It'd been a few weeks since I last went out on my mountain bike so I was itching for a challenge. I decided to go somewhere I hadn't been in over a year, this place is called Healey Nab. It features a moderately sized forest which is full of big hills and tightly packed trees.


The Nab is steeped in history and has the scars to show. It is believed that a roman road ran to the East side of the Nab as ancient coins had been found. More recently though the nab provided some 2 million tonnes of rock for the construction of the M61 motorway during the 1960's.


I decided to head for the eastern end of the forest as I had previously seen a couple of wild dears a few years back. Unfortunately though their were no visible signs. I continued up the path which runs alongside the forest. The path leads up to the highest point where you can see right across Chorley, Bolton and Middlebrook retail park.


From here the path sweeps down and plunges deep into the forest. This is where the fun really begins with a series of huge drop offs followed by a descent which cuts through the forest and eventually ends up at the far northern side.


The north side of the forest provides some excellent downhill for mountain bikers. The steepness of the slope and the closenss of the trees enables a challenge for any level of mountain biker. I have noticed that previous mountain bikers have built turns, corners and jumps. Finding these is often a case of looking hard at the landscape because they aren't always noticeable.


Im always discorvering new routes everytime I go, the very nature of the forest means there are endless possibilities of routes. Because the forest is only accessible through countryside, there aren't really any walkers or people to worry about when your flying down a hill. Because of this very reason i'm planning on going back vey soon to tackle some of the jumps.


The forest is also very popular for campers, well... people who fancy spending a night in the woods, sorta round the camp fire.