BG Route blockage ?

[andy k]

On Saturday I walked across from Keswick to Portinscale. I ignored all the notices saying that the suspension bridge was closed and was happy to see from a distance that people were crossing it.
On reaching the bridge I found that some goodly sole with a pair of wire cutters had snipped a decent sized hole in the heavy wire screen that had been placed across both ends of the bridge.

good old common sense has prevailed over some No-risk decision maker at he council - hurray!

On reaching my friend's house in Portinscale we were talking about it and He told me that there was to be a "Prohibition Order" put on the bridge - not that I know what this implies - but it may mean that some more robust barrier gets put on the bridge - making it impassable,

which would be a bit of a problem...

[FellJunior]

Cumbria CC website states:
"Portinscale Footbridge (damaged – assessed as unsafe to use)"

good old common sense has prevailed over some No-risk decision maker at the council - hurray!

Sounds more like criminal damage has prevailed over common sense.

Presumably due to similar mentality someone is still driving over Stair bridge, even though it is blocked and a layman can see that the arch is failing.

[ZootHornRollo]

I went through that hole at New Year: it does seem to me totally daft that it is closed to pedestrians, I'd like to see the survey that shows it to be unsafe for people to walk over - if of course they did one.

I suspect it's more like 'We've got no idea how unsafe this is, there's probably only a 1 in a million chance it might go while someone's walking across it, but we'll cover our arses anyway by shutting it'.

[andy k]

No, no, no Felljunior is right
people really are not capable of making their own judgment (say for example, that there is no chance of a huge steel structure the size of the Portinscale bridge falling into the river just because they are walking across it, vs the risk of walking along the A66)
people should just do as they're told

And really its awfully dangerous to go running round the fells, so if people can't do the BG then thats an all round risk reduction.
If only everyone would spend their free time infront of the telly then we would all be much safer

[ZootHornRollo]

I came across another hitch on that route to Catbells: after you go round by the school down a ginnell, there's a small wooden footbridge been pulled off from over the stream - which is probably just wide enough to jump but quite steep-banked. I didn't fancy it anyway, which meant I had to go back and on to the main road.

[FellJunior]

No, no, no Felljunior is right, etc.

I prefer to stay on thread. As you point out there are problems to solve. Regardless of whether the closure decisions are justified, valid, or made by a 'job's worth', they are still in force, and are likely to remain so for some time.
BG rounds and currently more pressing, AW in April (Stair bridge) are seriously affected by these decisions. Mass ignoring of the restrictions just because it's inconvenient will reflect badly on the sport.

[#1Spookster]

How deep is the river at Portinscale? Could it be forded by a determined fell runner?

[Mark G]

Its quite wide and fairly deep by the suspension bridge but for reccies its probably not too drastic to go round by the road - could easily make all the difference on an actual attempt though. I think it would be very difficult to ford after 23 plus hours running.
On the same note it appears that bridge at Littletown is actually open to pedestrians and vehicles - I contacted the organiser of a LDWA event due to be held there to let him know about the AW issues and he had actually been and checked it the day before. Now I dont know the actual situation with all of the other closed bridges - some are obviously damaged but I think others may be awaiting inspection - but if they have inspected this one I would have thought the others further down the valley, especially something that is used as much as the suspesnion bridge would have been done as well.

[Mark Smith]

I crossed it on my recent midwinter BGR. B0lloxed if I was going round by that point! Excuse the french, but no other word quite sums up my mood at that point (24 hours had just passed). There was no physical barrier at all then, just a note that had been moved to one side.

I'm not saying it's right or owt, but i just walked across and that was that. If the good Lord would have taken me then, I probably wouldn;t have minded that much.

[stonewaller]

How about as well as a friend with arope at Broadstand you get another friend with a canoe at the bridge at Portingscale. It would certainly be novel but would it also invalidate the attempt ?