A few of us went to Cannop in the FOD for first time and used the uplift service yesterday.
The service is good, the DH runs whilst not massively technical are good but we spent so much time trying to find the runs. The navigation/signage is the worst I’ve seen at any biking centre/area.
Some are signposted, some aren’t, there’s no real overview that makes any sense and some runs have 2 AND 3 dots to indicate what level they are – all in all, very confusing. It was a point made by quite a few people on the day. Shame really as that was the only blip on a great day’s biking followed by nice beers and a top curry!

Not really helped by the main sign at the top of the DH runs being totally out of date and showing the Blue trail in a totally different place to where it is now………

Why not just ride downhill until you get to the bottom?

The service is good, the DH runs whilst not massively technical are good but we spent so much time trying to find the runs. The navigation/signage is the worst I’ve seen at any biking centre/area.

Eh?….minibus drops at the top, you cycle the hundred or so yards to the trail head and they all start there…all pretty obvious from the tracks disappearing off down the hill!

Once on a run how can you get lost?….surely you just follow it to the bottom?!

The few that cross the access road continue pretty much opposite….or you can pedal along the road a bit and look to pick up a different one for the second half of your run.

I didn’t rate BPW as any better….the ride from the cafe/reception to the pickup point is guesswork unless you’re following people who’ve been before!

Once on a run how can you get lost?

At what point did I say I/we got lost?
So you’re telling me that the signage is not confusing on your first visit and it couldn’t be improved very easily? Like I said, lots of people said similar so I’m clearly not alone.
I can’t comment on BPW as I haven’t been there.
As a graphic designer I can see it’s an easy fix…how hard can it be to put in one up-to-date overview board near the drop-point with clear postings at the start of all the runs…some have nothing and you wonder why it’s confusing…

Not really helped by the main sign at the top of the DH runs being totally out of date and showing the Blue trail in a totally different place to where it is now

………I rest my case.

I love FoD but the OP is right – the signage is very poor. It’s all very well saying “just go down the hill” but if you look at the map at the top of the uplift there is no marker saying “you are here” so it’s actually pretty pointless. It’s not a complicated place to navigate but it’s easy to miss out on runs such as Endo or Mr Rooty or Ski Run if you don’t know which way to go on the fireroad.

FOD suffers to a large degree from the plethora of “new” trails that have been developed between the original lines. A few years back it was obvious which of the 5 or 6 lines you were on. It only needed one sign at the start of the run. Those same signs are still there, but now every run has a dozen options and new intermediate lines so it is easy to see how it would be confusing to a newcomer. Every time I go there there seems to be another new “rad” line sprung up. I fear that it will sooon be a bare hillside with no defined lines at all unless there is a bit of trail management and a strict “no new lines” policy.

I was quite confused first time I went, loved the tracks I ended up on but found it hard to find the others. Been a few times now and figured the place out, absolutely love it!

deviant – Member
Eh?….minibus drops at the top, you cycle the hundred or so yards to the trail head and they all start there…all pretty obvious from the tracks disappearing off down the hill!

Trouble is that they don’t all start “there”. When we were there a couple of weeks ago it took ages trying to find the different start points. Several other riders had the same problem.

I also wonder how sustainable the multiple route options will be. Soon the whole hillside will be riddled with trails. I was on holiday down there so don’t know if all the trails are sanctioned by the FC or not. It looks to me like there needs to be a bit more control or it could end up with the whole lot being closed to the detriment of everyone. Perhaps some of the locals will know the situation better?

Im heading there this weekend with my son. We had trouble with the out of date signs last time.

Anyone got a map?

Well I’m glad a few others on here think I’m not a complete idiot like deviant thinks.
I have no idea when I’ll get down there again and as has been pointed out, once you know where they all are then you’re not likely to forget…although looking online last night there are still 3 we never found.
It seems lots of first timers struggle so I think I’ll ping the relevant bods at FOD an email with this linked thread so they can see there’s a bit of an issue. It’s not the end of the world but it would cut down on faff time and generally make it a better experince for visitors for not much effort/expense.
I expect nothing will be done about it though but you never know!

It seems lots of first timers struggle so I think I’ll ping the relevant bods at FOD an email with this linked thread so they can see there’s a bit of an issue. It’s not the end of the world but it would cut down on faff time and generally make it a better experince for visitors for not much effort/expense.

There there I don’t think you’re an idiot, I just don’t think the trails are hard to find either.

My reservation with emailing and complaining about the trails needing signs and/or directions is that it might lead to some of the better unofficial stuff getting shut down, if you want the truly sanitised spoon fed experience then BPW is just up the road…leave FoD alone!…it’s great as is and has a far more natural feel to it than some of the BMX tracks masquerading as MTB venues at the moment.

I really can’t see the issue with the signage at the FoD. While the signage is out of date it still refers to most of the major runs and the rest are very to find by spending 2 mins spinning along the middle fireroad. If you’re pushing up you’ll also see most of them snake their way down the hill when you’re going up the fireroad.

I don’t know, it seems like complaining about the lack of signs is creating an issue out of nothing especially when it’s going to be emailed to the FoD rangers. It’s worth noting most of the trails there are dug by volunteers who don’t have limitless time and money to make and put signs up when they could be digging more awesome trails.

