Morning all, I have a day off on Friday and fancy going somewhere new. The consideration I have is that I have agreed to take a mate with me who, whilst very physically fit, is relatively inexperienced on a bike. As I would like it to be within 90 mins of Brum I was thinking of either Eastridge or Llandegla.

Any thoughts on either? Will Llandegla be open? Will Eastridge be a mud fest? Any other suggestions that aren’t Cannock Chase as I ride there far too much anyway!

Long Mynd perhaps? Some of the more popular BW's should be fairly quiet on a Friday too.

Second Long Mynd but take a map and get some routes, the best stuff can be easily missed.
Llandegla is brilliant for newbies.

Eastridge is good fun. It's only quite short but hard work – plenty of climbing but some great descents.
There's a lot of work going on there at the moment (trail building) and plenty of DH runs if you go with someone who knows the area. A couple of sections will probably be a mud fest but it drains surprisingly well.

I don't need to add to what's been said about Llandegla recently – good fast fun but nothing technical (might be spot on for your mate though?)

Long Mynd/Stipertones is a great area and can be accessed from a start at Eastridge for more of an epic ride 🙂

One of many Eastridge/Stiperstones rides

Any other ideas? I also know the Mynd well so other ideas would be appriciated!

forest of dean?

[sarcasm]Great link 🙂 [/sarcasm]

They've been doing a lot of felling at Llandegla since summer. If you haven't been recently then bits of the Red look quite different without the trees. Also heard recently that bits of the Red have been washed away and there are diversions in place. Might be wise to ring first & see whats occurin.

I presume he means this:
http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=1664