[Closed] Longleat riding

Through the lion enclosure..
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Or if you have to take the kids use the tag along..

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I didnt bother when i went. All the reports of theft put me off...

LOL.. you'd have to be a pretty stupid thief to favour my bike over one of their hire fleet..

I was slightly concerned about theft and didn't take a bike the first time that we went, but I personally think I was being way over cautious and we spent the week wishing we'd taken bikes.. plus it's out of season and the bikes we're taking are gash 😀

Ah ok we just hired and basically trundled around the centre and the outskirts didnt find anything interesting but then the wife isnt keen. Have you thought about looking for segments on strava that usually points you in the right direction

aaaaah, that's a cracking idea!

cheers 😀

You have to be a premium user to download others gpx, I think you can download routes for free on garmin connect but it's no where near as good as strava for finding stuff

Most of the singletrack can be found in bucklers wood, just to north of centre parcs site. Follow the path along the exit road and then turn right down through wood to next road called the redway, bucklers is the other side of this road (and shown on strava explore 😉
lots of tracks on the south side of redway to shearwater lake. then follow path to nockatt coppice car park for views from heavens gate into longleat.

cheers nicksee - good info 🙂

have fun exploring! I would offer to guide, allthough could be at the weekend only?!

There is loads of riding there ...try and hook up with The Black Cannon lot who ride on a Tuesday evening

when you going ???? I could prob get out there for an evening to show you around.

I've sent the Black Cannon a message to ask if I can tag along..
We're heading up there tomorrow

Is that any good..? I was thinking at the moment that I may just follow nicksee's directions and have a mooch about..

To be honest I'd just have a mooch about you find plenty
I may be heading over there Thursday evening....I'll post up here where and when

Nicksee/ Black Cannon/ etc....

Is riding reasonably well tolerated around there or is it a bit of a sensitive area? There aren't too many bridleways but lots of nice looking singletrack from what I remember of the area. Living in the Bristol area I have a hankering for nice wooded singletrack and the cluster of woodland around Warminster looks very tempting for an explore...

nice one Singlecrack 😀

DanW, riding is tolerated quite well. The black canon have an area which they can build in with agreement with the longleat estate (which you have to be a member to ride or be shown round by a member). The rest of the woods is non official with lots of singletrack. Cant think of a trail that has been destroyed by the estate, apart from logging!

here I am mincing around,

EDIT, there was an issue a couple of years ago when some people built some dirt jumps on an old fort which is an SSSI in the woods on the frome side of longleat. but that was obviously just stupid and once found out was not accepted well by the estate or the authorities. thankfully this didn't affect other riding around the estate.

Hi yunki, you have mail

There was a rather larger issue in Feb '12 when the estate shut established routes - Sustrans and Wilts Cycleway. I assumed that was the end for BCC. I don't know if / how that might have been resolved. Can anyone comment please?

I think it was down to the estate manager....who has since been suspended I believe.......not sure whats happening now 😐

Think they may relaxed a bit in stopping people cycling through, not sure about the estate manager being suspended. I have ridden through a number of times recently, straight past the ticket booths & around the house/train/maze area on my way back to Frome without being stopped. This includes pedalling up the hill with numerous site vehicles passing me. I may have got lucky?!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-24296329

Sustrans routes are open, you'd have to speak to sustrans for the full info, but I believe they quickly renegotiated the reopening of the routes after a misunderstanding (ie heavyhandedness from an individual)

Did anyone say 'Sorry'?

*He asked, innocently*

Thanks for the access info nicksee. The only reason I ask is that my parents were walking the dog somewhere around Longleat/ Shearwater and got told they would be escorted off the estate 😯 I'm not sure exactly where they were walking but as far as I remember it was along a road well away from the main estate and it was the fact there was a dog that caused an issue. Don't know the details but wouldn't want to go around pissing people off if the majority of trails were sensitive cheeky trails. Sounds like the BCC have a good set up and the videos look good, thanks for that. If I had a car I'd be very much up for the odd night ride.

Dan, apart from the black canon allotment all the other trails are not within the area that you need to pay to get in. Public access everywhere else with many bridalways/footpaths & trails. Plenty of dog walkers around shearwater & bucklers today as per normal. Don't think they are keen on dogs 'in' longleat because of safari park, so may have been an issue if near that part of the estate.

Thanks for all the replies folks..
Captainbastard, I've emailed you cheers 🙂

We went for the day on sat and we left my BFe and anthem locked outside the pool next to a Gary fisher with fox 36's. Happy to report they weren't thiefied but possibly the most overbiked ever 😆
Ps don't forget to turn your strava off though I got 30 KOM's on the drive to Devon after... 😳

Last time I went, found some cheeky stuff with a few jumps not far behind the car park. Look for the gap in perimeter fence opposite entrance hut and follow the perimiter track round until you hit fire roads.

Thanks for all the advice and offers of guides etc.. Sorry to anyone that emailed that I didn't respond to as opportunities to find wi-fi access were thin on the ground up there.. Sorry for not getting in contact Cpt Bastard.. I forgot to write your number down.

Anyway.. My embarrassingly useless admin skills aside, I did manage a few late evening miles on Tuesday after the kids were in bed, but I was acutely aware of the likelihood that I might become lost so I didn't try anything too adventurous on the exploration front..
I'm not the most relaxed night rider at the best of times, but you locals must have some hefty cojones, as riding around the woodland in the area, at full moon, in such close proximity to lions, wolves and tigers gave me the willies..