Keilder looks the ideal place to get out on a long but not too technical ride — like 50+ miles of winter-proof forest roads. But it looks an absolute maze…

Does anyone know of a decent trail/route guide to the place? Or have some big long ride recomendations?

All that I seem to be able to find is trail-centre info

Thanks 🙂

I guess it might be worth looking for the Kielder 100 race segment on Strava and chopping it in half?

There is some great riding off the beaten track ..but unless it’s frozen ..not at this time of year..
Of course the forest roads hold up all year round ..but they are a bit boring..( unless you are into gravel bikes )
I know the forest very well ..but never record anything ..
Give me a shout in the spring and I would be happy to show you around ..
By the way i before e..Kielder 😉

Couldnt you do two of the red trails to make up the miles?

I’ve only done the short deadwater trail but quite enjoyed it. I’d like to go back though.

How do the longer red trails compare? Is there a lot of the same trail centrey type stuff or are they just miles of fireroad to make up the distance? What percentage is fireroad to trail?

You could look for the dirty reiver 130 route if you’re after fire roads

It’s difficult to put a % figure on it ..the only route that has a fair bit of link up fireroad is the blue Osprey Trail..
The red routes are probably between 80-90% built singletrack ..if you don’t include the boring slog up to the very top of Deadwater.
I have mentioned this before on another thread but myself & one or two others have put a route together out of Bellingham in excess of 50 miles taking in the forest on either side of the North Tyne Valley best done over two days ..which can include a bothy stop ..and finishing on the Pennine Way ( bridleway section ) back to the start ..well south of the trails at Kielder ..
Some of it is becoming overgrown and the route itself may never go beyond local knowledge ..but it’s a corker ..

Its big, very big.

One thing to be aware of is that the roads are largely laid out for access and extraction, so there are a LOT of dead-end spur roads.

There are however a core of link roads and a few core loops

I’ve laid out the ones I remember best from working there in my youth – the yellow ones are the main ‘links’, the North Haul Road, Forest Drive and a route Falstone/Highfield/Byrness. The green ones are the main ‘loops’ on the patch I knew best, I cant recall many of the other loops as I mainly worked around the North end

Bikehike will give you a good overview.

USing some of the stuff ninfan suggests I did something similar

https://www.strava.com/activities/236221888

bit of a slog in places but it was ride able in January. Fair amount of tarmac but not excessive.

The lake lap is a good shout for extending routes.

There used to be a gravel sportive thing back before they were cool

https://www.strava.com/activities/22774871#8195004374

Border raid is a classic but could be dicey on the top if there is snow. I’ve been turned back once or twice by the weather

https://www.strava.com/activities/168988663#8194981627

this one is the same thing I did on a CX bike so easier. Riding from Newcastle optional, you could start from the dam.

https://www.strava.com/activities/381931511#9133020104

Nothing too exciting there Im afraid ..unless well used fire roads are your thing..but don’t let me stop you trying them …

Neil, that 50 miler from Bellingham sounds great, do you have it plotted on a map?

No ..not as such ..
We did a route guide about 3 years ago ( myself & Ian Bell of The Bike Place Kielder ) which Mountain Bike UK ( Max Darsley?) were really interested in featuring ..and although 100% legal the FC asked us to sit on it due to The Sandstone Way passing through Bellingham and not to divert interest away from that…they also weren’t too keen on being ” responsible ” for another mountain bike route ..much to the annoyance of the mag .
I’m reluctant to pass it on ..but more than happy to show folks around ..should they wish to visit .
If it then appears elsewhere ..so be it ..but in the spring next year ..it will be a very wet, hard slog at the moment ..

Lakeside way twice?

One of my fave routes is the cross border. Start in Kielder, follow the lakeside way for a bit then on to the lonesome pine, over to Newcastleton and back.

There’re options to extend the route as there is now a link to/from Newcastleton village for a cake stop and you could do the full red at Newcastleton too and/or tag on a bit more at Kielder.

If you want to stay local to Kielder do the Deadwater followed by the Osprey blue (great fun). Where that joins the lakeside way turn left and go round that clockwise (food opportunities at tower knowe or leaplish) then on to the lonesome pine and back to Kielder.

When my leg finally stops playing silly buggers you still need to show me that route Neil…

Wonder why you like that one so much Andy …nowt to do with you taking the lead on the re-profiling a few years ago I suppose 😆
By the way ..no more money to be spent on that particular trail ..or so the rumour goes.. 😥
Edit : just shout up when you are ready Andy ..

Nah, that just made it a little better to ride, it needed total redevelopment with machinery to make it good. I like the isolation.

A nice long loop to be had by taking the cross border route via Lewisburn, over to the holm, then along the road back to Saughtree and then follow the railway line back to kielder.

It’s a shame that Peel and Burns Bothies on the Scottish side are no longer open. I think kershopehead might be

Ninfan ..how long is it since you have ridden at Kielder ?

Ok Neil, that sounds like something I’ve heard before, maybe on here. I’ll definitely be up for that come the time (without publicizing it later).

Legometeorology, the Cross Border route that andyr mentioned above is a good one.
Two laps (52 miles) of the Lakeside Way is as untechnical as it gets but will give about 6 hours of a rollercoaster smooth track.

we did a 50 miler, maybes more the other year. Parked at the castle, went along the lakeside to the lonesome pine route. Once we got to the top of the board walks we turned left until you get onto the bloody bush road. At the bottom of that you turn right and then its all fireroad till you get to newcastleton. You continue through there and turn left and your back onto a fire road heading back to kielder.
Once at the end of a long slog and then fast fire road downhill you should see some signs and then you climb back up the tracks which again and towards the board walks. Instead of taking the zig zag turn back up to the board walks, just go straight ahead and on your right is the lonesome pine, just follow that all the way and takes you back to where you started from.

Trademark ..we will sort something out ..

Thanks Neil.

Ninfan ..how long is it since you have ridden at Kielder

About seven years now 😯

Though I build a section of the original cross-border trail (up over to Bloody Bush) in 1990 🙂

(I’ll just stress that the diagram above is the structure of the forestry road links and loops, bears no relation to the trails network)

I do realise that ..I was a volunteer trail builder for a good few years on the current network of man made trails ..and still do the occasional day in terms of maintenance ..
I was actually at the very first meeting at the castle when the vision for the trail network was discussed …
I just wondered as the cross border route you described has been in many ways superseded by the trail described by Andy ..
Hats off though for the work you did back then ..you should re-visit the new trails ..Im sure you would approve

I just wondered as the cross border route you described has been in many ways superseded by the trail described by Andy ..

Yes, it has, I’ve ridden some of the newer trails there over the years when I get back up – I was thinking more about the original comment that the OP wanted something mainly forest road (eg. gravel bike) than singletrack/MTB and how that might suit the old route well.

All the original set of routes were forestry road based – but of course, back then it was still rigid bikes and the Emmelle Kielder Classic 🙂
Alex has managed to do a lot with not a lot of resources over the years, certinaly compared with the money thrown at it over the border.

A lot more was planned ..even flagged out ..just a pity that the ground conditions on the Lonesome Pine Trail swallowed a lot of the budget with the woodwork that was needed ..

just a pity that the ground conditions on the Lonesome Pine Trail swallowed a lot of the budget with the woodwork that was needed

Don’t forget the 6 week old jcb. Now lying under 15 metres of finest squelchy peat.

😆
True ..I often envisage that being spewed back up again ..like a thing from the swamp !

Wow, brilliant — I didn’t expect such a mountain of good advice 🙂

I’ll get my map out and start drawing these things out

Thanks 🙂