Resting and Footpaths on the Fringe

First week of rest and the plight of footpaths on Stoke - Newcastle's fringe

Resting

The first week of my resting has passed.  I miss running, obviously.  I am unlikely to be  able to to take part in any long distance event this year, this will mean missing all of my favourites; LToB (missed already), the Manx and Beachy Head Marathon.  On top of this there is the eating thing.  While I did find it hard to cram enough into my body before an event, not running at all means cutting 5000 calories a week from my diet (roughly three bags of pasta or fifty bananas).  Lucky I was not doing last years mileage or I would be cutting 7000.

Footpaths on the fringe

While most of us will experience issues with footpaths from time to time, I find that footpaths on the fringe of town are particularly problematic.  This may be a peculiarity of my local area or it may be a general case.

User abused path - Not what you want to be surprised with on a steep descent.

Quite a few of my local rights of way suffer from lack of use.  At best this means that paths are overgrown with brambles and nettles, at worst all trace is gone and shrubs and trees have taken over.  Many stiles and way marks are missing or in very poor repair and soon there will be no evidence, on the ground, that these ways ever existed.

Overgrown path - No I wasn't lost and I have GPS tracks to prove it!  There was some 500 metres of this ahead of me.

Some landowners have fenced along paths, so close to hedgerows that passage is not possible.  New fences without stiles and electric fences across paths and stiles are also common.

 Abuse by landowner - Fences across and along a public right of way.

As the number of issues is overwhelming, I rarely get round to reporting them to the relevant authorities .  I am determined that, while I am resting, I will devise an objective system of prioritisation allowing a sensible number of reports.

If anyone has any suggestions for a safe way to line a ruck sac to receive the broken glass I pick up, I would be grateful.