Four Legs good, Four Wheels bad...

I once got into very hot water, scalding in fact, on the issue of 4x4 use in the Peak District, when my name appeared in the national press, via a newspaper supporting a letter of harrumph towards a local authority.

The ramifications have never quite blown over, yet since, I have kept my red faced head down, when it come to all matters motorised vehicles on green lanes and byways, despite my seething utter disgust and loathing of the 4X4's belching over our National Parks.

Time and tide and all that, and this year I was invited by a fellow outdoor enthusiast and leading member of the Friends of the Peak District to attend a March against 4x4 use, up to Stanage Pole on the behalf of the British Mountaineering Council as an Access representative.

I seem to remember going quite pale at the request and I fobbed like one has never fobbed before, blustering and flustering a response of polite thanks, but no thanks. Attempts to encourage, included the fact that it would be filmed for both a BBC documentary and the Regional TV station Look North (or Look Leeds as we call it in Sheffield).

This only provided my alabaster, ashen face to turn a shade of pale that Procal Harum could never have envisaged, before my head fell off. Now the geezer that approached me is a good egg, a stout fellow and a kindred spirit when it comes to matters in the Peak District, yet I had to again say for reasons of politics, blahdy blah and my mangled, grossly deformed half chewed ear…no...

The world turned a few times and I was lobbied further, this time as an official photographer for the day, no badges or logo’s, organisations or politics, just a freelance snapper doing a gig for the love of it all.

The strings of my heart had been finely tuned and played like a good Fender Stratocaster, I had swallowed the sinker along with the hook and the line. However I needed tread carefully up the hill from Redmires Reservoirs up to Stanage as I shot frame after frame of rally supporters against the 4x4’s. A hand full of the latter of which decided to follow us up to the pole. If I could have worn a Groucho Marks disguise type mask, I surely would.

The Rally went well and pretty much without incident and I made it down from Stanage with the Peak district area Ranger discussing the problems that he faces with the 4x4’s using the long causeway at Stanage.

The local press did their thing and the BBC documentary was shown in October. A toothless affair caught up in red tape and committees with little or no substance I thought and the issue was parked as far as I was concerned.

Now I often get urges, like we all do and last weekend I had an urge to walk the Houndkirk byway through sheer curiosity. Not really for any reason but for to walk Theo dog and to see how the walkers, mountain bikers and the motorised folk are playing up there.

To be proactive is better than being reactive and I thought it prudent to get a view of the current state of play on Houndkirk before I entered into any hyperbole with interested parties moving forward for access issues.

Mountain bikes whizzed past as Theo and I tramped over the moor, past the area where the decoy city lights were deployed during the 2^nd World War. The dog walkers were out in force and a few motorbikes chugged by as we journeyed towards Ringinglow with the sun dipping down over the crest of Burbage Valley.

Crap from motorised vehicles was strewn about the road, the gritstone walls decimated from stone taken for the road to help stuck vehicles and the fence flattened for the enjoyment of some utterly vile petrol (shit) heads.

I finished the walk into Sheffield down the pleasant Limb Valley, thankfully free from man made detritus pondering on the state of things.

I tend to pick my battles that I want to win, but sometimes, they choose me instead and I then have to assess how the land literally lies. The conclusion is neither earth shattering, or of major consequence on core values and opinion. I detest 4X4’s and I still think they have no place in a National Park. I think I will hold this opinion no matter what, however much I am allowed to voice it.

I will stop short of some of the expletives that some of my colleagues choose to label the 4x4 fraternity, however one memorable exchange between a climber and a petrol head went something like this:

“Isn’t what your doing illegal?”

“No”

“Well it f*****g well ought to be…”

 Quite...