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  • Macclesfield Forest or Conwy Mountain ?
  • excitable1
    Free Member

    I haven’t ventured to any of these spots before and I’m heading out first thing tomorrow to one or the other but can’t decide which.

    Any opinions….. ?

    (PS Both will be totally messed up with today’s & tomorrow’s weather so that’s not going to sway it one way or the other)

    sambob
    Free Member

    Macc forest is fairly weather proof and sheltered, so might be a safer bet than Conwy mountain.

    Esme
    Free Member

    Depends where you live really, but Macc Forest certainly has some good rocky descents eg Charity Lane, Cumberland Clough

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    RustySpanner
    Full Member

    Conwy Mountain every time!

    They’re not called Forest Bikes now are they? 🙂

    plecostomus
    Free Member

    conwy mountain (biased as im local) and the riding up there is top notch, although for tomorrow it will be wet and windy, and as its so exposed it wont be too much fun i work in betws and its horrible here at the moment. next time give me a heads up and ill show you the good stuff! and the same goes for the whole of the conwy valleys finest hidden singletrack.

    Junkyard
    Free Member

    ridden them both and only once each
    Suspect macc will be more sheltered and less damaged as there are more rocky paths/routes and suitable paths..Conwy [ Drum] was grass so i assume a messy bog fest tbh

    Conwy is nicer but I would assume awful in this weather – it was summer when i did it so not sure how it copes with rain but badly would be my guess

    JImmAwelon
    Free Member

    Conwy Mtn (247m) is very quaggy at the moment but I seriously doubt you just intended that for a day trip. The rest of the trails to the west of it to Llanfairfechan are grassy muddy slop at present too – Ffridd Wanc certainly is that!
    If you meant Drum (770m) and/or the Roman Road over Bwlch Ddeufaen (430m) then it is pretty much all rocky landrover doubletrack if you hit it from above Aber or from the Conwy Valley side above Rowen. There will be plenty of standing water though and there will be no protection from the elements.

    I have only been in Macc Forest once but other posts suggest weatherproofness.

    tazzymtb
    Full Member

    In the current weather I’d go for Macc

    excitable1
    Free Member

    Looks like Macc then…

    next time give me a heads up and ill show you the good stuff! and the same goes for the whole of the conwy valleys finest hidden singletrack.

    Plecostomus – I’ll take you up on this. I’m only an hour away (hour away from Macc’ too. I was going to just link up some of the Good Mountain Biking Guide trails and OS routes.

    Bunnyhop
    Full Member

    Having ridden both, I would go for Macc forest. There’s plenty around that area you keep you happy for a day.

    gonetothehills
    Free Member

    excitable1: Get yer OS map out – hope the following helps…

    Park by Ridgegate reservoir just round from the Leather’s Smithy pub. Head back to the pub and sharp right up the blue signposted road. Fork off left through the metal gate onto the Forest Bridleway. Stay on that track all the way up (leaving the ramshackle cottage to your left) ’til you exit the forest at another gate. Turn right up the very steep road until you get to the top, taking the right hand track up the edge of the forest – the start of the off road section of Charity Lane. Climb to the top and plummet down the other side. It’ll turn into tarmac / river as you get to Forest Chapel, at which point you stop and readjust yourself, turn left, past the church and take the right hand track down Oven Lane.

    Steady as you go – once you’re off the grass / earth landrover track, you’ll be on very loose, steep stones. At the blind corner at the bottom, you’re close to exiting onto the road, so take it easy there. You’ve got two options here – longer route taking in the Cat & Fiddle and the fantastic Cumberland Brook descent, or a short route around the forest if you’re already soaked to the skin.

    If you take the longer route, exit left onto the road, turn left at the first T junction and then turn right at the next T junction and head up the long climb of the old road (passing the Stanley Arms pub at the bottom). You’ll eventually come out on the main Cat & Fiddle road turning right at the junction to continue the climb to the pub at the top.

