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

commandlinegamer said:
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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If they are local they walked or used a quad bike/ motor bikes, Otherwise they drove and walked the last bit.
I doubt they parked on the main road as they would have blocked the lane for an hour or so. Probably parked at steel rigg a 20 min walk away.
 
Lothian said:
All people have said is that there isn't a road leading right up to the tree.
Edited by Agatha: 
edited to match quoted post
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A quad bike doesn't need much of a trail to follow, to make short work of rough terrain. All I'm saying is, don't underestimate the impulsive tenacity of a jackass teenager on a quad bike in a thunderstorm. Y'all are the ones setting up a proper locked room mystery.
 
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theprestige said:
A quad bike doesn't need much of a trail to follow, to make short work of rough terrain. All I'm saying is, don't underestimate the impulsive tenacity of a jackass teenager on a quad bike in a thunderstorm. Y'all are the ones setting up a proper locked room mystery.
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No one is suggesting a mystery other than you.
Parking a car and walking the last bit is by far the most probable, don't know why you seem to have difficulty with that.
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Lothian said:
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No one is suggesting a mystery other than you.
Parking a car and walking the last bit is by far the most probable, don't know why you seem to have difficulty with that.
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I have no difficulty with that at all. I'm harkening back to a point in this thread where it was suggested that covering the distance on foot was the least serious possibility. Maybe your beef is with whoever said horseback was the most likely scenario.

You think maybe the culprit drove a horse trailer most of the way, and covered the last mile equestrian-like?
 
Google mapped it. It's not much over a kilometre walk from the car park to Sycamore Gap.

The "problem" is not walking it. The deal is walking it carrying a chainsaw big enough to cut the tree.

I'd say it's do-able.

18f4a0e3998903b144f50f8702080342.jpg
 
I think a lot of the puzzlement over how the perpetrator got there is because it was understood to be a 16 year old. In case the significance isn't clear, British 16 year olds don't have cars. You can get a driving licence at 17.
 
Let's see, 1300 meters of footpath to traverse with a heavy chainsaw to tote. Has anyone else ever heard of a problem-solving marvel of technology called a wheelbarrow?
 
Myriad said:
Let's see, 1300 meters of footpath to traverse with a heavy chainsaw to tote. Has anyone else ever heard of a problem-solving marvel of technology called a wheelbarrow?
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Sure... But I'm betting on some kind of ATV for example a Polaris.

Farm country? People have vehicles that can move around in the terrain.
 
Jack by the hedge said:
I think a lot of the puzzlement over how the perpetrator got there is because it was understood to be a 16 year old. In case the significance isn't clear, British 16 year olds don't have cars. You can get a driving licence at 17.
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And surely no one under 17 in England has ever driven a car without a license, especially one looking to commit an additional crime.
 
Apparently a man in his 60s has also been arrested:

A man in his 60s has been arrested by police investigating the cutting-down of the world-famous Sycamore Gap tree in Northumberland.

The landmark, beside Hadrian's Wall, was cut down overnight on Wednesday.

Northumbria Police said the man was arrested on Friday evening and remains in custody assisting with inquiries.

A 16-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage on Thursday and has since been released on bail, police said.
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https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tyne-66966187
 
theprestige said:
A quad bike doesn't need much of a trail to follow, to make short work of rough terrain. All I'm saying is, don't underestimate the impulsive tenacity of a jackass teenager on a quad bike in a thunderstorm. Y'all are the ones setting up a proper locked room mystery.
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Ding ding ding, who had TP backtracks and explains how it was everyone else who didn't understand him on their BINGO card?

;)
 
Myriad said:
Let's see, 1300 meters of footpath to traverse with a heavy chainsaw to tote. Has anyone else ever heard of a problem-solving marvel of technology called a wheelbarrow?
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Skeptic Ginger said:
Lumberjacks and wildland firefighters hike through rough terrain carrying chain saws and a lot more all the time.

Picture of a backpack for a chainsaw.

Or without the pack.

The 16 yr old and/or the 60 yr old could be in shape the way loggers and firefighters are.
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They wouldn't need to be in nearly as good shape as firefighters. The trip from the carpark to the tree isn't even a mile and is - a footpath. As in, a path.

Going truly cross country is much harder than following a path, any path. And those firefighters (I used to be one) cover terrain far rougher than that footpath for far greater distances often cross-country with no path to follow.

Basically - it's really not that hard at all to get a pretty big chainsaw to the site. Getting the big chain saw at all might be the hardest part. I am way past my firefighting days and horribly out of shape but I wouldn't find it too difficult.
 
theprestige said:
I have no difficulty with that at all. I'm harkening back to a point in this thread where it was suggested that covering the distance on foot was the least serious possibility. Maybe your beef is with whoever said horseback was the most likely scenario.

You think maybe the culprit drove a horse trailer most of the way, and covered the last mile equestrian-like?
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This is England, isn't it? Land of classic mysteries? I think it was done like one of Dorothy L. Sayers's books: the culprit rode a horse along the beach where the rising tide would wash out the tracks! All that business with train tickets and motorcars was just a red herring! And the chainsaw didn't have to be transported then because it was already at the site, it had been disguised as a tourist earlier that day and left at the scene!

Mysteries are so easy, when you know how!
 
theprestige said:
I have no difficulty with that at all. I'm harkening back to a point in this thread where it was suggested that covering the distance on foot was the least serious possibility. Maybe your beef is with whoever said horseback was the most likely scenario.

You think maybe the culprit drove a horse trailer most of the way, and covered the last mile equestrian-like?
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Did you actually read the first part of the post you quoted the second part of when you went off on one?

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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I'm 60 and spend a deal of time on the Scottish hills shooting deer. I don't consider myself to be in "great shape" and regularly pack out around 10-19kg's. I've dragged (head intact) heavier in the past, so I don't see the carrying of a chainsaw to a big issue.
 
Are we forgetting it was the middle of the night in a storm?

Anyway, we will find out soon enough
 
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