Undecided about where to ride this weekend, don’t get many full days out on the bike these days so want to make the best of it – don’t really fancy a mud plugging slogathon so would value opinions on where will likely have the best riding conditions.
I’m also likely to be riding on my tod so am avoiding a natural ride in the Lakes or peaks etc. Options I’ve thought of so far (open to other suggestions as well?) –

Gisburn (including sessioning the DH Line)
Cannock (including sessioning Stile Cop)
Llandelgla (bit overdone for me to be honest)
Rivington (bit…boring?)

And some off the wall suggestions that I’ve never visited before –
Hales superbole bike and board park
Cockhill MTB Cockhill Wood, Carr Road, Cornholme, Todmorden OL14 7ES
Farmer Johns MTB Park, Marple Bridge, Stockport, SK6 5EW

Cheers for any advice.

Cannock (including sessioning Stile Cop)

Has been OK this week the wind has blow-dried the trails although there is some windfall

Tomorrow gets off to a good start but a band of heavy rain followed by plummeting temperatures and strong winds should make Saturday something of a challenge although the Chase drains well and it’ll be mostly dry. check on the Chase Trails Facebook page for the latest conditions the FC tends to close the visitor centre car park when it’s windy https://www.facebook.com/chasetrails

More of the same on Sunday but quieter. Have not been over to Stile Cop for a while but everything’s open on the Dog/Monkey

If you can get hold of one of these:

You should be good to go in Delamere.

Yeah I already ruled out Delamere 🙂

I wouldn’t drive any great distance to ride Gisburn in the wet. It doesn’t even have a cafe to warm up in. If you’re sick of Llandegla it’s really not that much further to CYB, especially if you’ve got a full day to kill.

Why the objection to Lakes solo riding? It’s likely to be the best drained, with plenty of low-level routes.

Forecast for the Lakes looks cracking as well, so there will be other people out and about to scrap you off the floor. Something like Loughrigg, Elterwater loop etc would be great. Just leave a route plan with someone at home. To be honest, you might see more people there than a wet Gisburn!

Why the objection to Lakes solo riding? It’s likely to be the best drained, with plenty of low-level routes.

Laziness. I don’t have a route to hand, and my mate normally leads the way as he’s better at remembering where to turn off etc.
Will give it some more thought as I agree, Lakes will probably be the better option.

he FC tends to close the visitor centre car park when it’s windy

when that happens I’d park up at Marquis Drive and pick up the Dog from there.

The butties from the Marquis Drive VC are better too.

This map isn’t a bad start. You can also pick them up in Bike Treks etc in Ambleside. There are lots of other options. Sure someone can find you a .gpx file if you have a GPS? I probably can dig one out later if you want.

Cheers for the offer but a GPS is something I’ve often thought about but not got around to buying yet. Probably due to aforementioned mate being the GPS.

Haha – fair enough. Well those paper maps and an OS map should see you good. Thats what we used to use, back in the day…

Otherwise the Vertebrate Lakes District guide is excellent, but suggested the paper map to save you having to make a choice…