Anybody with local experience of Kielder care to give me a recommendation for a trail. The black looks a bit short, so I was trying to figure out which of the trails people would recommend for a decent 1.5 – 2 hour ride, with some technical stuff so that it’s not simply a grind over distance(albeit scenic). Recommendations please

The black isn’t really a stand alone trail, its more like a harder option on the end of the red. If you want a Techy ride then do the red with bacl options. If you don’t like gravel road slogs, miss out the section that goes right to the top of Deadwater Fell.

That’s good advice, the topmost loop is far too much work for a descent that’s really just blasting down a trashed gravel road. It’s quite fun in its way but not worth the climb.

Never ridden the Lonesome Pine route but the black/red Deadwater is ace IMO… Including its frustrating climb Into the Valley and Dougie’s Day Off are 2 of my favourite bits of trail anywhere.

Thanks, much appreciated, looks like there will be rain.

The lonesome pine is a bag of ringpiece tbf, archetypal scenic grind – not sure what the builders were thinking of really. It does seem to go through good MTB country, but you’d need a local to show you stuff off the marked track. Deadwater is good – really nice day I would probably go to the top as you’d get lovely views. Swerve it if the weather is not up to scratch.

Easy enough to do the deadwater red then climb back up to the bit where the black splits off to make it a bit longer.

Lonesome pine and bloody bush are nice xc loops but it you are looking for trailcentre thrills you’ll be disappointed, it’s pretty devoid of technical features.

Red then black lime jonb said. The black descent is the best bit IMO, great fun.