Having been up nan bield this weekend I can’t say I can see what the fuss is about.

Lakes honeypot area on a sunny Bank Holiday? Bonkers.

No wonder you are on a downer about it.

Lakes honeypot area on a sunny Bank Holiday? Bonkers.

Not a soul passed on (our) way down so nothing to do with the choice of time to visit – if anything it would have been more enjoyable for the sunshine and the knowledge there were two more days of the weekend to go.

By contrast the first time I “rode” cave dale in the peaks was a sunny Bank Holiday and impassable with walkers and dogs but I came away “thinking that would be great, I should make a point of doing that loop again when it’s not going to be so busy.” and duly did and it was.

Nan bield for me fell into “would have been a great hike, it wasn’t a great bike ride” though admittedly it would be more fun the other way around if I were capable of riding most of it, which I’m not.

has anyone looked at Beinn Fhada, and actually ridden from the top i.e. on the faint footpath that comes across from Meall a Fhuarain Mhoir heading E towards Beinn Fhada, then heads down into Coire an Sgairne

The path that runs round the rim of the corrie isn’t much on the ground but you can ride down the NW ridge from the summit of Beinn Fhada then down into Coire Na Sgairne. This is what I was referring to further up the thread.

For (shorter), lakes descents that you can also ride to the top of, I would suggest the Duddon Valley area, just don’t both with Walna scar. They are all rocky and a fun test, just not as committing as those listed above, but all rideable mans you don’t have to carry up!. They also have the advantage that even on a bank holiday it’s quiet, and relatively walker free. Nice bakery / shops / cafes in Broughton, and a very convenient pub…….
Park head road (high kiln cross down to the pub), stone star but start up by the tri (just keep going up!), the natty bridge descent into the top end of Broughton mills (use the fire road to get to the top after traversing around stevensons / hartleys ground), wallabarrow, and Black Combe (just possible to climb up via the Bootle bridleway, then descent south). You can loupe this via the Corney fell bridleway but be very careful with the washed out middle section, it’s lethal at present – deep wheel trapping gullies….

Dangeorbrain – sorry you didn’t enjoy Nan Beild. I think a lot of the rides being recommended here are very technical and demand a reasonably high standard of rocky trail skill to negotiate. The OP asked for the best and to most that means toughest and most exciting, and as the post asked about the Lakes and Scotland that means big rocky trails like the north of Nan Beild. They won’t be for everyone, I love them but then I’m pretty crap at riding twisty trails in the woods.

Anyway, I can thoroughly recommend Binnean Mor above Kinlochleven. Rode it last weekend in blazing sunshine. Mostly rideable up, the last hundred metres of ascent to the top are boring but the rest of the descent is amazing. Not mad technical either, just flowy and fun.

Having just spent 4hours riding the trails I recommended, in the lakes, at the end of half term, in beautiful, blazing sunshine, 26degrees C….
I met two walkers, two horses, and two guys on riding. One of whom was down from Keswick…. ! Massive day out to be riding Park head road!

Did a loop yesterday from Glen Isla up via Craig Lair to Mayar; down the Kilbo Path to Glen Doll; up Jock’s Road to gain Tom Buidhe, Cairn of Claise then onwards to Druim Mor and down the Caderg into Glen Isla. The Caderg has a bit of a reputation but it isn’t that hard (the situation is immense though!). In contrast there are still a couple of bits on the Kilbo I can’t ride and Jock’s Road (which I stupidly pushed up; looks amazing in descent) must be harder still.
I think a good loop here would be: Glen Callater, up the LRT to Claise, along the walker’s path to Tolmount, down the grass than Jock’s Rd into Glen Doll. Up Clova, Bachnagairn, Broadcairn and across to Carn an t-Sagairt Mor to descend back to Callater. Couple of amazing descents with only the Bachnagairn-Broadcairn leg requiring pushing.

Chickenman, that second loop is pretty bang on to the one i did yesterday. Glen Doll – Bachnagairn – Broadcairn – Cairn Bannoch – Carn an Sagairt Mor – Loch Callater – (big mistake time) – Jocks road to Knaps of fafernie. Holy batfuck i made a mistake on that one. Those 5kms were an absolute nightmare. Then descending down Jocks road back to Glen Doll. But thats what adventure is all about. It cant all be awesome descents and sunshine.

All in it could be a belter of a loop but from Loch Callater i cant figure out how to get out of Glen Callater.

Mac: Southwards from Loch Callater up the LRT to Cairn of Claise then the walker’s paths to Tolmount (toggle between satellite images + 25k OS maps on Bing maps) then you’d need to ride down the grass to the top of Jock’s Road; not done that last bit but it’s only a few hundred metres.

Ah i see where you are at. That looks like it should work well 🙂