    Dead opposite the pub is Danebower Hollow bridleway across the moors – take that all the way, through a gate at the summit and a really nice fast descent to the A54 Congleton > Buxton road. Turn right here – Three Shires Head is below you on your left with lots of fun tracks around there – and follow the main road for half a mile or so. Look out for a ‘no motor vehicles’ sign (not that they pay any attention to it) on your right and take the path through the 5 bar wooden gate. This is the start of Cumberland Brook. It’s grassy / mud landrover track to start, then a rock garden with some nice little drops. You’ll hit the halfway point at the waterfall – which will be running big time given the rain we’ve had the last few days here. Stop for a breather once you’ve crossed this at the gate, as you double back on yourself, with the brook below you to your left.

    It gets interesting now, as you head straight down the track – very rocky and rooty and it’ll be soaking wet. Go through another 5 bar gate, down through the field, over the ford (or the bridge if you’re a pussy) and down the sandy track to the gate, turning right on the road. Go all the way along the valley on the road, looking for a very steep road up on your left. Get in your granny ring and spin to the top. Ahem.

    If you’d opted for the short route, you’d have turned right at the bottom of Oven Lane, following the road all the way to Standing Stone (car park on your right). On the longer route, you’ll get to Standing Stone as you crest this hill. At the T-junction of roads at the summit, look for a gate on your left (if you’ve climbed the hill) or straight ahead if you’ve done the shorter option. You’ll now be on a white doublewidth track that you follow down, past another cottage, then immediately up, round to the right, up and down through the forest.

    At one point you’ll be aware of being close to the edge of the forest (on your left) with a footpath exiting the woodland to walk across the moors to Shutlingsloe. As you descend away from this, look out for some recent felling and you need to be looking for a track steeply up to your left. If you get to a gate across the track, you’ve gone to far. The little climb is hard going – up and around and around – granny ring, nose to bars job. Stop at the top and look back, but the best views are a little further on – there’s an open area of grass that has two benches on it – have a breather there. You should be able to see your car if it’s not been nicked.

    Get back on the track, and take the bike route that goes off to the right (as opposed to the horse track). It’s sort of singletracky and whilst it takes you into the forest again, it’s preferable to head over a right hand berm (you’ll see the tyre tracks) and get back onto the main forest bridleway. It’s a nice wide fast run down to the bottom and you’ll come out at an open stony bit with a metal gate across and a squeeze through to the left of it. Turn left on the road (you’re at the level of the reservoir now) and at the 90deg left, go straight on through another squeeze and follow the track down to the dam, around the back of the second dam and back to the Leather’s Smithy.

    The longer route is about 1.30 – 2hrs, the shorter route is about an hour. Dropping into Three Shires, taking in Gradbach or even looping around the Goyt via Derbyshire Bridge, Buxton and the like can extend it up to 3 – 4 hours if you want. Hope it helps – and have fun in the rain!

    M6TTF
    Free Member

    Great write up there gonetothehills – my local loop that – good to add 3shires on to that via the chimneystack too 😉

    gonetothehills
    Free Member

    Thanks! Yeah; there are loads of possibilites once you’re up that way, M6TTF. 3 Shires is great fun whichever way you go in / out. I’m guessing much further on from 3 shires will be getting very muddy at the moment – into Gradbach?

    I can do that loop above from the door – heading up to Charity on the road via Walker Barn. It was running a river on Wednesday afternoon when I went up there, but great fun all the same. Given we’ve had about 48 hours of constant rain since, a canoe is probably the best bet at the moment. 😕

    M6TTF
    Free Member

    Luds church and gradbach via the side of the roaches will be proper boggy now – the loop you wrote up is pretty rideable all year round, but with the amount of rain we’re having they’ll be loads of standing water, Cumberland brook will be certainly living up to its name!

    proutster
    Free Member

    I was in Macc Forest this morning and it’s wet but perfectly rideable – I did the short route as detailed above but with a cheeky detour halfway down Charity Lane that takes you back to the ruined house.

    I normally only do this detour at night (very little chance of walkers then) but as it was raining today I figured there wouldn’t be many red-socks about. Only met one group just before the first set of steps and they were fine – a cheery hello and thanks seemed to do the trick.

