I’ve got lost more times and jumped more fences and been chased by more dogs and spent more time poring over maps than I can remember. And experience has taught me a rough rule of thumb:
‘For every new piece of single track gold I find I have to stick my nose down 10 dead ends.’
I remind myself of this often when I see an unpromising goat track. And most of my favorite tracks have started as nothing more than an overgrown gap between trees. You push through and then push through a bit more and if you’re lucky the track keeps going until it comes out somewhere you recognize. GPS, Garmin and Strava make it a bit easier but I find the 10 to 1 rule still applies. Today was the one, and it was very good.
I’m back home for Christmas and I remembered an old track I had last walked as a Scout.
I couldn’t remember much about the scout excursion but I thought it might be worth a bit of reconnaissance. The track wound up a hill that turned out to be nearly 400m. Steep, twisty with a few technical bits, it looks amazing. 
I took a few photos – have a look. The only slight disappointment was I was on foot.
I can’t wait to go back and get my wheels dirty, maybe tomorrow.
