Going to the forest of dean next weekend.whats the riding like if you dont want to do the down hill? Is the verendeers trail any good as its only blue graded or is it tame?

The blue trail is great fun and well worth a visit. The red is enjoyable too (but I prefer the blue for the grin factor). I hear the best stuff is the unmarked stuff but I don’t know nowt about that.

Be careful this weekend as the 9th is the rally and I think the trails are closed. See the Wyedean rally thread.

How long is the red.its the weekend after that im goin.

The Freeminers trail (red) was 4.5km long, though the DTV have been busy extending it. Well worth a visit, you can add the red and blue together which is great fun, or failing that try the 42 square miles of woodland and all the natural Singletrack it has to offer.

You should try riding around with an OS map. Miles and miles of great riding if you dont want to stick to marked trails. A few hundred yards from the trail center and carparks and you will be on your own with hours and hours of trails to explore.

Its a great place for riding if its not sloppy wet.

Enjoy the blue trail to, flows better than the red. Not much climbing and it’s spread out a bit more (unlike say Cwmcarn). The final 1/4 of the blue loop is the best (although the rollers don’t really do anything for me…)

Both are fun, I tend to do the red (it’s pretty short) as it’s rooty and more technical than the Blue and then head off around the Blue trail. It’s not that technical, but it’s still pretty fun. And then I ride some/all of the DH runs afterwards to finish. Most can be ridden on XC bike and are fun. Somewhere in there I fit in a snack at the cafe (support the locals) as the food is good.

The man does hear right the best trails are not marked.You need a special code to fine them 😉

Follow the boar/sheep/ deer

The boar/sheep/deer would probably outrun me

Was there last year right in the middle of a pretty horrendous wet period. Really enjoyed it. Blue trail is a bit leggy in places but at the end has three consecutive descents – joined by very short stretches of fire trail – which were great swoopy, jumpy fun. Did red as well, more technical and rooty, again with some really good stretches. The whole place held up well given how much rain had fallen in the previous few weeks/days. Didn’t do the downhill for time reasons but the guys I spoke to at the cafe said they’re mostly roll-able and a lot of fun. Will be going back for a couple of days this year. One day at the centre and the other exploring with the wildboar. Well worth a visit I’d say