    The only problem with this route is you then have to do the climb back up to the top of Charity Lane again!

    After the steep switch-back hill I then prefer the route back through the forest but watch out, there’s a tree down across the trail just where the downhill run crosses. I had to carry the bike over the tree.

    Good fun and I’m lucky because it’s only 20 mins from home.

    gonetothehills
    Free Member

    Luds church will be a peat bog! Have you found the bridleway singletrack descent from the tip of the Roaches into a horrendously boggy valley? It’s obvious on the map, and you can build it into a route that takes in Gradback on the way out and the lama farm with the waterfall (the pic from the old guide book) and back into 3 shires. It’s a lovely bit of singletrack that almost completely justifies the boggy exit of the valley! Worth a look in the summer…

    Proutster.. that cheeky detour is defo a night time only jobbie! 8) I took my parents for a great walk around that side of the forest on Christmas Eve, including the section along there – amazing colours (pic c/o gtth’s mum):

    Vortexracing
    Full Member

    Conwy mountain I rekon

    Why miss out on views like this


    P1020951 by eastham_david, on Flickr

    or this


    P1030727 by eastham_david, on Flickr

    got a couple of GPX’s if you want

    M6TTF
    Free Member

    Ahh the cheeky detour, known to us as narnia when it’s all snowy!

    gonetothehills
    Free Member

    Looks very nice, vortexracing – a cracking part of the world.

    It’s not so bad* round Macc either though… 😉 You’ll find all of these on the longer of the routes above.

    * Weather conditions may vary to when photos were taken. Bluebells may not actually be out tomorrow. And nor will the sun.

    carlos
    Free Member

    GTTH’s – Proper write up that, good little evening route too from the door.
    I like the climb out of Langley up Holehouse Lane, Teggs Reservoir, Stoney Path and tarmac up to Charity Lane, its a longer route up but a good lungbuster/leg warmer to kick off with.

    excitable1
    Free Member

    In between cooking dinner for a load of freeloaders, sorry relatives… thanks for the route gonetothehills, that’s the route I pretty much settled on from a few guides and the OS. I’ll definitely go for the longer route. The longer I can get out and get away from this cabin feever of freeloaders , sorry relatives the better.

    Don’t know why I’ve not ridden Macc’ forest before, I’ve done the rest of the Peaks to death. I think it’s because it’s a little bit too close to the shop front aka work.

    sambob
    Free Member

    When you going out excitable1?

    excitable1
    Free Member

    Tomorrow am…early

    gonetothehills
    Free Member

    You’ll have fun – that’s the time to be there. Escape your freeloaders delightful houseguests and enjoy what’s on your doorstep. 🙂

    Cheers Carlos. That’s a good way up too – and in reverse is a good option to extend the route if you go halfway back up the main track, then cut left on the recently bike permitted path at the cottage, down the stony track, then under Tegg’s, through the splash and behind the reservoir. Perfect if you’ve ridden from the door too, as you don’t have to crawl back up to the car!

    carlos
    Free Member

    GTTH’s – Recently bike permitted track???? Aren’t they all bike permitted when its dark, lol. Serious though, yeah do that one too.

    gonetothehills
    Free Member

    Carlos – lol! That’s the daft thing isn’t it? They’re actively felling and making a right old mess – and some massive new logging tracks (but then it is their tree factory, I suppose) and we’re all goodytwoshoes about sticking to the permitted tracks! The track from the cottage to Hacked Way Lane changed status a year or so ago, I think, but they didn’t surface it! It’s fine in August for about a fortnight, but the rest of the time it’s a quagmire. By all means ride that, they say, but not the perfectly surfaced, superbly drained Narnia bit alluded to above. Daft.

    sambob
    Free Member

    Can’t believe I’ve never ridden Macc forest despite only being about 20 minutes away. I’ll be on Wednesday afternoons after easter though.

    proutster
    Free Member

    M6TTF
    Ahh the cheeky detour, known to us as narnia

    That’s it 😀 Narnia it is from now onwards!

    gb1m
    Free Member

    There’s lots more sneeky single track hidding in macc forest and teggs nose. Some trail pixies have put in some nice jumps/drops over drystone walls to make it interesting as well 😀

    gonetothehills
    Free Member

    gb1m – Member
    There’s lots more sneeky single track hidding in macc forest and teggs nose. Some trail pixies have put in some nice jumps/drops over drystone walls to make it interesting as well

    Tegg’s Nose? Nothing to see there – move along now 🙂

    A little birdie told me (who must have been talking to a pixie) that there’s a couple of new lines appeared in the forest. The pics I’ve seen look most interesting…

    excitable1
    Free Member

    Is there not a cheeky descent off Teggs nose ?

