Does anyone else ever get bored of the same old hacking routes? I grew up in an Endurance riders heaven. Literally hundreds of miles of open hill and forestry to explore, with hills and canter sections galore. Moving to the midlands was a bit of a shock to my system, when I realised a hack without a busy main road didn’t exist unless I boxed out 40minutes.
I don’t know any other endurance riders in the area and no one at my yard really hacks out and explores so I felt a bit lost when I first moved. I bought OS maps for the surrounding areas and every weekend tried out a new section of the map. I found that I was always doing 75% tarmac to get to a bit of good going.
Over the years I’ve slowly found a few good spots, but nothing will ever compare to the glorious welsh hills, rolling valleys, lakes and rivers of my teens. My biggest battle with the local bridleways is access, not many people seem to use them so they get overgrown so quickly and I’m not sure who to contact to clear them.
I’m still trying new places and exploring different areas in the hope of finding something exceptional. I don’t mind boxing out to get there, as long as it’s worth the journey and parking is almost certainly going to be available. I would love more than anything to have a training buddy and a good 20km loop to ride on, any takers?
Beth Endurance 