HEAVY SLEDDING
The Trans European Trail, or TET, as it’s more commonly known, is the brainchild of a Brit, John Ross. A keen trail rider, John saw the success of the marked out off-road route across America (the Trans American Trail) and imagined something similar for Europe. With the help of what are known as ‘linesman’, located throughout Europe, John and his team have built up a trail network of 20,000 miles in length, passing through 29 countries and the route is completely free to download at www.transeurotrail.org/uk.
Over a thousand miles of those trails are in the UK, with the route starting at the ferry port in Newhaven and finishing up in Newcastle. Along the way it ventures into Wales and up through the Peak District and Yorkshire Dales. The route isn’t entirely ‘off-road’ (by off-road we mean legally designated byways). There are linking stretches of Tarmac, but for the first time possibly ever, there’s now a legal navigable route for the average rider to follow. For people interested in trail riding, this is a huge development.
Keen to sample some of the route and put some miles on a new bike in the process, I jumped on a 2018 Ducati Desert Sled, a bike I’d
