Access and Bridleways News - Spring 2010
By Bobbie
Access Week – May 21st to 31st
Judith and I were hoping to organise a BHS work party for Access Week, but we haven’t been able to identify a suitable bridleway project in time. I went to look at a potential one near Alvechurch last weekend only to find that the path had already been cut back by a landowner! Late May is also a bad time for clearing bridleways because it falls right in the middle of the bird nesting season, when we aren’t allowed to trim hedges.
If you can think of a small, manageable project we could tackle in your area later in the season, and you have 4 or 5 friends who would be happy to give a day of their time during the working week, let me know. For Health and Safety reasons volunteers are only allowed to use hand tools, so the sort of activities we can tackle are limited to things like clearing overgrown vegetation, waymarking and installing new bridle-gates. There’s also a bit of prior organisation to do in terms of asking the Countryside Services Department for help with landowner liaison and the loan of their tools and equipment.
New Clent Hills Circular Ride
I’ve been working with Tamsin Mosse, the National Trust Community Liaison Officer for the Clent Hills, for the last few months on a new circular ride. The 5 mile route starts and ends at Walton Car Park, where there is space to park one or two lorries or trailers.
Clent is a hilly area and the route climbs to over 1,000 feet – so although the views over Worcestershire, Birmingham and the Black Country are staggering, you do need a reasonably fit horse. The other point to note is that although five miles doesn’t look that far on paper, the mileage has been measured on a flat map which doesn’t allow for changes in altitude. If you’re not familiar with the area and go at a steady pace the ride will take about two to two and a half hours, plus any time you spend on rest and lunch stops.
The National Trust are formatting my route description and map into their house style, and Tamsin will attach an on-line link to it from their Clent Hills web page when it goes live in April. I’d be happy to e-mail it to anyone who is having trouble finding it on the internet, and Judith and I would be interested in feedback from anyone who rides it this summer.
Later this year Tamsin, myself and the Clent Hills Ranger, Bob Ayres, will be working on a bid for grant funding to build a new horse corral at the back of Nimmings Visitor Centre so that riders can tie up safely while they visit the cafe. This is a major project – but if it comes to fruition, we’ll need a group of local volunteers to help erect the corral fencing and add the finishing touches once the groundwork is complete.
Sabrina Way Progress with mapping the route through our county has been slow, but we are finally meeting the County Council on March 15th to plot it on their GIS system. We will hopefully end up with an electronic map that BHS Head Office can import directly into our own E-magin system.
As soon as the new Sabrina Way signs are printed, the next step will be to waymark the route. Judith and I have been dragging our heels over this one because it is a huge commitment in both time and energy. The Worcestershire section is around 46 miles long, and runs from the Wyre Forest down through west Worcestershire, crossing the M50 into Gloucestershire near Forthampton. We’ll have to waymark it in several stages, walking 10-15 miles per day with a fairly heavy rucksack containing waymarker disks, a hammer and some nails!
Other Circular Routes
Judith and I want to re-publicise our two existing circular rides at Kingsford and Alfrick, and get them mapped onto the BHS E-magin system. As far as I know we won’t be able to make unlimited copies available as on-line downloads, so we’d like to find another means of distributing them electronically. I’d also like to add last year’s pleasure ride route round Huddington and Grafton Flyford, but this will depend whether we can find a new start-point with off road box parking.
In practice, this may mean e-mailing copies out to individual members upon request – or, at worst, sending them by post. There’s a bit of work to do before we get it up and running, but please let us know if you are interested in a copy of the map and route description for either of these rides.
For those of you who are more confident map readers, Worcestershire Bridleways and Riders Association (WBRA) operate a Private Parking Rides scheme where members can park on private land and explore the bridleways in the surrounding area. WBRA is BHS affiliated and they have lots of other fun activities including regular escorted rides. You can find more information on their website, www.wbra.co.uk.
Happy riding …..
Bobbie
After long deliberation we decided that we would not hold a Pleasure Treasure Ride this year. Rest assured it will be back next year though.
For any Access and Bridle Ways queries do not hesitate to contact Bobbie or Judith for help and advice.
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Access Update Wind Farms
We have 2 potential new wind farm applications in the south east of our county. One is on the north side of Evesham, near Lenchwick, and the other is near a wood called Porters Plantation to the south of the Evesham by-pass, near Wickhamford.
Thus far, Bobbie has received preplanning consultation papers via BHS Head Office for the Lenchwick one, and just a phone call from a concerned member about Porters Plantation, which has kicked off a fact finding exercise. Although both planning applications are likely to be some time in the future, both site areas include at least one public bridleway.
Whilst we are encouraged to use sustainable energy resources, there is a lot of negativity towards wind farms among horse owners. If anyone has lived close to one or has experience of riding near one, the Access Team would be interested in hearing from you. We would also like to talk to members and yard owners in the Lenchwick and Wickhamford areas to find out more about the bridleways and quiet lanes they use on a regular basis.
While the Access Team has some high level guidelines to follow from BHS Head Office on handling wind farm applications, we need specific local evidence to back them up if we are going to represent riders' interests effectively - so please contact Bobbie or Judith to share your thoughts (see Committee list for contact details).
Bobbie
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