STAFF REVIEW: QUAD BIKE TREK IN BIRMINGHAM

After spending some time in the city, Rina and I couldn’t wait to get back to the countryside for some quad biking. While it was Rina’s first time, I’ve been lucky enough to go once before. Having thoroughly enjoyed it the first time, I couldn’t wait to get going again! Just a 15-minute drive from Birmingham, NPF Bassetts Pole is in the heart of the Midlands and offers a huge range of outdoor adventures, perfect for a range of ages and occasions - from kid’s parties to hen do’s! They’ve large outdoor sites for paintballing, and even an area for a giant inflatable assault course.

Upon arrival, we were welcomed by our friendly instructors, and before we knew it, we were on our way to being suited and booted for our quad bike trek. We were provided with the gear, and jumped into our camouflage boiler suits. We were also given our helmets, which came with handy hygienic liners, to stop us feeling too grubby during the trek! Once we were fully kitted out, our instructor went through a full safety briefing, a roundup of controls and instruction on how to ride the quad bikes. 

After the briefing, our instructors were attentive in making sure that everybody was comfortable with the controls before setting off. When operating a 150cc machine, you want to be sure of how to control it! Quad bikes have ‘neutral’ and ‘drive’ settings, which can be operated by a lever on the left-hand side handlebar. In order to accelerate, you use your thumb to operate a throttle – gently does it though, as it’s sensitive and you could go flying (something we found out the hard way)! 

The woodland terrain featured bumps, ruts and natural obstacles to manoeuvre around, which made for a bumpy ride! As we accelerated through the woods, there were decorations and many photo opportunities for us on our jungle trek. The instructors were fantastic at catering to both of our abilities. It ended up that I was the one who was speeding off whilst Rina followed behind, which was much to our surprise after my unfortunate time on our segway tour back in July! Turns out, Rina is better on two wheels whilst I am better on four! More substantial and reliable in my opinion… 

Regardless, Rina ensured me that she thoroughly enjoyed the trek and would love to go again. The attentive instructors, powerful bikes and challenging trek made this experience so memorable. It is sitting near the top of favourite experiences to date for sure! After getting a few photos and taking off our overalls, we toured the woodland site to discover the big areas for activities such as paintballing, black ops and inflatables, as well as facilities such as covered seating and a café. The antics of the morning had definitely earned us a sit down and a cuppa! The café serves an array of hot and cold refreshments and food, so is a great place to chill out and unwind after the adrenaline pumping activities.

A huge thank you to the entire NPF team for having us and looking after us so well! We had a fantastic day with you and will certainly be back.