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Notes - Damage to the Northern Pennines by the use of Motorcycles and Quad-bikes 5Damage to the Northern Pennines by the use of Motorcycles andQuad-bikesLINDA M. ROBINSON, The Cottage, Melmerby, Penrith, Cumbria, CAlO lHNRODERICK W.M. CORNER, Hawthorn Hill, 36, Wordsworth St., Penrith, Cumbria, CAll 7QZF. JEREMY ROBERTS, Eden Croft, 2, Wetheral Pasture, Carlisle, CA48HUIntroductionIn the past few hundred years the Permines havebeen used by farmers for grazing their animalsand managed by landowners for grouse shooting.The farmers and keepers always accessedthis isolated area via footpaths, bridleways andfarm tracks on foot or on horseback up toaround the 1930s and 1940s when motorisedtransport began to be used such as tractors andfour-wheel drive vehicles and more recentlyquad-bikes. For many years there have beenmotorcyclists venturing on to the fells. Indeedone of us can remember seeing groups on thesummit plateau of Cross Fell almost twentyyears ago, causing damage to the shallow peat.Earlier this year a group of motor cyclistscamped overnight on the same summit.The formation of the Permine Way in 1965opened up the area to fell-walkers and as a resultparts of this long distance path between CrossFell and Little Dun Fell, Little Dun Fell andGreat Dun Fell and parts of Knock Fell hadpaving stones laid to stop the quite seriouserosion caused by walkers' feet. Motor cyclistsare keen to pit themselves and their machinesagainst the obstacles presented by the landscapeitself, and so obviously will not keep to thepaved way, which in any case has manystretches in the form of steps intended forwalkers, not wheeled traffic.Erosion of the wettest ground is one of themost damaging features of the bikers activities.Since 2000, damage by motorcycles and quadbikeshas increased dramatically. There are noworganised groups who arrive in cars and vanswith low-loaders in tow and up to twenty scramblebikes on board (see photo below).Low-loaders and vans parked on Melmerby Green.Photo © L. Robinson, 2005.They access the open fell via farm tracks,footpaths, bridleways, the Permine Way,Maiden Way and the A686 Hartside summit.Such off-road enthusiasts come from as faraway as Bolton in Lancashire and Liverpool.When challenged the bikers maintain they havethe right to be there, one group causing damageto a farmer's allotment above Ousby stating that'we have the right to roam'.Under section 34 of the Road Traffic Act 1988it is an offence to drive a motor vehicle withoutpermission on to common land, moorland orland of any description that does not form partof a road. It is also an offence under that sectionto drive a motor vehicle on a footpath or bridleway.Unfortunately this did not apply to offroadvehicles, and some motorcycles, e.g.scramble motorcycles, are classified as off-roadvehicles so an amendment to section 34 wasincluded in the Countryside and Rights of WayAct 2000 which had the effect of extending tooff-road vehicles the offence under section 34 ofthe 1988 Act. This came into force on 1 February2001.Description of areaThe area covered by this report stretches fromGreen Fell above Ousby, south along thesummits via Cross Fell, Little Dun Fell, GreatDun Fell and Knock Fell veering east to DuftonFell and on towards Meldon Fell.Most ofthis ground is above 600m with CrossFell the highest point at 893m. It consistsmainly of the uplifted bands of Carboniferouslimestone, gritstone and shale, with lines ofvariously enriched springs flowing from justbelow the summits giving rise to extensiveflushed areas down the slopes, many with rareand protected species in their communities.These vulnerable habitats, totally dependent ontheir fragile drainage systems, are without doubtmost at risk of damage by motorcycles.The summits, especially Cross Fell with itsextensive plateau and to a lesser extent, LittleDun Fell, have a drier Racomitrium lanuginosum(Woolly Fringe Moss)/Carex bigelowii(Stiff Sedge) sward on their tops whilst GreenFell, Dufton Fell, Meldon Fell and the BulmanHills (one of the most spectacular examples ofgiant glacial erratics known in the northernPennines) have areas of limestone grassland