    Walked it a few times… smacked me as quite a good one to try but I know it’s popular with the walkers !

    Oops…Should have refreshed the post first. Consider Teggs Nose checked out. Report to follow !

    gb1m
    Free Member

    yep the best in the area IMO . Sometimes I climb back up and do it again, but its one for doing in the evening as there’s plenty of snotty walkers.

    M6TTF
    Free Member

    Teggs nose descent is great, drops off the back and down to the reservoir, quite steep in places. Early doors or late on essential. There’s also some good cheeky trails going in in the forest as mentioned above – one has a couple of gap jumps in succession with no chicken run, bring you out at the bottom of the other great cheeky decent from standing stone.

    tazzymtb
    Full Member

    Gonetothehills- that’s our usual little singlespeed bimble ace for a quick blast ( have seen M6TTF on the easy winch up from the leather smithy to the start of charity lane before now as well)

    Diane
    Free Member

    But then there’s the wallabys. On the other hand ahhh Conwy – never ridden either. Both stunning locations though 😉

    sambob
    Free Member

    There’s what looks like a great descent from the Southern viewpoint next to the quarry, walked up it and really want to ride it. Will wait until it’s dry and quiet though.

    excitable1
    Free Member

    Route as settled as much as it’s going to be. Pretty much as Goingtothehills has suggested but starting early on Teggs Nose to try some cheekyness, then maybe some more diversions as suggested as I go round.

    Just looking forward to getting piss wet through but away from the house and the faff that is Christmas and New Year with the relations !

    Elfinsafety
    Free Member

    jolly well have not bin to Macc, but in good weather, the area round Conwy is absolutely stunning. S’one of me favouritest places in England Britain, innit? 😀

    Had one of me best rides ever up there this summer, with SueW and Kevevs off here. Bloody marvellous.

    M6TTF
    Free Member

    tazzymtb – Member
    Gonetothehills- that’s our usual little singlespeed bimble ace for a quick blast ( have seen M6TTF on the easy winch up from the leather smithy to the start of charity lane before now

    Indeed – the road climb up to the start of charity is a reet thigh buster on a singlespeed, tried it once and that was enough lol.

    For descent off Teggs nose you need to go over the style with no bikes sign, it starts as a fast grassy bank then goes into a worn singletrack – have fun

    oscillatewildly
    Free Member

    Great thread this nice little read!

    Lots of cheeky stuff to be done at Macc, really have to explore to find alot of it, theresalot more than mentioned here and some nt that far away at all….again very cheeky stuff you probably would get an earful in the day!

    The cheeky teggs nose descent is a cracker, nice slog of a road climb to get to but a brill tech descent back down!

    I’ve not yet done the cheeky stuff in the forest though would love to try it if somebody can point e in the right direction, I know the area very well so should understand where a bouts you mean….I have been told in a brief conversation from shop but it was avwhile back now……not surevwhere the cheeky stuff off standing stone car park is? Narnia is a cracking little descent or climb whichever way you do it and as above its really well surfaced yet the bit they have now made a Bw next to the White hut is awful for most of the year and just getting beaten up even more th mind boggles!

    Any info appreciated for the cheeky stuff in the forest would be appreciated can speak in email if willing to discuss further?

    Ohhh also roaches has anyonevdone the descent from start of roaches into the woods at gradbach? All cheeky again I’ve done all the others but not that one that brings you directly into the woods? The ridges over the top are great, but as said above it’s boggy and a slog in winter stunning in summer though, mostly all very cheeky though!

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