I always feel nervous crossing a farmyard with an ancient right of way through it - and not just out of fear of a loose dog.
One day, i often tell myself, a farmer will object. And there have been cases of farmers driven mad by crushing debt and loneliness.
To the Regiment - I Wish I Was There
a great incentive to run faster though
One farmer has already objected.Originally Posted by Danbert
Source: Athletic News; 21 November 1904, page 7.A farmer summoned a harrier called Harold Holding to answer a charge with willfully and maliciously destroying part of a fence at Coldbath Farm, Stoney-Lane, Wake Green.
The offence was aggravated by the fact that, on the previous Saturday, the defendant and thirty-six friends did exactly the same thing and were cautioned by the prosecuter. Owing to the damage then done, Constable Burt was on the look-out, and saw the defendant, with the harriers, jump over four fences, some of which were damaged. He caught the defendant who had no excuse whatever to make.
The magistrated fined the athlete 2s 6d with another 6d for damages!
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XRunner there is a farmer in Bowlee near Middleton where i live, who always leans heavily on his gate when i run past on Sunday mornings.
He wears a greasy cap, an open necked shirt and old trousers. By his side, to my alarm, there is always a long handled axe, propped up against the gate. The look on his face says 'That's to keep the likes of you runners away.'
Sometimes he has a sort of Jack Nicholson in The Shining type of grin on his face.
I know the farm is nowhere near as remote as the snowbound hotel in the film The Shining, but i reckon it's still the sort of place where, under stress, you could become unbalanced. It's set off a track, which is off a lane. The lane itself runs for a mile before you reach a proper road.
I look at his axe every Sunday morning and think to myself am i about to meet my nemesis.
My burial wouldn't present much of a problem. I reckon he's got a secret trench, probably where he's buried his previous victims (What happened to Salfords National winning team of three years ago?)
He could easily open up the trench with the digger attachment of his tractor and he'd have bags of lime for dissolving my body....and grass sods easily avilable for camoflage. I'd be nicely rotted down with the rest of them, come easter.
To the Regiment - I Wish I Was There
DanXRunner there is a farmer in Bowlee near Middleton where i live, who always leans heavily on his gate when i run past on Sunday mornings.
He wears a greasy cap, an open necked shirt and old trousers. By his side, to my alarm, there is always a long handled axe, propped up against the gate. The look on his face says 'That's to keep the likes of you runners away.'
Sometimes he has a sort of Jack Nicholson in The Shining type of grin on his face.
I know the farm is nowhere near as remote as the snowbound hotel in the film The Shining, but i reckon it's still the sort of place where, under stress, you could become unbalanced. It's set off a track, which is off a lane. The lane itself runs for a mile before you reach a proper road.
I look at his axe every Sunday morning and think to myself am i about to meet my nemesis.
My burial wouldn't present much of a problem. I reckon he's got a secret trench, probably where he's buried his previous victims (What happened to Salfords National winning team of three years ago?)
He could easily open up the trench with the digger attachment of his tractor and he'd have bags of lime for dissolving my body....and grass sods easily avilable for camoflage. I'd be nicely rotted down with the rest of them, come easter.
He can't be as scarey as walking through a dark wood on the way up to the Roaches to find 'Doug' step out from behind a tree with a 4ft felling axe over his shoulder and wearing a full length leather over coat and smelling of wood smoke.
Tried to find a picture of Doug but couldn't find one any where, any one got one?
I got to know Doug over the years he used to stand at the bottom of the crag and say tell climbers where a hidden hand hold was etc Top Bloke.
Whilst jogging through the farmyard,
I heard a yell behind;
"Stop there young lad, come over here,
If you would be so kind".
Nervously I turned,
Expecting there to be,
A rather angry farmer,
With his shotgun aimed at me.
The vision stood before me,
was striking I confess;
A bearded strapping shepherd,
in a gorgeous wedding dress.
"I can't afford another sheep;
Please don't think its funny.
But the plan I've just come up with,
is marrying into money."
I didn't stop to find out,
what he had in store for me.
But I hope his cash comes quickly from
the Rural Payments Agency.
Fitness can't be stored. It must be earned over and over, indefinitely.
I met a guy at Giants Tooth on New Years Day who had been done over pretty badly by a cow / bull on a public right of way / minor road (can't remember which). Either way, the farmer was getting done for allowing his animals to be loose, and the runner who'd been crushed against a fence was awaiting a large insurance payout for loss of earning, medical bills etc... He said that if you go there now all the fences / gates etc have been repaired.
If you run up the track through the pine woods just to the left of Sharp Haw (near Skipton) on a Saturday morning (October through to February), your run will often as not take you through several pheasant shooting stands, each manned by a couple of shotgun toting country types.
You get a terrible feeling in the small of the back as you run up the track past each of these, and statistically, what, 1 in 10 people suffer from mental problems? That tenth shotgun owner you know is just itching to bag a runner.
On the Dales Way, just south of Burnsall, there's a farm. The farmyard is always tidy, the green Landrover is always immaculately clean and even the sheepdog is friendly.
On New Years Day after I'd run Giant's Tooth race, I was walking through the field below the farm and got chatting with the farmer.
He told me he'd run at the famous fell race on the other side of the dale decades before after training 'all summer' and managed around 16minutes or so before telling me all about his family history etc.
It was fantastic conversation and a real lift for me after having man-flu for a good part of the holiday. Sadly the farmer has no-one to take on the farm when he's gone. I don't know how old he is but he said his mother was there when Dalzell made his famous 2min 42sec descent, which FITC tells me was 1910!
Most farmers I've known are nice people, and don't mind you crossing their land as long as you don't cause any damage, and in some would like you to notify them beforehand (acceptable enough to me).
We don't even have "right to roam" over here, but most places I've been off the beaten track haven't had any farmers object.
I think it's fair to say there's an element of farmers who can get arsey, and there is also an element of runners who get arsey - put the two together, and you shouldn't really expect anything other than trouble!
Meanwhile the rest of us get along just fine, but then that doesn't make headlines. or the topic of forum/realife conversation.
Remember we are just there for pleasure, they are there for their livelyhood - how would all of us feel if someone tramped into our office without regard, and made a thorough mess of it, destroying work which may only have taken us a few hours!! Then consider they are working pretty much 24/7!
The one time I can think of being chased off some land was by the farm manager of a rich person who lived on a farm, but got someone else to do their work for them. Prior to this when it was a proper working farm you could go through the land with no problems (there's actually an old major footpath running through the land which is what makes it even more insulting - though the path may have been closed some years back due to problems on the cliffs) now it's totally prettified and is more like some country park by the sea!!! This rich "comeover" is so arsey that he won't even let some friends of ours who farm up the road come down his driveway, and yet he feels free to drive right through their farm!!!
I'm so naughty!!!!!!
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