Sunday September 21 Autumn RideIn support of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, starting at 9am to 1pm, a choice of routes, 4, 13 or 17 miles. Starting from Barnley Equestrian Centre, Castle Camps, Nr Haverhill, Essex, CB9 7AT.Read more on the Ride page, and get an entry form (printable PDF) or poster (printable PDF). And it's cheaper if you join! |
Claim forms: get them here.We've added claim forms so you can claim routes that may have been lost. Don't delay - act now or lose them! (April 29) |
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International show jumper Ben Maher was the guest speaker at our AGM at Widdington Village Hall on Thursday April 17 at 8pm. Ben, currently ranked in the UK's top ten by the British Show Jumping Association, spoke about his competition experiences and the challenges of the international circuit and took questions from members. |
Feb 22: our February newsletter is now online.
Feb 8: We had a very successful meeting with West Essex county council and other PROW (public rights of way) groups, and got a copy of their plans for work on byways this year. Read the minutes of the meeting (PDF) and see the program for repairs in the Uttlesford area (PDF).
We have also added two more maps of routes that we want to claim as bridleways under our new initiative. See them at the Claims page.
Jan 12 2008: Know of an old or disused bridleway? We have just six months to give it legal status, in a once-in-a-lifetime chance in Uttlesford. Read more.
Jan 10 2008: We have added the minutes of the October 22 meeting (also available as a PDF).
Sept 26: Gordon Hands, a longtime campaigner on rights of way in this area, has died. Read a brief obituary by Garron Baines.
Sept 25: Thanks to everyone who took part in the ride from Waldegraves farm - and had marvellous weather for it. Read our report and letter about the day.
Sept 11: Sign the petition to let horse riders keep using beaches.
Sept 19: Some members are uncertain whether the current Foot and Mouth outbreaks have any consequences for them in our area. We have checked with DEFRA, the government department, which inform us that the only constraints on us - as horse owners/riders - is the ban of any form of hunting that currently applies throughout the country.
This link on the DEFRA site gives the latest information from DEFRA to horse owners and is updated daily.
Welcome to the North Essex and Saffron Walden Bridleways campaign site.
We are committed to improving off road riding and opening up the countryside for more horse riding. We want byways and bridleways maintained to a high standard and the creation of new bridleways to create better riding circuits and networks and reduce our reliance on busy roads. See our founding mission statement.
Essex County Council has responded to our launch campaign to repair the byways that had become unusable as a result of the heavy 4x4 usage over the very wet winter months. More than £2 million is now being spent on a major programme of resurfacing as a direct result of the pressure we applied on the council in a series of meetings with the Head of Highways.
Local MP Sir Alan Haselhurst backed our campaign and we got a response from the Secretary of State. We hope to have the byways up and running again over the next few weeks with improved surfaces. To complain about a byway or bridleway see our complaints page.
Free tabards! Riding on roads without high visibility clothing puts you at risk of being involved in a road traffic accident. (The British Horse Society estimates there are on average eight road accidents involving horses each day.) Essex has the worst record of any county in the country for road accidents involving equestrians.
Now we have 1000 high vis tabards to hand out free to anyone who rides and wants to be safer. We approached KeyMed an international business based in Southend who support various road safety intitiatives and their board voted to fund our request for 1000 tabards with the slogan ÒWorking Together for a Safer CommunityÓ.
If you want a free tabard email northessexbridlepaths@yahoo.co.uk with tabards in the header stating your size
First event: Our first event will be a Fun Ride on a new 12-mile circular route around Widdington, Newport, Quendon and close to Henham on Sunday September 23. It follows some spectacular bridleways and byways and has been researched personally by a few of us. There will be box parking facilities at Waldegraves Livery Yard, Widdington and refreshments at the end of your ride.
A pioneer group of riding enthusiasts who ride Hempstead, Radwinter and Great Sampford have started work studying maps and finding out routes that have been forgotten or neglected or abandoned in the hope of getting them ridden again. We need to map which routes are being ridden ÒpermissivelyÓ on tracks not classed as rights of way and which footpaths are incorrectly classified so we can seek to have them upgraded. We are also compiling a wish list of routes we would like to ride to provide better links with other paths.
Our first event was a Fun Ride on a new 12-mile circular route around Widdington, Newport, Quendon and close to Henham that took place on Sunday September 23. It followed some spectacular bridleways and byways and has been researched personally by a few of us.
For more details, see our page about the ride
