Hi guys
Just wondering what are your opinions on best trails and trail centres in the uk.i have currently ridden only cannock and Forest of Dean.so what are the best in the uk.

It all depends on what you mean by ‘best’. I guess it’ll mean different things to different people.

IME/O the best ones are in Wales or Scotland (Dalbeatie/kirroughtree/CyB for example).

Anything that isn’t cannock?

Trails? Snowdon, Hellvellyn via Dollywaggon, long list of ones I don’t talk about on the internet, several of the long mynd descents..

Trail centres? Kirrochtree is one of the best for me, have a soft spot for Whinlatter having lived at the bottom of it for a few years. Inners is a great laugh, Afan used to put a smile on my face but not ridden it since it was rebuilt. Llandegla for brain out flying fun, Penmachno for natural feel.

Thats the short list

[waits for some tool to mention something about the Nationwide and Swindon]

Trail centre I think has to be innerleithen, just for the sheer volume and variety of trails- a bogstandard red route, interesting black, 4 official dh trails and a million miles of easy to find offmap stuff from the ridiculous to the sublime.

If it’s got to be just the “trail centre” stuff then I suppose CYB or Glentress.

Best nonpurposebuilt trails I’ve done in the UK are up at kinlochleven, awesome stuff.

I love my local stuff on the Malvern hills. 10mins and I’m off the road and onto some lovely, well known tracks. Trail centre is prob CYB.

Inners and Glentress the best in Scotland for trail centres I’d say, Fort Bill Red is pretty good, if a little unforgiving for a red, and some of the best natural trails are in Glencoe area, and the northern third of the West Highland Way. All in my experience, and opinion. 😀

Trail centre – surely has to be Swinley. All that lovely flat land, easy climbs with hard cobble like flowing trails, not a root or rock (well one rock) to interrupt your flow, hundreds of other fellow riders out from the smoke to keep you company where some that will politely inform you they are on a flying Strava run and others are clearly having the time of their lives introducing their other half to their first ride on a bike in a forest and amusing themselves at their horrified face as they realise they may have been better sticking to the fireroad.

A great place for a picnic too. There are plenty of spots to be found, ideally in the middle of one of the trails. Great for walking your dog also, so long as you find a mountain bike trail and go the opposite direction to the flow.

Such an excellent car park too, with plenty of parking spots that are always occupied at weekends so shows how great the place is, and friendly parking enforcement guys from the council to make sure you are paying the correct amount. Nice folk from Bracknell will also look after your bike on the rack while your back is turned getting your ticket.

And then fantastic cake and coffee from the Lookout cafe.

😉 😛

wow deadkenny, I’ve no idea why I never bothered to go!!

I’ve always enjoyed Nant-Y-Arian.
Nice trail, bit if out in the hills feel, great location & cafe.
If you’ve a short riding envelope, as a lot do, then Llandegla is a well marked trail that’s a couple of hours & a laugh.
Cannock has more to offer than FtD & Monkey, try exploring a bit.
Try Google earth on your local area, surprising what you can lash together for a from the door run.

Dollywaggon pike is god awful.

I ride the FoD but until I hooked up with some locals I hadn’t seen the good stuff. Try finding a local MTB group and tag a long you will be amazed what’ hidden gems there are

BikeparkWales, CwmCarn, Afan, Wyre Forest, Malvern, Cotswolds, Quantocks (in no particular order)

I ride Cannock a lot because it’s very local and I quite enjoy it. There are some really good bits away from the main trails too.

I really enjoyed Hopton Woods when I went earlier this year and can’t wait to head back there. Although purpose built, it doesn’t feel like a trail centre compared to Cannock, Glentress etc. I have travelled to many other trail centres, but I do like the black at Llandegla and enjoyed Glentress a lot.

Having lived in Sheffield for a few years, I’ve got a soft spot for the natural trails around there.

Pook – Member
Dollywaggon pike is god awful.

Thats what people who can’t ride it say 😉

some of the best natural trails are in Glencoe area, and the northern third of the West Highland Way.

This is where I struggle with the “natural” and “man made” debate.

WTF is natural about the WHW? The last third is mainly on a mix of an old military road and drovers routes.

There is a lot of snobbery about trail centres but they do offer some brilliant stretches of singletrack, espically the 7 Stanes, with very little chance of encountering walkers and horses.

This is where I struggle with the “natural” and “man made” debate.

WTF is natural about the WHW? The last third is mainly on a mix of an old military road and drovers routes.
The terms are really Made for bike or not made for bikes. There are no real natural trails in the UK/world.

So you’ve never ridden a sheep track mikewsmith? That’s pretty natural, i.e. made by nature…

A “trail Centre” for me needs to have a nice cafe and a good spread of riding for mixed abilities. It’s a long while since I’ve been to any of the Welsh ones so that leaves Glentress as the best. I’d rather ride at Innerleithen or Drumlanrig though, or Grizedale if you include the natural stuff and start in Coniston.

So you’ve never ridden a sheep track mikewsmith? That’s pretty natural, i.e. made by nature…

Man cleared the hillside, introduced the sheep and therefore created the path.

So you’ve never ridden a sheep track mikewsmith? That’s pretty natural, i.e. made by nature…

Now if I wanted to be really pedantic I would argue that it isn’t as sheep were put there by farmers so they are not really “natural”! 🙂

I’d class natural as a tail that was created by use rather than tools.

Lots of singletrack on the moors near me have been created by generations of people/animals walking over them. The surface is purely worn into the landscape.

But to answer the original question. Get a map with trail centres on and pick 1 from each region,

CYB
Glentress
Whinlatter
Dalby
Thetford

Spend one day on the trail centre, the next with an OS map in the nearby region. This will give you an insight into whats good/bad for you and what is on offer on this island. Then start looking at other similar spots.

So you’ve never ridden a sheep track mikewsmith? That’s pretty natural, i.e. made by nature…

So sheep are natural and people aren’t?
A lot of TC stuff was originally “natural” (not created for bikes) with hand made trails just joining the good bits up. The more recent stuff (the cheap, crappy smooth graded shite that’s popular) less so obviously.

There are some fantastic trails made by tools that feel entirely natural.

I don’t think others on here can answer your question. It’s horses for courses.

Leelikesbikes

I’ve always liked Brechfa. If you like FOD you should like Brechfa. I think the style of the trails is similar.

If always found Hopton Woods in Shropshire to be one of the most natural feeling “trail centres”. It ain’t no Cannock or Swinley in terms of facilities(other than a car park, there are none), but the trails flow well, theres a b**st**d climb to get you fit, and its a varied surface route (rather than a “follow the yellow brick road” affair)

It’s not got the length of the classic mid/north wales stuff, but they pack a pretty challenging route into what they have 😉