The rides

Last updated: 2 December 2005

The rides are the walking of this forest. Sitka and larch take the plantable slopes; the rides are cut through that planting and are kept as working ways. In high summer they hold the sound: a party fifty yards off is a murmur. In October the larch turns, and the same ground is a different country. They are not all in the parish, and they are not all open at once, because the forest is a working forest.

A ride above the hall, looking back. Photograph from the centre collection.

Walkers already in the trees who keep downhill will come out behind the hall, which is a kindness if you have had enough. There is a note on coming from the rides. The floor after rain is needles and standing water. After snow the same floor is the path, and it is handsome in that state, and slower. Do not leave the waymarked line of the Green Man Trail for a ride that looks as if it will do. The forest as a whole is larger than the parish, and we are glad of it.

A flask is a kindness on the longer cuts. There is no shop. See the forest, in winter, and conditions. The eastern loop is a longer outing and is not included in the advertised mileage.