There there I don’t think you’re an idiot, I just don’t think the trails are hard to find either.

Ok…you might not think that but I do think you are quite patronising.

This plus 1

It’s worth noting most of the trails there are dug by volunteers who don’t have limitless time and money

I agree with welshfarmer

To many lines appearing on the hill causing confusion to visitors

I will take this to the steering group on thursday

I will try and get a Group together to re define all the tracks and see if we can get map updated 😀

I am always happy to receive feedback from all who ride our Trails
good or bad we need to know as a lot of assumptions are made and i am happy to try and clarify why things are as they are 🙂 and what changes we are able to make, happy riding 😀

https://www.facebook.com/groups/deantv/

http://www.deantrailvolunteers.com/

And we need donations to Build and Maintain

Before anyone asks No We Do Not Get Any of the Parking Fee

We survive on Donations 😉

deantrailvolunteer – Member
I will try and get a Group together to re define all the tracks and see if we can get map updated

I eventually picked-up a trail map the other week from the hire shed at Pedalabikeaway for £2 from what I remember. Was told that they get them printed, but the proceeds of the sale go to the trail-builders which is a great idea. The map seemed well up to date to me, showing 14 downhill routes(including Launch Pad) and the XC routes as well. You’re doing a great job down there, keep it up. As a trail-building co-ordinator myself, I know how hard it is to get the work sanctioned, and to get volunteers to do it.

I have never looked at the FOD as a trail centre like a lot of people do.You go over to the Dowies area which has tons of stuff now you just fine it over the course of time.I thought the D/Hill runs were obvious!!.Maybe they are more obvious if you use the push up then you can see more.Just remember those D/Hill runs are maintain and built by volunteers they don’t do the signage.

I’m there quite regularly as it’s relatively close and I am asked quite a bit by people where some of the trails are.

All the options, and lines are great, I just think it’s that first big sign and map that really confuses people who aren’t their regularly.

It just needs to be updated to clearly show where you are and where the main trails start and that some split off from others. So they easily know they need to go on down the fire road to get to the start of flatland for example.

I would echo my thanks and appreciation for the volunteers there at Fod.
It’s my nearest place like that coming from the Midlands.

I agree that it’s not really a trail centre and if people expect it to be it may well dilute the variety and nature of what there is there.

Thanks Fod trail volunteers! 😀

I agree that the signage isn’t great, but for me part of the fun is to first have a blast around one of the XC trails (often linking parts up with other bits) to get my exercise and fitness out the way and then hit up the DH tracks afterwards and explore to see what’s new and how I can mismatch the runs. I used to love going somewhere new with an OS map and exploring, but work/family commitments now mean I don’t get enough time to travel far from home and FOD is a great place to ride rooty tech stuff while still have a decent car park and cafe.

A decent map at the top and bottom would be good, but I don’t think it needs lots of signs everywhere. What next? Limiting who’s allowed up Helvellyn without a guide 😉

Tom KP

I really do appreciate the works the volunteers do too.
On your first visit when you’ve paid £30 for an uplift service to get maximum run time you don’t wanna be trying to work out where they all are. If something could be done signage wise then that would be useful – especially first timers.

That is a very good point problem with the pedalway the car park is Forestry,cafe is privately run and the uplift also privately run and as you know the trails are kept together by another party.Maybe they should all come together better.The funding there is nothing like other places don’t think they get to much help that might be the problem.

What are the DH trails like for your average, almost middle aged rider?

As a younger man I used to ride the uplift at Cwmcarn a lot and ridden in the Alps and Whistler – but some of the trails I saw from the push-up path looked a bit much for me – are there any blue graded ones to get my eye in on?

P Jay don’t expect any groomed trails on the DH

You can’t really ‘grade’ the FoD trails imo, they’re not built like most trail centre trails where varying degree’s of rocks, jumps, gradient etc are used on a hardpack base to make it a certain grade.

Instead they’re all handmade tracks that are built to whatever the builders think would be fun to ride. Like the dh tracks in your local woods but bigger and well built.

They’re all technical tracks, not hugely steep but rough and very rooty. Watch some go pro footage to get a feel for it, GBU, corkscrew and sheepskull are probably the iconic tracks there that would give you a feel for the place.

FoD can get steep and rooty but features like drops and jumps are all rollable on the main runs…..some of the harder off piste stuff doesn’t give you any options but if you’re not looking for that stuff then you won’t find it!

If you lot are getting lost in FoD better not come up to Inners.

FFS it’s not hard, start at the top and follow trails – don’t like the one you picked, then choose a different one next time.

No wonder we’ve a Nanny State!

br 🙄

Was there during the week and can confirm its appalling, as bad as aston hill was before they sorted it all perfectly at the beginning of the year.
I haven’t found a map online that actually shows all the current trails, they all show a different numbers of trails with conflicting names. I dont think I ever found ‘cougar root’ as shown on the flyup website, maybe that was the one with the missing sign, who knows..
I did find out that the 2 & 3 orange dot signs near the mound at the start on the left should have been removed a while back, as they dont go anywhere.
The minibus is super efficient though & I will be back, but really, surely it cant be hard to have an upto date map?

br, give it a rest, not all of us are familiar with trail centres and FOD is a bit of a pita to find at first the start of specific tracks.

