[Dan]

"Trailblaze is installing permanent boxes on National Trails so that runners can pay to register and log their times. We think this is wrong. We hope you will join our protest and sign our petition."

Please have a read and sign the petition if you think this scheme is inconsistent with the countryside, and with Natural England's remit:

http://www.trail-blaze.co.uk/

[sam.t]

signed
sam

[Hilarysmum]

ditto.  Those boxes are a real eyesore

[Rosemary]

Done. 

[JulieS]

Done 

[doganjo]

Awful things - have also made a comment that it won't be Natural England(or Scotland if they try it here) much longer if they continue with such stupid ideas.

[bazzais]

Whats everyones main problems with the scheme? I dont get it?

I presume if they are aimed at runners they will be few and far between and will also encourage people to get out and see the beautiful countryside - I cant see too much of a problem.

Maybe they could combine it with another useful service like dog mess bins?  Or place them on the back of benches they supply?


That said:-
maybe they should just make an application for android and apple that records gps co-ordinates and times - simple, portable, upgradeable and useable anywhere and on any trail they choose!?

Baz

[poppajohn]

signed. ( does that mean I still get to shoot the runners tho? )

[doganjo]

That said:-
maybe they should just make an application for android and apple that records gps co-ordinates and times - simple, portable, upgradeable and useable anywhere and on any trail they choose!?

Baz

What a brilliant idea!  You should suggest it to them.  How about suggesting an app to stop dogs pooping in the woods too  I could with such an app in my garden to save me picking it all up.  My dogs are trained to do it on my own land so they are less likely to 'go' on someone else's

[mab]

I don't see the problem either - granted they could be made a bit less obtrusive but there are plenty of more obvious eyesores in the countryside, like:

  huge aluminium roofed 'barns'
 7-bedroom barn conversions which look like a conference-centre with just enough traditional barn features retained to satisfy the planners, and 1/2 an acre of shingle car park out in front.
 windmills (though I personally accept them as a lesser evil than traditional power stations).

If you're going to object to a relatively small box on a gatepost, then someone else might reasonably object to you parking an old caravan on your land and using it as a shed, or any other addition that can be seen from the road/footpath.

That said:-
maybe they should just make an application for android and apple that records gps co-ordinates and times - simple, portable, upgradeable and useable anywhere and on any trail they choose!?

Baz

A good idea, but I think those things use the cellphone masts to navigate rather than true GPS - I hear that some people who try to use 'em in the countryside get lost when they lose their phone signal. 

[robert waddell]

what is wrong with using a map???

[hughesy]

Can't see the problem with those at all. Runners are not doing the countryside any harm, which is more than you can say for a lot of farmers and landowners. Runners are just as entitled to use the lanes and byways/paths as anyone else.Those boxes are no more an eyesore than signs etc.

[doganjo]

what is wrong with using a map???

I don't think they are trying to find their way, they are trying to log in to establish whether one is faster than another I think, aren't they?  Is that not what they are for these boxes - click machine thingys?

"Trailblaze is installing permanent boxes on National Trails so that runners can pay to register and log their times"

[mab]

what is wrong with using a map???

Nothing!

But there are people who go out into the unknown and expect that a small battery operated  (and non-waterproof) pack of electronics will do all their navigating (& thinking) for them.  

mab

PS. I'm not a technophobe - I just have limited patience for people who haven't learnt common sense.

[bazzais]

The only fear I would have is that it is the 'first of many' - the layers of law kind of thing, set a president.  Yes I would object, but only to kick up a stink with that worry ie. whats to stop anyone else setting up a similar scheme for whatever they please.

In reality it doesnt look that bad - yes they have advertising, but we do live in a country that embraces free spirit and enterprise - nothing gets done gratis.

I dont see anything wrong with the scheme - especially if the post they install to put it on is a new pot that I could attach a gate to.

Yes I get pissed off with people crossing my land, yes I see the outfall from people disrespecting it, yes I can see the fact that sign-age is against what 'the countryside' is about (infact any over-signage!!!) - but I remember the day I wasn't a land owner - surely an organisation like the trail blaze would respect any land they run over.

Knee jerk - maybe - me thinks.....

Baz