Mid Cheshire Bridleways

Improving our bridleways

Welcome

About Mid Cheshire Bridleways

Mid Cheshire Bridleways was formed in 1991 to promote safe riding in pleasant surroundings. We are affiliated to the British Horse Society and the Bridleways and Byways Trust. We cover the area from the Wirral to Chester to Nantwich to the M6. We currently have around 50 members. Membership costs £5 per year (£7 for families) and entitles you to receive our newsletters with up to date information on some 200 km of Cheshire's equestrian routes and to attend social gatherings with like minded people. Contact us. Membership form.

Events

Vyv Wood -Gee talk poster

MCBA Fun Ride Delamere Forest 16 July 2011

42 Horses and riders set off between 9 and 10.45a.m. to enjoy 13 miles of riding in the forest. The weather started wet but the rain soon stopped and the sun came out before most had finished. 10 wonderful volunteers stewarded the road crossings and various points within the forest, as well as helping with the route marking on Friday and clearing the markings afterwards. The fastest rider was back within 2 hours or so, only 2 riders got lost but finally arrived back safely, still cheerful, after several hours. Some riders have since been back to retrace the route which had shown them some otherwise unknown parts of the forest.

Several riders have kindly taken the trouble to voice their appreciation, here is a selection:

‘We thoroughly enjoyed the ride. It got us off the beaten-track and there were some super canters up hill and through mown areas with wild flowers surrounding, and some breathtaking view points too. Thanks for organising such a lovely ride.’

‘The route was great, lots of variety and we really enjoyed the loop up to the high view point, I did not expect that kind of panorama in Cheshire - a great surprise. We also had a few good canters over that way too, which the horses enjoyed especially!
So, it was well worth the trip up from Shropshire - we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and we appreciated all the effort and work you had put in.’
‘A lot of hard work had gone into making Saturday's super ride - how you managed to plot such a perfect route I will never know - with all the different tracks/paths - it would be hard to choose where to go and where to end up!’
‘Thank you all for the Ride on Saturday. We had a great time and even the rain didn't dampen our fun. Please pass my thanks on to everybody concerned who worked hard both before and on the day to make it such a good day.’

To order photos follow the link

http://photos.orange.co.uk/1x9C7007/album/841867000?cid=tashare001

The password is Delamere with a capital D and the photographers email is skedellis@fsmail.net

Skittles Night

Nearly 50 people came to the previous Bickerton Poacher skittles evening for a carvery meal and a competitive skittle contest. Four teams worked hard to win the first prize and apart from a couple of trapped fingers caught by the returning ball the evening was deemed a great success.

Skittles taken seriously!

Rides in the area

We cover around 70% of Cheshire's 300 kilometers of bridleways and byways. Maps for the longer routes are available from the Discover Cheshire website. We also provide direction leaflets.

News

Delamere loop

This involves several related projects which form a 36km loop based on minor roads & rights of way & link Whitegate Way, Delamere Forest, Primrose Wood & Little Budworth County Park. The distinctive blue and white waymark signs indicate the route & a leaflet is available from Ray and Di Hall tel 01829 760348.

Diagram of route

Photo

Opening ride

Aston Ring

This is a circular 7 mile/13km ride with attractive views over the River Weaver. A new leaflet has been launched in 2011 following the construction of a new bridge at Dutton Locks.

Riders survey

The committee decided to circulate at the Cheshire and Nantwich shows in 2010 a questionnaire to gain information about current concerns and priorities for horse riders. 113 questionnaires were completed from competitive and leisure riders. The top 3 priorities for benefits to be provided by MCBA were:

1 Helping to create more local bridleways (83)
2 Developing long distance/circular routes (70)
3Tackling rural crime (42)

Riders survey and results