Hamsterley Forest - Egglestone Moor - Hill Top Moor - Hamsterley ride on the Krampgrease

Yet another week of boom boom all day and no time for miles so come Thursday and the sun shinning it was time to book a days holiday in for today and go for a ride. I haven't been to Hamsterley Forest for a while so decided to have a trip over there and take the Krampgrease as I haven't ridden it for a while. Instead of riding around the forest I decided to ride to the far end of the forest and cross Egglestone Moor via the bridleway. The first section is very boggy and wet / narrow but it dry's up after gaining some height before dropping onto a newly surfaced track which leads on to the Egglestone road. Its only a short section on the very quiet road before turning left and up the long straight up hill to the track around the woods and on to Hill Top moor. The track is very vague for the first mile or so then the marker posts appear every now and then. There had been a motorcross bike on the Bridleway so I followed their tracks. Again once over the top it dries up little and some wider sections instead of a 4" gap between the heather. The bridleway ends up on the stoned farm track and drops you back out on to the road for a sharp climb, turn left then left again to drop back into Hamsterley forest. I did some of the red on the way back to the van. Great ride which I have not done for many years with very mixed weather but there was no rain, just over 20 miles - 2500+ft climbing - 2hrs22min riding time.