How many bridleways do you have in your area

rhino said:
Scotland doesn't really 'do' bridleways, but I'm lucky enough to keep my horse on the Duke of Buccleugh's estate so have access to several thousand acres of off road riding... It's absolute heaven for me; you can hack out for hours and not meet anyone or have to go on a road!.
Click to expand...

Wow, you're very lucky! I'd definately begin hacking again if I had that on my doorstep! I live in Scotland too, but the only "off-road' hacking is in forestry which I'd have to do roadwork to get to. I gave up roadwork a few years ago after one too many incidents - too dangerous nowadays. I do sometimes hack around my local farmers fields which legally, I am allowed to do - in fact I can go anywhere I want (as long as I close gates etc.) however the local farmers dont really like it. I asked them out of politness and whilst they say I can, I think they make it quite awkward - for example theres a huge field which has a gate right beside my yard gate so literally right next door. I used to go in there all last summer, until the farmer used barbed wire to secure the gate closed... think that was a hint! Very annoying since it was just a normal grass field which I never went in when it was too wet (ie. damaging).
 
Quite a few, we can get to about 5 I can think of without going on any real roads. They lead on to others. Real variety, woods, common land, various tracks, rivers to cross, old roads that are tarmaced but only used by a few people who live in cottages there.
Then you go on the roads and go a bit further afield to access others. We are very lucky.

There are so many yards that back onto them that on a sunny day you meet other riders all the time.
 
MagicMelon said:
Wow, you're very lucky! I'd definately begin hacking again if I had that on my doorstep! I live in Scotland too, but the only "off-road' hacking is in forestry which I'd have to do roadwork to get to. I gave up roadwork a few years ago after one too many incidents - too dangerous nowadays. I do sometimes hack around my local farmers fields which legally, I am allowed to do - in fact I can go anywhere I want (as long as I close gates etc.) however the local farmers dont really like it. I asked them out of politness and whilst they say I can, I think they make it quite awkward - for example theres a huge field which has a gate right beside my yard gate so literally right next door. I used to go in there all last summer, until the farmer used barbed wire to secure the gate closed... think that was a hint! Very annoying since it was just a normal grass field which I never went in when it was too wet (ie. damaging).
Click to expand...

correct here in Scotland you can go anywhere . ive even had to build styles for walkers to have access .
 
christi said:
i live on 18,000 acre shooting estate miles and miles of tracks do not see a soul .

100_1311.jpg

P1000721.jpg

100_2018.jpg

PIC_00026.jpg
Click to expand...

Bliss .
 
I am in South Glos area and to be honest i cant complain, we have a number of good bridleways but we mainly have the use of Toll Rides. These are tracks set out around the edge of farmers land which we pay so much a month to use. They can be used all through the year, never closed off. You can go for a nice 2 hour hack without having to go on the main roads very much at all ;)
 
C&C said:
I am in South Glos area and to be honest i cant complain, we have a number of good bridleways but we mainly have the use of Toll Rides. These are tracks set out around the edge of farmers land which we pay so much a month to use. They can be used all through the year, never closed off. You can go for a nice 2 hour hack without having to go on the main roads very much at all ;)
Click to expand...

The toll rides near me are closed off....for shooting,too muddy......etc etc
 
Miles and miles and miles of them! Sorry guys!
You can go for all day rides and the variety of where you can go is amazing! I'm never bored of it and am always finding new paths I never knew exsisted.
It's only 20 minutes away from the center of Cardiff but you could be a million miles away.
:)
 
None, zero, zilch... :(

The farm rides we did have have now been closed for nearly 2 years. It's absolutely sickening to ride pass all the fields and tracks i have grown up on and which we are now not allowed on. All because the local riding school used to abuse it :mad:
 
very lucky as bridlepath is direct off the yard. No it's not amazing, and if you go far, you have to link paths with country lanes, but for my area it is very good! :)
 
Christi - you are so lucky.

We have quite a few round here but most involve road work to get to them, the one right next to my house is a nice one, I used to stop off on the way home and let the horse much the garden grass (mum wasnt too pleased). Near the new yard theres some bridleways too altho involve crossing a busy road to get to them. Im looking forward to hacking round there when I get a new horse.
 
None :( and i dont think iv ever come across one!! Hmmm i dont think NI have bridleways!!! We just have narrow country roads with blind corners were i am.
 
NicoleS_007 said:
None :( and i dont think iv ever come across one!! Hmmm i dont think NI have bridleways!!! We just have narrow country roads with blind corners were i am.
Click to expand...

I don't think so either :( There are no bridlepaths, but we can ride in the forestry commission grounds i think, eg. Tollymore & gosford

We have just road hacking here as well :(
 
We have loads. Yard is directly on the 3 Shires Way (well a few yards off it!) & there is an extensive network of bridleways - we can go on a 4 hour hack that has about 20 mins on roads in about 5 small chunks. The farm we are on also let us ride round all the field margins so we can go out for well over an hour with about 5 yards on the road at each end of the hack (& even that can be done on the verge).
 
Last edited:
silverstar said:
Christi - you are so lucky.

We have quite a few round here but most involve road work to get to them, the one right next to my house is a nice one, I used to stop off on the way home and let the horse much the garden grass (mum wasnt too pleased). Near the new yard theres some bridleways too altho involve crossing a busy road to get to them. Im looking forward to hacking round there when I get a new horse.
Click to expand...

