ive moved from painswick and am used to the trails of cranham etc. anything good in the local woods? i need some 2hr blasts from nailsworth not using a car. cheeky trails and sly singletrack much appreciated! please help as a life of bridle paths and jeying over the common is not a good one.

Nothing like Cranham. Have a look at an OS Map at the bridleways between Nailsworth and Chavenage.

Kingscote Woods (from Horsely) is worth a look too. As is Minch common (and over towards Chavenage and Sapperton).

Further afield (but still ridable) are Westridge Woods above Wotton-under-Edge and North Nibley. Which is like Cranham but much better!

cheers, heard about westridge and will check out. anything in hazel wood on the avening road? im living on the horsley rd so i think kingscote loop for starters. how about nympsfield way, tinckley lane?

Yeah, Hazel woods is worth a look. Have a look at the bridleway coming out of Avening by Avening house. It forks left and right. Left is a nice rocky gulley of single track. At the top to the left of the track is some singletrack in the wood (courtesy of local mini-bikers). Not much, but it all helps. Then there's another bridleway to the right that lets you loop back into Hazel woods and back to the fork by Avening house.

Nearby, the footpath (it's a permissive bridleway) from the east of Barton End (farm) to Ledgemore End cuts through some woods and has a nice rocky, steep descent.

thanks so much, little areas of play during winter months are much needed. with work kids and little daylight short sharp rides is what im after.

The trail guide on this site is good for Wotton (look for Cotswold rides), but Nailsworth is a good starting point.

A group of us go from a different pub every week – will give you a shout when we next go to Nailsworth / Nympsfield.

email my profile, i will pick you up and raz you around westridge and wotton ride (bring mud tyres)dont worry i like scenery and travel accordingly (although of course, if i wanted to be i would win world cup XC races, just cant be arssed with the travel!)