Lancashire County Council have just released The West Pennine Moors Bridleway Strategy. The strategy supports the development and maintenance of access to the West Pennine Moors. With mountain biking becoming ever more popular, its great to see a strategy like this.

The majority of bridleways nowadays are accessible to both horse and mountain bike rider. But increasingly mountain bikers are looking for more technical routes as often bridleways do not provide enough challenge. This leads to mountain bikers having to ride on public footpaths which were not designed for this sort of use.

This strategy proposes developing some mainly upland routes that offer a challenge to mountain bikers yet remain available to walkers and the more experienced horse and rider. For more information and maps of the proposed new routes, a copy of the strategy is available here for download.