Cycling from Sandy Balls.... around the New Forest
Cycling from the Sandy Balls Holiday Centre in the the New Forest means a combination of you, your bike, and over 100 miles of Forestry Commission owned off road cycling tracks....all
for you to explore in the beautiful New Forest.
What better way to really experience this beautiful and unique area?
If you need to hire a bike it couldn't be simpler -
There are some great places I've found and they all have biking routes to suggest and maps available, which are often free.
Whether you are a family out for a days light biking or
someone who is looking for more challenging cycling you'll find it in the New Forest.
If you want, you can buy a map when you hire your bike, if you need more details of where you're going to be heading for.
By choosing cycling as one of your New Forest activities it can all look a bit "green" if you don't have a detailed map!
This is from someone who, on a bad day, had only followed a detailed map for half a mile and got lost! but you will be better than me, I'm sure.
So where to start?
Fordingbridge and the North Western area of the New Forest
This area is away from the main tourist areas and one of
my favourites.
It is a quieter area and so you should encounter less traffic as you puff up and down the hills on your bike.
I often meet families having a wonderful day out and
enjoying the beauty of these lovely little donkeys.
The road traffic that you may encounter is mainly local people just getting about and so you should be able to stop easily, park the bike and have a good look at the animals.
If you don't see a donkey on this cycle, I'll be surprised.
Sandy Balls Cycle Centre
-one of the best New Forest activities cycle and bike hire centres for all the family.
Sandy Balls Holiday Centre has a really good cycle centre to hire from.
If you arrive with your own bike they are also great at
bike repairs...... and for biking gear too.
Why does your chain break at the furthest
point from home when you're out - usually after you've just left the pub?
The photo on the right shows you a child trailer which you can hire... the kids will love the little flag!
Sandy Balls Holiday Centre routes are graded into
- Easiest - Abbots Well Family Ride
- Not so easy - Hampton Ridge and Fritham
- Harder - New Forest Tracks
- Hard - Lover Loop
- Hardest - 3 Shires Circuit
Here is an example of a family bike which is available to hire here.
You can hire this bike and have your child sitting right behind you.
You may prefer to fix a child trailer to the bike you hire
- you can usually take two children in this type of bike
trailer.
Balancing may be easier for you, but you would need to remember they are there ... especially when cornering!
And now for something completely different...............
Do you want to take your dog on the back?????
This is a New Forest bike hire....dog trailer!
When you come back from some arduous biking, as you can see in the photo, both you, your dog and the bike can all be hosed down!
Personally, my dog wouldn't fit in but what a great idea - especially if like me your dog would find it hard to keep up because of age or infirmities etc?
Well, that's the theory!
You can base your holiday at the Sandy Balls Holiday Centre if you want.
They have luxury lodges, lodges and a fleet of modern holiday homes and pitches for Ready Tents and touring and camping pitches, all with the opportunity to use the great leisure facilities.
Add to all this the beautiful woodland surroundings and cycling will be just one of the New Forest activities you do if you stay here.
If you want to search New Forest Life.com without using the navigation bars on the left, then here's a really useful Google tool.
Just put your search details e.g. New Forest ponies in the search box and hit Search and you can choose to search my site or go onto the Web and come back to NewForest-Life.com.
Perhaps you would like to use WikiMapia to look at more detail of the New Forest? If you use this map you can find exactly the area of your chosen campsite and what the nearby villages look like ...before you book! Give it a go.....
WikiMapia
Have you got any questions? Or do you want to contact me?
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