Never mind I decided the other week to head down towards Beamish, it's been a while since I had ridden in Ousborough Woods, as due to the weather we have had the trails where pretty much impossible to ride.
Ousborough Woods are actually in the borough of Gateshead rather than Co Durham where I live. I bet quite a few people who live locally don't realise they are quite so close to Gateshead's border.
Gateshead Council have quite an interesting website which you can find here if you would like to read a little more about the history of the woods.
http://www.gateshead.gov.uk/Leisure%20and%20Culture/countryside/sites/ousbroughmore.aspx
Rather than ride the plainly marked trails I decided to just take my own route through the trees and was quite pleasantly surprised that in fact I could possibly have a fun and adventurous ride out and take in some new sites and scenery.
My plans are now to wait for a nice day, set off early and check out more of the woods and plan a route where I can shoot a decent video. You have to be fairly careful when in Ousborough Woods as they are kind of situated in a huge valley and this means in certain places there are huge drops on either bank side. It's no good just going flying down some unmarked section of woodland without first scouting it out as before you know it you could potentially end up going off a 20 or 30 foot drop or out of control down a really steep bank side.
Anyhoo watch this space...
In the meantime I thought I'd post some images that my good friend Ade took of me whilst down in Ousborough Woods. I had mentioned to Ade about how I had really enjoyed exploring the woods and he suggested we pop down on Saint George's day so that I could have a play around and he could grab a few shots.
Just before we headed off at the picnic area at Beamish... |
These are the results and I'm sure you will agree Ade has captured some terrific images that show off just how lucky we are to have such natural beauty and surroundings.