Adventure number 2

[sally87]

A couple of weeks ago basil and I set off for a three day hack to ride the next part of the pennine bridleway. We started at the top of the Mary towneley loop (which we rode last year) and finished up at settle.

Here goes...

Day one:
Waiting for my friend to give us a lift to the start point

A canter along can't Clough reservoir

Hurst wood

Leaving the loop

The long and winding road- the route is made up of old pack horse trails

Lonely sheep

Sun came out!

Basil's b&b for the night at wycoller- unfortunately the cows didn't want to be his friends despite his best efforts

Day 2:

Morning basil!

Playing in a ford

Friends!

Pub lunch

Met some cows

Over the hill

Admire the view

B&b near gisburn

Day 3:

Big house (unfortunately basil appears to have slept in a pile of sheep poo last night)

Who are you?!

Limestone is appearing

Weather is coming in

Joining the settle loop

Then back home just as the rain started!

A brilliant ride on a well marked path. Lovely b&bs for me, my mum and basil. Time to plan the next leg!

 

[Love]

Sounds amazing and gorgeous photos! Definitely inspired me to do something like this with my Connie, he would love it!

 

[Mince Pie]

I might have to do something similar in Cornwall and ride the Camel Trail, although it's not nearly as long as that ride!

 

[Lolita]

Great photos, sounds like a lovely adventure.

 

[Gloi]

Lovely pictures I recognise a lot of those places.
We did the Mary Towneley loop last year and were thinking of doing this this time but have decided to stay at 'Off the Beaten Track' in the borders instead. We still want to do this in the future so can I ask you where you stayed, what the places were like and how many miles you did each day. Were there any problems you encountered on the route?
Did you carry all the gear yourselves or did you find someone to transport it? My other problem was how to get back to our cars if we did a linear route.
Sorry for all the questions but it will probably be me that has to organise our trip

 

[joulsey]

Looks fab, would love to do it as it isn't far from me, but would still need transport!

Is the "big house" not Gisburn hospital?

 

[Carrots&Mints]

Fabulous! I live in pendle and have always wanted to do the mary townley loop!! Will have to pull my finger out!!

Was the black lane ends food good? Havent been there for a while?

 

[Girlracer]

Amazing that sounds great fun. Would love to do something similar

 

[FairyLights]

Thanks for sharing. Lovely adventure, I'm quite envious !

 

[*sprinkles*]

Brilliant I would love to do something like this but don't think my batty warmblood would stand for it unlike your fabulous Basil !! This thread really had me smiling, looking forward to your report of the next leg !!

 

[sally87]

We did around 15 miles a day this year except first day (about 10 but depends where on mtl you start), it would be possible to do it in 2 days with a longer first day but I decided to do it in three as neither basil nor I were very fit!

We stayed at a b&b called parsons lee farm near wycoller. Nice farm house where you can put your horse in the farmers field with his sheep and cows. We could see basil from our bedroom window which was nice. We saw him go to see the cows but they took a dislike to him and chased him off! Poor basil does have identity issues. Unfortunately the couple that own this b&b are retiring and selling up. Hopefully the new owners will keep it going but if not there are livery yards in trawden for horse accommodation.

On the second night we stayed at foxhill barn b&b at great todber farm near gisburn. They had some small stables here but basil was happier in the field. Again very nice human accommodation and lots of grass which is what matters most!

My mum came with me and stayed in the b&bs. She had my car and took our stuff to the next place, as well as walking short sections. If you were travelling sans mother then there are bus routes along the link and am sure some of the b&b people would help you get back to your car.

We encountered a couple of awkward gates between gisburn and settle which I have emailed the pennine bridleway people about. They already knew and have improvement plans in place, so hopefully will not be a problem for long. Rest of route v well marked and kept, really easy ride for navigation. A lot of gates but on Average I only needed to get off for one a day, mostly if they were difficult to close and basil being impatient! (Plus at 14.2 it doesn't take much to convince me to get off and back on again!)

We just had a sandwich at black lane ends but it was very nice!

The big house may have been a hospital, was in gisburn park. None of the hospitals I've ever worked at look this nice from the outside!

Hope that answers everyone's questions! Feel free to ask more and spread the happy hacking love around

 

[NiceChristmasBaubles]

That looks amazing - thank you so much for sharing the pictures. I am not a lover of hacking, but I would love to do something like that one day.

 

[Gloi]

Thanks for that and special thanks for mentioning that Foxhill barn B&B takes horses. It doesn't say that on their website and it would be a useful place for us to stay.
I would quite like to also do the part north of Settle. I have ridden some of that in the past but long before the Pennine Bridleway was created.
It would be lovely if there was another loop like the Mary Towneley one as the B&bs there had that so well organised for luggage transfert etc.

I wish I had a handy mum

 

[sally87]

If you look on the penine bridleway website they list b&bs with horse Accomodation. Many don't mention it on the website but if you email them they may have a field or be able to advise where to stable locally. The part north of settle is my next plan, not sure when tho yet!