As per title, on an Islabike with gears.

I’ve only ever done the red and black routes.

Yeah, my mates little lad has done it a few times

Not sure where you’re based, but the first climb put me off taking my lad, so we headed to Clayton Vale at the National Cycling Centre, it’s a nice gentle introduction to off roading, he’s now tackling parts of the red routes 🙂

My lads been doing since he was 5 Benin 20. The climb from the car park is pretty long for a 5 year old and we had a lot of tears on it in the early years, bear in mind he was the one begging we to go time after time. We always took a good amount of sweets and had a long stop at the bench.

He’s 8 now and looks back on it fondly (he says) and every time we take one of his mates up and he rips there legs off he now thinks it was worth it.

One last point is I started him in the summer and it’s proper grim up there at the moment which isn’t going to help.

Good luck.

Mine did it at 4 years on ss and it put him off a bit. Too much too soon. It’s not a very good trail for small wheels to be honest. And too much dull uphill to start.

Also

I found the Blue at CYB to be much better for youngsters. I know its a lot further away, but worth it to not put the kid off.

Climbs are much easier and it’s split into 3 so you can easy cut it short or do bit you like again, plus it’s loads of fun.

Yep, its the Beinn 20 and I was thinking it might be a bit grim at Llandegla at the moment.

Based near Bolton, so the National Cycling Centre is nearer and might be a good shout.

If you do happen to be near CyB, I had a spin around the full blue in November when I was there after a lap of the Beast. Good little route and nice in the way you could just do phase 1 and then build up to the other 2 which have bigger climbs etc. I love blue routes 😀

If your based in bolton take him to phillips park at whitefield.Its very similar to clayton vale take the red route from the car park and pick up the blue very child friendly with hardly any climbing, my six year old loves it.

My youngest has done carefull chosen bits of the Follow the Dog, at Cannock, on his Beinn 20 small.
He wasn’t impressed.
His 8 yr old brother can take some catching these days, boundless energy.

The Minortaur at CYB has some lovely sections for kids, my girls aged 8 and 10 loved it last summer when we went, well apart from the climb back to the cafe at the end :-/ Why finish a fun trail like that with a climb?

Oh and the youngest loved the skills loop, we went round and round and round and round……….great fun 😆

My little lad did it from 6.
I took a long (ish) tie down strap and towed him up the climb, which was all the more fun as I was riding a 38 pound Santa Cruz Bullit.

There is a green route around the resovoir, that would be fine for the most part but its getting muddy around the lake, start from the top carpark will help 😀 finish at the cafe with cake and hot choclate …

mtbtomo, can’t recommend the National Cycling Centre enough then if you’re Bolton based, the skills loop in Phillips Park is a great little warm up. Normally end up in the cafe afterwards, last time sat next to Dave Brailsford.

I’m planning on a Llandegla trip with the boy when the weather gets better, toying with a bungee cord set up for that drag from the car park.

Another shout for the blue route at Philips Park, Prestwich. Its got great, easy riding singletrack with enough play options for a five year old. If you can travel, Dalby has nice easy greens and a blue with a bit if a climb on it. Or how about Derwent Water just above Ladybower. Easy stuff with a fun descent, and of course a cafe with lots of ducks.

Sounds like Phillips Park or Crag Vale now, with Llandegla to follow in summer.

We’ve been to Rivington and Haigh Hall a few times, so was just looking for something differenc and perhaps a bit more ‘mountain biking’ than just ‘bike riding in the park’.

Is there a cafe or any refreshments at Phillips Park?

You can “figure of 8” a couple of old (or spare) inners to make a tow bungee. If use your spares it saves carrying more kit than necessary.

One thing in favour of Llandegla is that most of the climbing is at the start. So if you do have a good tow strategy then you can get it all over with at the beginning without too much faffing getting the tow kit on and off. Tow them all the way up the first hill then enjoy the rest of the route.

I’ve never really done proper towing as we used the trailer as a sag wagon. How do people attach the tow to the kid? Do you attach it to the stem or get the kid to hold onto it one handed or what?

No cafe at Philips Park. Nice pub just up the road with a decent outdoor seating area though.

I can foresee not much effort at all given a tow! Think I’ll save Llandegla for when the weather is better, as I can remember finding the wind ripping across that open section unpleasant.

I presume you just loop the inner tubes round the handlebars?

You’re not far from the Hurstwood MTB Trail, near Burnley.
Small but perfectly formed . . .