Solo Gravel Safety

[Blue Hills]

I took my roadie mindset with me into the hills

Deadly!
Very honest of you to say so though.

 

[Joffey]

Thanks for the links joffey.
Have meant to check some of those places out for a while - I highlighted some on my OSMand.
If I recall correctly, during deep covid some folks were fined for freecamping near one of them.
(May have been Derbyshire police on an undercover deniable cross-border foray into Yorkshire)

There was a few reports of people camping and leaving rubbish everywhere. Thankfully there was not many. More of a problem was when people were allowed to visit and they did so in their droves - they were parking up verges etc - it was a nightmare. Loads of them got parking tickets and moved on my the cops thankfully.

It's calmed down a bit now.

 

[chriswoody]

There's a lot of good advice in this thread and not really much more to add really. This is how my bike is normally set up for day rides so I can carry food, spare clothes waterproofs etc:

It sounds like your bike is new, one thing to do is go over your bike and check out all of the fixings and check your current multi tool will take care of everything. I realised after doing that, that I didn't have things like torx bits. So I built up a completely new ride tool kit that lives in the bidon under the down tube.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Thanks for the links joffey.
Have meant to check some of those places out for a while - I highlighted some on my OSMand.
If I recall correctly, during deep covid some folks were fined for freecamping near one of them.
(May have been Derbyshire police on an undercover deniable cross-border foray into Yorkshire)

I think that was mine workings in mid Wales. However, it was right by a road. If you ride the Trans Cambrian trail you’ll pass them. Free camping sounds like an American term. Maybe some forum members can confirm? Wild camping is the word I use. But I suppose if free camping refers to camping right by the side of the road. I’d accept that, because it’s hardly wild or adventurous.

If you camped up near the mine working in Yorkshire. No one would be any the wiser as you’d be tucked up well away from the road and anyone just passing. Chances of police stumbling across you? About zero.

I would be wary of drinking from streams round there due to potential lead contamination.

 

[ColinJ]

I would be wary of drinking from streams round there due to potential lead contamination.

Or parasites/poisoning from a dead sheep...?

I suggested to a pal that refilling a bottle from a grotty-looking stream probably wasn't wise, but he wouldn't have it. The very next evening I was watching a TV show (Countryfile, or something similar) and the presenter went for a walk on the fells with a countryside ranger. They walked round a bend in the path and found a rotting sheep carcass in a stream!

Since then I have come across a couple of dead sheep near streams on the hills round here.

 

[Blue Hills]

I think that was mine workings in mid Wales. However, it was right by a road. If you ride the Trans Cambrian trail you’ll pass them. Free camping sounds like an American term. Maybe some forum members can confirm? Wild camping is the word I use. But I suppose if free camping refers to camping right by the side of the road. I’d accept that, because it’s hardly wild or adventurous.

If you camped up near the mine working in Yorkshire. No one would be any the wiser as you’d be tucked up well away from the road and anyone just passing. Chances of police stumbling across you? About zero.

I would be wary of drinking from streams round there due to potential lead contamination.

Definitely yorkshire.
Not near a road.
This
https://www.grough.co.uk/magazine/2...ies-to-eight-wild-campers-in-yorkshire-dales#

Noone expects derbyshire constabulary
(Maybe they were extra busy that day policing sheep and handed over to their yorkshire pals,)

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Definitely yorkshire.
Not near a road.
This
https://www.grough.co.uk/magazine/2...ies-to-eight-wild-campers-in-yorkshire-dales#

Noone expects derbyshire constabulary
(Maybe they were extra busy that day policing sheep and handed over to their yorkshire pals,)

Now you see the article says they didn’t leave that night as they’d been drinking. So that clearly implies they drove there. So I suspect what really happened was that their cars were spotted at the road only a mile away. Plus the track to where there were is drivable firm and fine gravel. So not that far from a road at all.

Had they not driven, had they been discreet about their presence, had they not pitched tents till near sunset. No one would have been the wiser.

 

[uphillstruggler]

Now you see the article says they didn’t leave that night as they’d been drinking. So that clearly implies they drove there. So I suspect what really happened was that their cars were spotted at the road only a mile away. Plus the track to where there were is drivable firm and fine gravel. So not that far from a road at all.

Had they not driven, had they been discreet about their presence, had they not pitched tents till near sunset. No one would have been the wiser.

And maybe if they hadn’t been dayglo tents

 

[Milkfloat]

Great images and perfectly demonstrate how remote that area is, you could take a fall there and not been seen from 50 m, let alone further.

A Yorkshire bike on a Yorkshire ride, nice.

Seeing as you are aware of Planet X, their bike packing kit is cheap and robust. It’s mostly what I use, not saying you need to go this far though 😂

View attachment 606277

View attachment 606278

Looks like you are circumnavigating the world, carrying your own food for the entire trip and delivering parcels to your mate in Uzbekistan on the way.

 

[uphillstruggler]

Looks like you are circumnavigating the world, carrying your own food for the entire trip and delivering parcels to your mate in Uzbekistan on the way.

I reckon Uzbekistan may have been easier than some of the cliff faces cycle travel took me up!

Enough food for a couple of days, a stove, basha, bivvi, sleeping bag and clothes

The kitchen sink was left in the shed at home

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Seems appropriate

https://gpstraining.co.uk/blogs/new...es-to-navigate-mountains-warn-mountain-rescue

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I didn't realise there was old lead mines around there - the ruins of one are nearby and will be visit on a future trip. It's quite an eyeopener when you get off the main roads as to what is up there and the history behind it.

If you’d looked at OS mapping beforehand you’d have known straight away

 

[Blue Hills]

If you’d looked at OS mapping beforehand you’d have known straight away

View attachment 606426

good point - though much as I value OS other mapping systems are available - these days I tend to use OSM on OSMand a lot - come up with a route on cycletravel or something, import it into OSMand and then look for interesting gubbins near the route - found some very interesting stuff that way. I stress that I need no data signal on the rides - Garmin, OSMand with maps and route offline, plus OS map.

 

[andrew_s]

Now you see the article says they didn’t leave that night as they’d been drinking. So that clearly implies they drove there. So I suspect what really happened was that their cars were spotted at the road only a mile away. Plus the track to where there were is drivable firm and fine gravel. So not that far from a road at all.

Had they not driven, had they been discreet about their presence, had they not pitched tents till near sunset. No one would have been the wiser.

Their campsite was much closer to the road than that. They were plainly visible to anyone using the road.
StreetView

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Their campsite was much closer to the road than that. They were plainly visible to anyone using the road.
StreetView

So back to my original thought. Too close to road and clearly visible !