I am heading up there in a fortnight, and wondered where the best routes were? trail centres and natural stuff all taken into account.

whereabouts are you heading? – its a big place.
Kielder is your standard trail centre fare. Quite good, but not neccesarily worth the drive.
Hexhamshire Common and Blanchland Moor has some good bridleways, and there's lots of fun stuff in the woods around Hexham (where I live).
Further away, you've got the Cheviots for big hill riding, and Rothbury, Simonside, Thrunton is supposed to be good too.

If you fancy a wednesday night ride when you're around, we ride at 8pm every week from Hexham. Feel free to join us.

The Cheviots are gorgeous. 🙂 A few years ago I 'rode' the classic Clennell Street/Kidland Forest/Salters Road – what an experience.

Rothbury is a good starting point. I have seen a bit of the Wooler area, very pleasant. Also the Ingram Valley is beautiful.

I'll second Hexamshire Common. Plenty of good riding around there.

ir_bandito – where in Hexham do you meet up on Wednesdays?

Rip – wednesday, generally 8 pm at NatWest.

ir_bandito – i have no idea yet to be honest, probably all over the place during the week. i will have a look at the maps to see what i can find. thanks fro any help everyone 🙂