Is it worth a visit from down down south? I live just south of London and have the urge to ride somewhere rocky.

no.

LOL

Could you have made that responce any shorter?

n

perhaps?

I’d stop just short (relatively speaking) on your journey up and do some Dark Peak riding instead. Rock’tastic.

I was there yesterday on a scoping mission and I can confirm that it is a quarry and it’s got rocks in. There’s been a lot of work done, and it’s shaping up nicely, but it wouldn’t justify the trip on its own. BUT there’s no reason why you couldn’t mash it up a couple of hours at the quarry with a tour de calderdale to make a decent weekend of it.

Is it worth driving for approximately 8 hours to do a 7k loop of a quarry?

Well I wasn’t going to drive all that way just to ride the quarry, I was going to stop somewhere else too, maybe Stainburn on the way back.

Stainburns prob about 1.5 hours north east of where Lee Quarry is. If you want rocks a bit nearer go to the Peak.

well, if you’re going to ride somewhere else as well, then I’ll change my response to…

Y

Lol, thanks. Justy weighing things up at the moment. I do fancy having another go at Stainburn.

er HELLO

erm Hello

Driving from south of London to ride Stainburn and Lee Quarry? Are you f*cking off your t*ts? It takes me an hour to get to Stainburn (which is only about 15 miles away as the crow flies but unfortunately, unlike the crow, I have to drive from Halifax via Bradford and Leeds/Otley) – anymore and I wouldn’t bother.

Surely to go there are rocky trails nearer to you than Yorkshire?

If not then its proof that nobody south of Yorkshire needs any form of suspension on their bike.

Please, don’t come here all the way from the south-east to ride Lee Quarry and Stainburn. At least do something with some length to it (and rocks!) such as Calderdale or Dalby or the Peaks or something. Or just go along the M4 to Wales – it’ll be quicker and last time I checked, there was rocks in Wales.

I have already made the trip to Stainburn from here and loved it. I was going to ride Dalby as well, but the weather was sooo bad I didn’t bother.

If not then its proof that nobody south of Yorkshire needs any form of suspension on their bike.

Have you never heard of roots?

I do fancy going to Cwm Carn again, but I am always looking for new trails to ride. As far as I am aware, there is absolutely nothing like Stainburn or Lee Quarry in, or around, the south-east, or the south for that matter.

You want to do it, so do it Mikey. what’s to lose.

Looking at the new mbr I do want to have a go at it (gulp) 😡 how hard is it? rollable stuff or drop offs? I want to be in tiptop shape for summer so dont really want to be knackered now!

Peng – Hora ? I take it your referring to Stainburn – I reckon it is hard, but it doesn’t give you too much exposure. Most of it is rollable, infact, designed to flow. But there can be drop off’s if you like them and the big boulder on the descent line can be ridden as a drop if you like. (I don’t like (I find it an awkward shape)but did it once and got away with it, now I roll it!)
Personally I find it very testing and have never cleaned the whole ‘boulder trail’ and often fluff sections that I’ve previously cleaned so it’s always a challenge and A LOT OF FUN !! It’s always worth sessioning bits in an effort to one day get it all right !?
I haven’t been for a while and am a fairly average rider so if you would like some company riding there, give us a shout.

….ah maybe not, I don’t have this months MBR but suspect you actually meant Lee Quarry, about which I know nothing !

Stainburn is hardish- I remember cracking my helmet as I didnt duck enough on the overhanging stone outcrop 🙂

I say hardish as I rode it over 2yrs ago and from what I can gather there are some pretty core stuff in place now

how far south are you? get a ferry and drive to south of france with 4 mates, about the same in fuel, better riding?
more memorable?

The North Downs is where my heart is 😀

I remember once, just once riding through a tall corn field one summer on the North Downs- a tiny singletrack aching through the tall corn brushing against the edges of our bars. That was a memory and a half. ****. Beats any gnarly stuff anyday.

We rode Lee Quarry but as we didn’t know what it would be like, other than short, we rode in to it along the MTL from Rochdale and over the hill.

Lee Quarry was not much good but the ride was made good because of the MTL.

We were constantly held up be fat blokes on very expensive bikes mincing around it too, most frustrating.

I’d avoid it and I certainly won’t be driving the 30 miles I’d have to travel to it again.

If you want a good ride, go to the Peaks around Ladybower.

If you want rocks do a loop that takes in any of/or a combination of the following:- Edale Cross, Jacobs ladder, Chapel Gate or Cavedale in the Dark Peak, Rocks-o-rama !

I can ride to Lee Quarry from my house and it’s only just worth doing that at the moment. It has excellent potential and they have done some great work up there but it’s a quarry, only just up and running and nothing like the more well known trail centres. Do not drive all the way from London to do it.

As a slight thread hijack – they have a race series planned and IMHO it’s not the best venue, mainly due to the number of places where a mistake could result in someone falling of some big drops (as in cliffs or a steep bank to tumble down followed by a fall off a cliff).

Went there today and it’s great. They achieved loads so far and there’s more to come. Driving from London might be a bit overkill, but hey, there’s nowt wrong with a bonkers road trip.

Click for some photos of what you might find there.