h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Whenever I see somebody quoting the 'Country Code', they always say "Close gates after you". What they should say is, "Leave gates the way you found them". If the gate is closed when you go through it, close it after you. But if it is open, leave it open. OK, somebody may have carelessly left it open, but it is just as likely that a farmer or farm worker left it that way for their own convenience.

This goes along with gates. If you're crawling through someone's fence, be careful, especially if its barbed wire. Push the wire down, or hold it up only as much as you have to. String/repairing fence is hard work! Watch what kind of fence it is too - some areas still allow electric fences.

Cheerful Dragon said: "If the gate is closed when you go through it, close it after you."

More accurately, if the gate is closed when you go through it, find the owner and offer to pay for the damage!

Oh and of course, don't p**s on the electric fence!!!

Having grown up in farm country, I was always told to close the gate - no matter if it is open.

A farmer/farmhand would rather the 30 second hassle of opening the gate than the hour herding up of an errant flock.

If a gate has been left open for long enough, there won't be an errant flock in the field to worry about. Only a complete eejit would leave a gate open where there were livestock in the field. Unfortunately there are a fair few eejits about.

Most 'openable' gates that I have encountered have either been securely shut and even locked (if in a field with flocks), or they've been into fields of crops, so leaving them open wasn't an issue.

Oh, and Richard grew up in 'farm country' and he was told to always leave gates as he found them. So there!

I just remember getting clips around the lug-holes for leaving them open.

Mind you, I got the same for scrumping in our own orchard

Then, m'dear, you should have:

A) Scrumped from some else's, so it was their harvest you were reducing, not your dad's,
B) Not got caught, fool!

In a way, Ashley, you've just supported my argument. You got 'clipped round the lug-holes' for *leaving the gate open*. This sort of suggests that you had to open the gate to go through it and then you left it open. Having gone through it you should have closed it, thus leaving it the way you found it. Otherwise you could have used the argument 'it was already like that' - not that it would have got you anywhere. You'd have had a clip round the ears for being cheeky. Ah, well!

*noise of dragging a gate*
Oh, I was meant to leave it where I found it?

One good reason to leave a gate the way you found it, even if it is open, is because some farms have connected pastures for free range animals, and animals may need to come through the open gate when no human assistance is available (i.e. to reach food, water, shelter, etc.). Perhaps cattle (as in America) or sheep (as in UK, Aus, NZ, etc.) are going to be driven through the gate by handlers on horseback, in which case if you had closed the gate, the herd or flock would be jammed against the fence and would likely escape or at least severely delay the "round-up," leaving several very peeved cowboys/sheperds.

Another good tip is to make sure you don't ride an animal over or fall in a cattleguard yourself. Cattleguards are metal grates with large holes in them placed in front of gates. You can drive over a cattleguard, but cattle cannot negotiate it, as their legs will slip in and out of the holes, which is a sensation they don't enjoy. When a horse tries to go over a cattleguard, however, its long fragile legs will slip into the holes and either (a.) become trapped or (b.) snap, and the animal will have to be put down. Because of this cattleguards can be dangerous. This predicament will likely not happen to you, but it is a trifle embarassing and you could lose a shoe to the Cattleguard Gods.

Cattle guards are known as 'cattle grids' in the UK

Most of the cattle grids I've seen in the UK have a small gate next to them. This gate *must* be kept closed. It's provided so that people on horseback or people with dogs can get past the cattle grid. If it's left open, the livestock (usually sheep) will use it.

My Aunt's dog used to leap over the full length of a cattle grip. It was a little dog, so jumping a cattle grid was quite an Olympic feat.

I myself lost a brand new Barbie welly to the cattle grid god. Fortunatly my cousin manged to hook it out with a stick - or I'd have had a clip 'round the ear. Later that week I left my sandals in the garden overnight and they were chewed by foxes. Since then I have not had any other shoe related mis-haps. Phew!

Cause for celebration? anyone?

QB

Now it all makes sense

In future I will leave the gate as I find it... promise

Is this a side effect of approaching the Shoe Shop event horizon ?

My theory is, leave gates closed. Ont he other hand, most of the gates I find are padlocked shut so the immence fun of lifting a mountain bike overthem iadds to the country experiance.

For Duke of Edinburgh walking/hiking we were always told to close the gates after we had gone though and if we had to climb over, use the hinges side. However we mostly walked on Arable LAnd / forests, so the gates were really ment for marking field divisions and stopping dogs

I beleive the "Country Code" has now been updated (following consultation with farmers etc.) to say that gates should be left as they are found.