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.

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.

Since starting the seafishingandwalking blog it has grown from strength to strength, and now appears on page 1 of google.

The blog contains notes from Stuart, on times spent sea fishing or fell walking with his wife and a few of their friends. Most of the sea fishing and walking they do is based around the North West of the UK, North Wales and Anglesey. They also venture into Scotland so you never can tell what will turn up.

seafishingandwalking is an extremely informative blog to anyone who loves the outdoors, and features stunning photos of wildlife and scenery as well as links to other sites of similar interest.

A big thanks to Stu for helping me get my blog up and running.

Labels: anglesey, north wales, sea fishing, walking, wildlife

Is it just me or does it seem to snow less and less each year. With the festive season vast approaching people will be asking themselves whether or not it will be a white christmas.

Personally I'd love to see more snow. The effect the snow has on landscape is both magical and breathtaking. The crispness of the winter skies allows you to see for miles and miles.


The snow also opens up new challenges for mountain bikers, it can be both grippy and icy depending on the type of snow. You also don't know what your riding on as the snow conceals many objects that you would otherwise avoid.

The photographs in this article were taken earlier this year at Rivington. You will notice the crispness of the skies and how the snow reflect light.

Im just hoping we haven't seen the last of snow.

Labels: landscape, mountain biking, riding, Rivington, snow