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The comment regarding BWs and farmland resonates. As I push south from Bham towards Stratford I hit a bunch of claggy, horrible routes over farmland. Perhaps drainage is an issue in that area too.
The comment regarding BWs and farmland resonates. As I push south from Bham towards Stratford I hit a bunch of claggy, horrible routes over farmland. Perhaps drainage is an issue in that area too.
Yep, the same over towards Solihull->Meriden->Coventry. Just horrible flat clay-ey paths. No point riding them because you end up riding a 70lb bike either very slightly uphill (which wheelspins because the tyre's a huge disc of mud), or very slightly downhill so you can move, but not with any pace or much control.
The comment regarding BWs and farmland resonates. As I push south from Bham towards Stratford I hit a bunch of claggy, horrible routes over farmland. Perhaps drainage is an issue in that area too
Based in Redditch I have dozens of bridleway routes plotted using OS maps but the quote above means virtually all of them are not worth the effort due to the clay nature of the soil. There are some great routes for nice summer evenings where enjoying the views etc is more important than how far/fast/gnarly etc you ride. most of my routes are created from OS maps, marking all the bridleways with a green highlighter and all the footpaths with an orange one, then use this as a basis to plot a route on digital mapping ready to upload to the garmin.
Only realised today that LA's all publish their definitive maps online. I'll be checking the map for my area against the OS maps for differences.
Really interesting thread.
I used to live in Buxton and had BWs and other rights of way within yards of my front door. I'd happily spend evenings poring over an OS map deciding which trails to link up next and had some lovely local doorstep rides. When I moved I spent similar evenings staring at the map for new routes to piece together and looked forward to those new explorations. Sadly the bridleways were mostly wet and muddy fields or so short - with so much road work to get to and from - that they weren't worth it. My current doorstep trails are ones I would never have found just looking on a map; they required local knowledge and a curious (or cheeky) nature.
I realise how spoilt I was where I previously lived and can see why people would rather drive to somewhere better.
+1 for getting out there to explore. After about 10 years you end up with an encyclopaedic knowledge of every footpath and bridleway within a 50 miles radius of your house!
The best way definitely. There's something extremely liberating about being able to go out without a map and make a route up based purely on your knowledge of the trails. Even if your exploration leads to hike-a-biking through a bog you'll at least know to avoid it in future. Also many trails aren't on OS maps so you need to go out and look for them.
Also many trails aren't on OS maps so you need to go out and look for them
...beaten to it!
As most have said, best way is to go out and explore. It's also worth making notes on an OS Map -- marking what's unrideable, which way round is best to ride a section, marking on location of unmarked trails in the hope you can find them again.
There are sections of our local woods that I never seem to ride exactly the same route.
Just have fun and explore!
The Pennines have the best bridleways because there were so many hill settlements and cottages where people were weaving wool into cloth before it all went down into the valleys to the river-powered manufactories and cotton took over. Look at any map of West Yorkshire for example and your mind will be boggled by the rich network of trails, most now classified as FPs when they would have originally been packhorse trails. But ride 20 miles north west into the Ribble valley and the Bowland fells and you'll find very few rideable off road routes, mostly because those areas have always been agricultural and shooting estates. Local mountain bikers do have routes but they are often cheeky and tend to skirt around the peripheries of towns like Blackburn.
The routes in the Bowland fells are particularly boggy in all but the driest weather, from what I've read
Apologies guys, I should have posted this a few weeks back, for two more days
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