Educate me please. I was last there 16 years ago on a fully rigid Univega. I don’t remember it being much cop!

Since then I’ve seen a few Enduros advertised in there, plus the ProRideGuides guys running skills courses.

I had never considered going back, but I’m in the process of ballsing-up a week off for riding and getting desperate. I was supposed to be in South Wales but had to dash back up to Yorkshire – trying to fit some “days” in instead.

Problem tomorrow is the weather forecast – miserable in the Dales, probably miserable in the lakes by late morning. North Wales raining all day. Hebden, Bowland etc. all wet.

I don’t mind a wet ride, but if I’m missing something good that is dry then it seems a pity. So what is there? On a scale of 1 to 5

1. 3000ft alpine descents and a chairlift? (I joke)
2. Decent downward pointing trails with an easy winch to the top.
3. Ups that are worth the downs?
4. Rare hidden gems, but you have to work hard for them
5. Dalby (Gravity defying up to down ratio)

Or basically, how do I get the most from a day there? Cheers

not been for years either.
if you are stuck for a ride i yorkshire on wednesday, i will make one in.

Most people ride the newer stuff on the red route – Transmission, Accelerator and Nitrous. All good fun trail centre stuff that you’d expect, berms, jumps, lumps… Those sections are all packed together and you can easily do them again and again.

For more similar stuff there’s the Skills Section and Section 13, which are a bit older and were a bit more weathered last time I was there.

Some good black stuff if you’re into that kinda thing. Rooty, rocky, slidey on your face kinda stuff.

There’s even stuff outside of the forest. Spoilt for choice really.

If you were to ride the whole red route though, there’s a lot of fireroad.

I should also say I haven’t been there since last year or something. So any of the above info could be out of date!

Butcher has it spot on, however there are a lot of little trails all over the place that would link up well but could be a long day piecing stuff together

It’s good fun. I tend to do the red route. Have coffee and cake then black route.

Somewhere between 2 qnd 3 in your little scale.

I agree with you on point 5, never really got on with Dalby. Hamsterley is more fun, but shorter. The red is fun, the new Pikes teeth is worth climbing up to, but then unless you know where you’re going, it’s a lot of fire road to get to the red. (Most of the black is out due to felling and hasn’t been rebuilt)

I agree with the 2-3 rating on your scale. A mix of the red and black routes is very enjoyable, and was bone dry on Sunday (there may be a few puddles now but only the off piste stuff gets proper mud). Route here: http://www.strava.com/activities/203610853

P20 – the only bit of the black that’s out of commission now is Star Wars, and the trail fairies have started work on its replacement already – just keep going straight on after the Root 666 downhill with the wall on your right and there’s a nice rooty descent to the bridge at the bottom of Nitrous

A good route for getting all the trail sections in is to go along the grove link and climb up to transmission , accelerator and nitrous . Then head up to section 13 and do bone shaker , brain freeze and Special K on way back to car park .

Lots of unofficial stuff which can be found using strava – highlights including southern comfort and golden owl . Also some good routes over the moors which can be linked in with hamsterley trails like doctors gate descent .

Maybe not the best trail centre in the land but a lot of work has gone into trails in the last 10 years and is improving all the time .

craig runs uplifts on wednesdays if you fancy the DH side of things. check the descend hamsterley facebook page if so it has his number

agree with above best route is a mix of black, red and off piste. best to go with a local for the off piste stuff really. some bridleways go off up the moors if you want that sort of thing – a route is in the beyond hamsterley guide book which you could maybe find a gpx of online

Thanks all.

Ton – Wednesday is the first day of the missus’ holiday – so I don’t know what plans she has yet. She mentioned walking… Cheers though.

Think I’ll sleep on it and see what the 4.00am Met Office update brings. Some good back up options by the sounds of it in Hamsterley and as the family is up that way I might even get fed!

It’s not bad. As above, cherry pick the best bits of the red and black rather than heading out on the entire red loop, much of which is mind-numbing.

You can have a good ride if you join up the good bits. Typically I do something like..

A couple of laps of the skills loop, then follow the Black from the start, over route 666 etc, until you pass the bottom of the Tran/Accel/Nitrous bit, which you can pass then bear up to the right and get to the top of (ask someone to show you as its a common short cut), go down and repeat a few times, then follow the black again until the end.

Thanks.

Spotted that the first front of rain was passing under the lakes, so managed a quick shot at Nan Bield.

Will make a point of dragging some lads from back home up to hamsterley in the future though. Cheers.