked gulleys, with years of hedge cuttings just dumped in the ditches. It didn't matter how many photos you took of bar grip tyre tracks, or rotting foliage in ditches, the Northamptonshire council always blamed the 4x4 users. I guess now that the public cannot drive them in winter, agricultural user's have nobody else to blame.

The one from Harrington airfield to Kelmarsh across the Brampton Valley Way a case in point; half now shut and the other half a complete mess.

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Has anyone been down Great Doddington to Wollaston Mill recently? I complained to NCC a few times between 2001-2004 but nothing was done about it. The lane was TRO'd back then because RoW claimed that a section of it had 'fallen into the river'.  I walked it and found that this wasn't true. The area in question at the time was the corner of the byway on this map.

 

However, historical maps between 1885 and 1959 show the byway goes nowhere near the corner of the field and actually goes over the hill in an arc. The bit that was TRO'd wasn't on the original route! This link gets you to the 1885 map, but the website is awfully clunky, you have to select the 1:2500 county map, click the miniature map tile on the left, then enlarge, than the little icon to switch off print boundaries to view. No direct link to it.

 

I couldn't find any record of the byway being legally diverted. Even the diverted route had a fence erected over it. There was also an electric fence along the section up to the road at Great Doddington. NCC did nothing. I spent a lot of time researching County records and Parliamentary records, then I found out what NCC had done with their original paper version of the definitive map and statement.

 

I did start collecting old OS maps to try to narrow down when the route was illegally changed, but I moved away and lost interest due to rock crawling. From memory, I think I narrowed down the illegal diversion down to between 1960 and 1974.

 

 

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