Even if part of me does think, just ride to the top and then choose a line to go down.

A few of us went to Cannop in the FOD for first time and used the uplift service yesterday.

Never mind all the arguing about trail signage – does this mean you’ve now officially got new riding buddies?

What about us deadbeats who still traipse around the local environs on a Wednesday evening?

See you again soon maybe??

I did find out that the 2 & 3 orange dot signs near the mound at the start on the left should have been removed a while back, as they dont go anywhere.

Strange, I’ve been there loads this year and I’m booked to go back this month, those two starting points on the mound are a popular spot to start a run from….I’ve certainly started runs from there this year.

I think people find the natural state of the place confusing. Go to BPW and even if it wasn’t signposted you’d get down the runs ok as they look like a well kept stone/gravel driveway….there’s no mistaking them as ‘trails’….although the blues there have gone too far in terms of grooming and the manicured state they’re in.
Whereas FoD is through the woods, dirt trails that at times blend in with the surrounding environment and I think that throws some people.
I think people also get confused that each trail at FoD usually has another one or even two alternative routes branching off it…I love this, some don’t and seem to want to be guided down a perfectly signed trail they can then compare notes on with their mates!….I like that I can seemingly start the same run in the same spot but end up popping out at a different place along the access road halfway down and can then choose to pick up a different run for the second part of the trail.

The only well signed part is the jump trail (launchpad) which is typical trail centre fare and much like BPW in that it’s about 4ft wide, billiard table smooth, root free etc etc….please don’t ever let the rest of the FoD get like that!

The best way to look at the FoD is that you’re essentially free to put your own DH runs together, the uplift is great, loads better than BPW….and it’s a day where you can mix and match trails as you see fit instead of being constrained to marked runs like at other places.

Strange, I’ve been there loads this year and I’m booked to go back this month, those two starting points on the mound are a popular spot to start a run from….I’ve certainly started runs from there this year.

Ah yes, I mean the 1st mound where the out dated trailmap is, near the blue trail crossroads. I expect you are refering to the mound further down with the short pedally jumpy bit that leads into the 2 trails, gbu & corkscrew I think it was.

oldtalent, its not a trail centre, its funded by donations and hard work. Hopefully you dropped a £10 in the tin then we will be able to update it 😉

Who needs signs, go ride and discover there are loads of lines down.

but really, surely it cant be hard to have an upto date map?

You can volunteer to do this if you want

What tin? Perhaps it wasnt properly signed 🙂

oldtalent, its not a trail centre, its funded by donations and hard work. Hopefully you dropped a £10 in the tin

….and that’s the crux of the matter, cosseted MTBers have got used to the government/EU funded Welsh projects and can’t figure it out when they go somewhere off the beaten track!

Those who have a problem with the signage put yourself out and map the trails one day, then spend an evening knocking up some signs, buy some posts to hammer in at the trail heads and hey presto….or leave well alone and accept it for what it is, a natural more challenging day out than the usual trail centre riding.

If I want to go for an unmarked ride through the woods then I would do.
However when I have travelled 150 miles to ride some advertised tracks with limited time, then I bloody well expect to be able to find them!
I have no issue finding the trails at tidworth freeride, aston hill, stoughton dh, rogate, antur stiniog, revolution bikepark, qecp etc etc and I’m sure if I was a requarly at fod then I would have no issues either. But I’m not and again wasnt the only one having navigation issues on the day.

I thought the signage/mappage was poor too. Brilliant place to ride, some fantastic trails but the hard work of the team is a bit let down by that side, it’s pretty hard to equate the maps to the trails on the ground, we definitely missed some stuff. (plus, we saw 2 ambulances out, it’s not helpful if you find yourself calling in a crash and saying “I have no idea where we are, we started out on sheepskull I think but then it gets a bit vague…”) Same issue that innerleithen can have, there’s more lines on the ground than on the map but inners still has better signs.

It doesn’t really bother me, I just rode what was in front of me though I don’t like missing out- but I was riding with a mate who isn’t so confident and it wasn’t helpful. What’s down here? Haven’t a scoob. That line was cool, can we find it again?

Have to say the red’s a bloody masterclass in efficient building, none of that crap “empty trail” thing most trailcentres have where you ride for a minute and realise that there was 5 seconds of noteworthy riding and 55 seconds of basically nothing.

deviant – Member

can’t figure it out when they go somewhere off the beaten track!

I’ve never heard an uplift venue described as “off the beaten track”. It’s barely even off the beaten tarmac 😆 I think. Honestly I think there’s a reasonable expectation here where you’ve got the full trailcentre deal, cafe and car park and uplift. If you go up the golfy or something you expect to have to navigate but when you pay to play there’s a different standard.

In case that sounds too negative, can’t stress enough how much I loved it as a venue. Amazing use of the hill. I genuinely might not have gone if I’d known how little drop there was, I wouldn’t have believed it could be that good. Minileithen.