The very worst experience that I have had regarding farm detritus was walking across a field strewn with chicken excrement, chicken parts, lots of feet and even whole chickens, but strangely no heads at all. Perhaps the heads have some sort of identification on them. The stench was indescribable and the slimy dead remains stuck on my shoes were the stuff of nightmares. My dog didn't know whether to eat the mess or to roll in it - disgusting. Even worse, I was leading a group of young people on a D of E training walk. They were shocked and disgusted too and it certainly did nothing to endear them to the countryside.
Interestingly, we walked past the same field a couple of hours later and the farmer was busy ploughing the macabre evidence into the soil. Surely this practice is illegal, especially with the problem of chicken faeces and bird flu. One wonders how many of the fields that we walk in have the same treatment.

Farmers, don't get me started. I remember when Open Access was being debated in The House, the Tory spokesman was saying that "The Right to Roam" would not be in the inerests of "The Guardians Of The Countrside".


I almost choked when he said these are the farmers!!!!!

There is no excuse for the deliberate dropping of litter in the countryside by walkers/ramblers/runners etc.
But what we drop, is but a fraction of what is dumped in the countryside by the farmers who farm it. This may not be a popular observation, but I bet the tonnage of 'litter' left by farmers outweighs anything discarded by us (forget fly-tipping) many, many times over. Strangely we are often targeted as the ones who ' leave gates open and litter the countryside'.

And no, not all farmers are bad. But an awfull lot are.

There is local woods that I used to use a lot for walking and jogging but one of the car parking areas has become so disgustingly horrible and the other one is very small and busy that I have just about give on what is a little gem of an area.

Any litter burns me up, but litter in the countryside especially. It's symptomatic of screwed up values.

I was once told by a post master that those bands cost a 1/2p each. I was on 12 hours double time + night rate watching an empty building at the time so I wasn't worried about a few bands on the floor.
David H

I was once told by a post master that those bands cost a 1/2p each. I was on 12 hours double time + night rate watching an empty building at the time so I wasn't worried about a few bands on the floor.
David H

So that's where my red rubber bands came from! Gotcha!

whoops, that's confusing... I mean Royal Mail post box, not just some random person's letter box

Once I've got enough red rubber bands for my own use, I put the surplus in the nearest letter box.

What about the scourge of the red rubber bands constantly being dropped by our post people? We take part in events all over the country and we see them everywhere in all towns and villages. They shout at me from the pavement. On my mile-long walk to school the other day I picked up no less than 6 of them and usually pick up at least 1 or 2 every day. I find them useful for holding maps together!

Just looked at WH results and i reckon the folk behind The faster people must have cleared up after Them because as i say i saw no Litter.
But that is not to say it doesn`t happen cause it doe`s and not just runners more accurately people in general.

All the best
John

Totally Agree carry in full carry out empty.

I also ran Wuthering Hike Last weekend but i did`nt witness any discarded gell satchets or other detrius for that matter, but normally if i do i pick them up and carry them out, after all it is my reputation that is at stake as well as everybody else's,and as pointed out they weigh very little and don`t slow me down much.

Always amazed at people who can carry a full banana to the top of a mountain, yet an empty peel is much too heavy to carry back down.

Is anyone like me in being enraged by the sight of litter defacing our beautiful countryside? Apart from the usual detritus dropped by the occasional, non-serious ambler ("r" deliberately left out) who don't know any better, I often see rubbish dropped by runners, who SHOULD know better. Last Saturday on Wuthering Hike I saw several SIS energy gel packs littering the trail. I was also consuming these gels as I ran. If I can carry my empty sachets to the next checkpoint, why can't they? It's not difficult and I'm sure it doesn't slow them down, or is it that they have a problem with multi-tasking and can't run and hold something at the same time? Come on, get a grip and show some pride and respect for our environment. Hold onto it until you reach a waste bag!