:D and i never take it for granted
 
Interesting thread..Could everyone put where they live when replying please, as I am very interested in which areas have good outriding (I will be moving at some stage.) Currently in North Bucks, I have a couple of useful circuits of an hour or two but there is a fair bit of road work incorporated on fast rural roads. I have a really good galloping track which leads to a quiet lane (about 15 mins of road work away). A c 3 mile hack takes you to the fantastic Milton Keynes Horse Trail network which is amazing, though I tend to box there now because of the traffic. Also, a 15 minute trailer ride away is the Aspley woods which are mostly permit only but great for fittening with miles of sandy hilly tracks.
 
marmalade76 said:
Loads. We also have access to Cleeve Common (that's the hill you can see in the background when Cheltenham races are on the TV.)
Click to expand...

You must be close to where we bought on of my ponies from, he used to hack up over Cleeve Common. If the camera angle was right when following the horses around Cheltenham you could see his field in the background.
 
Lots here, have to do about a mile of country road work first, but there are lots and you can link them up and do miles and miles!

We have the old dissused railway line that runs from Market Harborough to Northampton, 11 miles of it you can ride on ( there are tunnels for some of the way and horses not allowed through ), not have to get off at all and its all weather track so brilliant for winter :)

Also have Rockingham Forest nearby that have well marked trails
 
Bridleway? Whats a bridleway :confused:

Here's my Hacking :p
015.jpg

002.jpg

003.jpg

P6040066.jpg

P6030035.jpg

P6030017.jpg


I live in the new forest. :D I'm sooooooo lucky I never have to set foot on the road and ride where ever I want (Just avioding the bogs and wild animals :p ;) :D :D )
 
I'm another in South Glos (very nearly Bristol and probably will be soon the way the council are building). We have a cycle path straight out of the yard, which we are allowed on as halfway down it there are our 2 bridleways (one of which lasts for a whole 200 yards before rejoining the cyclepath). We can also access one more at the end of the cyclepath. Although horses are allowed on it we get a lot of abuse from cyclists. If we want to go on a 3 hour + ride then there are more we can access with the nasty snappy shut gates.

The main problem we have is the surface of the bridlepaths... the council in their infinite wisdom has them all surfaced with stone! Useless! There is one grass one which I never use as it is so churned up because it's the only place for people to canter, and another which would be ok were it not for a path of sharp stones all the way up the centre of it. We did have one which was LOVELY wood chip, and the council made the landowners resurface it with stone because you couldn't get a wheelchair up it!
 
I live in scotland so no bridleways as such but I do have access to miles up miles of off road hacking including permission to ride on the concrete cycle routes so I can do 'roadwork' without having to worry about traffic :) (just bikes LOL)
 
A not that good here in Bath. We have the Cotswold way but it's broken up in places and a few busy roads to cross.
 
where i used to keep my horses there was only one bridleway i could use with minimum road work and that wasn't even worth going on, it was at most 150 yards long!

another yard had a decent bridle way going straight from the yard but it came out onto a busy road so we would have to turn back at the end but it was great for cantering.

i'm now at a yard where we can ride around the farm but to get to any bridleways we have to navigate our way down a very fast road, i've had 3 near misses on that road so don't do as much hacking as i'd like to.

my OH has taken me down to salisbury before and i got to ride for 4 hours without touching roads, it was great, through fields (on top of a hill and could see for miles) and then down forrestry tracks!
 
Very lucky where i am, on the farm i live on we have 2 bridle paths cutting through it & on the farm where i keep the horses there are 3, but there is also a really good network of bridle paths all over this area, you do have to do some road work to get to some of them but its mostly small quiet lanes.
 
BRILLIANTLY lucky here! We have a bridleway that runs alongside our yard, and interconnects with many more. We can easily do 12 + miles with only a little quiet road work if we set our minds to it, for that, we are truly grateful! :D

Lovely, off-road riding along grassy tracks and through woods, heaven!
 
miss_c said:
I'm another in South Glos (very nearly Bristol and probably will be soon the way the council are building). We have a cycle path straight out of the yard, which we are allowed on as halfway down it there are our 2 bridleways (one of which lasts for a whole 200 yards before rejoining the cyclepath). We can also access one more at the end of the cyclepath. Although horses are allowed on it we get a lot of abuse from cyclists. If we want to go on a 3 hour + ride then there are more we can access with the nasty snappy shut gates.

The main problem we have is the surface of the bridlepaths... the council in their infinite wisdom has them all surfaced with stone! Useless! There is one grass one which I never use as it is so churned up because it's the only place for people to canter, and another which would be ok were it not for a path of sharp stones all the way up the centre of it. We did have one which was LOVELY wood chip, and the council made the landowners resurface it with stone because you couldn't get a wheelchair up it!
Click to expand...

I think we ought to organise a "Take your council for a ride day"...shove em all on horses and show them what its like! ;)
 
To make you all even more envious, after keeping a pony in Birmingham for years with mega heavy traffic and no off road riding to speak off, I now live 8 miles from manchester (okay not a cause for jelousy usually...), and keep my pony about 200 yards from the pennine bridleway (250 miles of off road riding) we have a conutry park with permissive ridng at the bottomof our lane, a farm opposite it with riding onto the moors and another bridlepath, links to the trans pennine trail (runs from coast to coast), and at least 3 other bridlepaths all easily accessable.

pennine bridlelway above Mossley

173.jpg

174.jpg

180.jpg

183.jpg


harrop edge green lane above Dobcross

IMG00019.jpg
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top