Cam Forest proved to be an excellent venue for ILDRA’s ride on Sunday 20th March. Killeter Forest had been the original venue, but due to recent stoning of the tracks for logging activities, this had become unsuitable.

Kathy Conly and her daughter Kirsten Catterall had marked out a series of loops within Cam to cater for the various distances being completed. At the shorter end of the scale, Katie Parker completed a three-mile ride on her brother’s pony, Woody. While most other Pleasure Riders chose distances of between six and sixteen miles. The Competitive Trail Riders were offered twenty to fifty miles. Kathy used three basic loops marked with orange, green and blue tape to keep everybody on track and this proved most successful.

The forest itself made for interesting and varied scenery despite the mist that really did not quite lift all day. There were paths through both mature forest and through harvested areas with piles of logs waiting to be moved. Then a quiet old forest area with a babbling stream and mossy tree trunks. Finally - and most surprising of all – we rode past a row of about ten large trees which had apparently uprooted in unison making a stark wall of tangled and bleached roots!

Attendance was excellent with twenty-nine Pleasure Riders taking to the trail. ILDRA was also delighted to welcome a group from the Foyle Riding Club who turned up in cheerful force!

The CTR finishers were as follows:

Fifty miles – Judith Hyndman on Ardkill Mo; also Claire Sedgeman on Ellanora.

Forty miles – Suzanne Perry on Fabian Rouge; Helen Perry on Savak; Sally Burch on Tory; and ten year old Elaine Burch on Dunmore Diana.

Twenty miles – Kelsie Erskine on Bertie Lad; and Helen McFarland on J.st Jake.

The next Pleasure Ride will be at Glenariff Forst Park on Sunday 10th April. Non members welcome. Please contact the ride organiser Susan Sedgeman on 40671104 for more details. (CTRs of up to 30miles are also available to members – entries to Susan at least a week in advance.) Remember you can print off entry forms, read our ‘FAQ’ section and keep up to date with ride details on our website www.ildra.co.uk .