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Famous Sycamore Gap tree on Hadrian's Wall had been deliberately cut down

Puppycow said:
Because he's a nasty little pillock.

They say pyromania is an impulse disorder. Maybe it is something like that:



I could imagine a compulsion cut things down similar to the compulsion to set fires for pyromaniacs. There is not necessarily any sort of rationale or motive other than a feeling of satisfaction.

Although, it does seem like maybe that particular tree was chosen for a reason. If the only motive was to cut down trees, there might be easier targets than that particular one.
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Nobody would be concerned about pyromania if it were about simple, safe, controlled fires in fireplaces, firepits, etc. It's pretty clear that part of the impulse is the impulse to see/cause something big and energetic and transcendent - a "meaningful" fire.

This kid could go to a Christmas tree farm, the way some people go to the golf course or firing range, if that satisfied the impulse. If we're hypothesizing an impulse crime, then I hypothesize the tree's location and fame made it the tree that would give the biggest payoff to the impulse. Once the arboricide became aware of it, no other tree within reach would do.
 
Carrot Flower King said:
Serious answer is on foot or, as, Lothian suggests, quad bike. The road is a way away.

Less serious answers in ascending order of seriousness: horse, donkey, trail bike, mountain bike.
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Wrap the chaps around the bar. Carry it over the shoulder with the powerhead behind, bar sticking out in front. I've carried Stihl 440's miles and miles that way. With full chisel skip chain on a 32 inch bar (or longer, a 440 can handle bars as long as 52 inches, maybe longer) that's more than enough to take down that tree.

The newer alternative is to use a cut section of old firehose to cover the bar where it rests on the shoulder and then wear the chaps while hiking. Preferred now in wildland firefighting because less oil gets on the chaps that way and it is nice to not wear oil-soaked accessories near enormous raging wildfires. :eek:

Or, if you are not in guv'ment service, just don't wear chaps. Or wear saw pants. Either way, hiking long distances with really big chainsaws isn't a terribly uncommon thing to know how to do.
 
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"A man in his 60s has been arrested by officers investigating the felling of the world-famous Sycamore Gap tree in Northumberland, police have said."

link
 
theprestige said:
There's no path or trail up to the tree? Did people not visit the thing ever?
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There are paths over the moorland but no roads to the gap. The main paths run east west along the top of the crags following the wall and drop down the slopes to the tree at the bottom. You wouldn't take a vehicle along them. It would be easier to take a vehicle across the moorland above or below the wall where it is flatter and then approach the gap from the north or south you would however be going over rough moorland.
 
theprestige said:
Do the groundskeepers roll up the path and put it in a shed at night or in foul weather.
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No, it is a footpath in a national park. It it not a built path although some steps are cut into the rocks on steep bits, it is mainly a worn trail by people on foot. Have you never been out of a city into to the countryside?
 
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Lothian said:
No, it is a footpath in a national park. It it not a built path although some steps are cut into the rocks on steep bits, it is mainly a worn trail by people on foot. Have you never been out of a city into to the countryside?
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Edited by Agatha: 
Please stay civil
 
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In addition to the footpath that runs parallel to the wall at a distance of a yard or two and is part of the Pennine Way, there's one that runs south of it, avoiding the hilly bits. As the crow flies, its nearest approach to the Gap is 80 yards. The main east-west road is ⅓ mile off.
 
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