I’m off down there on Sunday, are the hills a muddy mess? Is it worth me putting my mud tyres on?

If north Brum is anything to go by then the answers to both questions will be yes.

Mud tyres are never needed on the Malverns! It drains very well. You’ll get a bit splattered but that’ll be about it…

Brilliant, that saves me the effort of changing them. If I slide off and hit a tree it will be your door I come knocking on 😉

Malverns are about the oldest/hardest rock in the whole of Europe.

You DO NOT need mud tyres…

Good stuff. I have only been there once and that was ten years ago so can’t remember what it was like on the ground. Sounds like my High Roller/Larson combo should be fine.

Dont suppose anybody happens to have a GPX route with some good DHs by any chance?

There are one or two stretches of churned gloop, perhaps 10/20yds or so max each.
Not sufficient to warrant mud tyres IMO given that the balance is just surface slime over a good base.

I’m running Nics and Rons and perfectly fine

I_Ache – Member
Dont suppose anybody happens to have a GPX route with some good DHs by any chance?

I wouldn’t mind a GPX too. Everytime I’m go past the Malverns on the M5 I think to myself that I should take a look.

cheers_drive – Member

I_Ache – Member
Dont suppose anybody happens to have a GPX route with some good DHs by any chance?

I wouldn’t mind a GPX too. Everytime I’m go past the Malverns on the M5 I think to myself that I should take a look.

+1

Bump for the morning crowd. Any good GPX routes?

Have a look on Back-On-Track for an idea of routes, there is also a couple/three routes in the Trail Guide section at the top of this page.

Rons and ignitors on the SS for me at the moment.

Some splatter, rarely if ever any gloop.

Alex of this ‘ere Parish, took WhatMTB on what Id call a pretty definitive, legal, 20km trip around the hills in their Feb 2012 issue.

It would be a bit unsporting to scan the article and host but it appears that the route is hosted by Garmin for free:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/141861624

That looks great Stoner. I don’t have a Garmin but I have been able to find the same route elsewhere. Looks like a winner for Sunday. If anybody sees me on my blue BFe say hello.

Looks like a winner for Sunday

Bring a snorkel
http://www.yr.no/place/United_Kingdom/England/malvern/long.html

I usually dont head out until at least 6pm, so might miss you. But if It’s pouring with rain I might go out earlier as there wont be any trippers around…

If the weather’s that bad, you’ll get the hills to yourself. 😀

We will be down there at about 9:30. As jimster says with the weather as bad as that there wont be many red socks about. I might wear my goggles so I can still see well enough to drive home.

weather’s clearing a bit here, so off out up the hill now. I reckon the bar at British Camp should be empty this lunchtime…

Bar? You mean the hut or the pub?

Be the Malvern Hills Hotel, the do Black Pear there. 😀

yip.
But I like their HPA, best kept pint this side of the county IMO.
And the bar wasnt empty – full of “car trippers”, but only a couple of walkers out.

It’s wet out there. Not that muddy, but bit slippy on top in places. Need to sit down on a few climbs if you want traction.

I normally sit down on the climbs. That or walk them. 😀

I normally sit down on the climbs

With MY knees? Not a chance 🙂

Dont you ride ss tho? I cant ride ss, my fitness isnt good enough for my style of riding.

*hands up in shame*

I do 😳

It’s still nice out there, regardless of the weather. It’s not like the chilterns which can be soul destroying in bad weather.

Have a good time on Sunday.
need any pub tips for stops/lunch?

I think we are going to stop off at the kiosk at British Camp for a bit of (damp) cake and then maybe a pint. Thats probably the best option, isnt it?

Looking forward to the ride should be good a world of pain because of the weather.

Where are you starting from/parking?

The start point on that route. The Wyche Rd West Malvern Rd junction. There is a small car park there that should be empty at 9am.

aha.

The Wyche pub isn’t the finest hostelry in the county. Some of the beer’s are all right. Definitely squeeze a pint of HPA in at the Hills Hotel if you can.

I take it that HPA stand for Heriford Pale Ale? I love a bit of IPA so HPA sounds right up my street. Might even park at the British Camp car park and fit the beer in after changing into dry clothes.

good call.

Just looking at the Wye Brewery website and I know I have had at least a couple of their beers. Might order a case if I enjoy the HPA.

It looks foul out there at the moment.
I went out last night and the wind had dried some of the trails a bit but there was plenty of wet bits.

my weather station is saying we’ve had half an inch of rain so far this morning.

Hope the weather doesnt spoil it too much for you I_Ache 🙂

The wind should be interesting if you make it up to the top of the Worcester Beacon today. Can see the hills from my bedroom window, and the weather is properly foul here today.

Pretty wild earlier. Too much for me to venture out with a real risk of getting blown off on the ridge i’d have thought. It was bad enough on the road bike yesterday.

Starting to calm down a bit now… Relatively anyway.
OP if you’ve not been blown to Evesham there’s good ale at brewers arms down the west Malvern end.

We managed about 4 miles before deciding it was too dangerous to continue, we nearly got blown off the ridge line.

Should have guessed the day wasn’t for us when we were putting the bikes together. My front wheel was lent up against the car like I normally do when a gust of wind caught it and it started rolling down the car park. It missed everything bounced over the kerb and continued to roll on the road down the hill. I’m lucky something didnt hit it before I caught up with it.

There were some guys at the car park, they were rangers or something. A woman told us they were mountain rescue but that seemed unlikely to me. They told us that the winds at the top were well over 60mph. I can believe them, my helmet actually got lifted off my head at one point.

I will be back to do that route the bits we managed felt good. Next time will be with somebody who isn’t dead set on riding there no matter what the weather is like.

fair play 🙂
It’s that grim Ive even lit the fire 🙁

over 3/4″ of rain so far today.

We dont have a mountain rescue as such, but the local fire service have a recovery team with an argocat. Green vans or white pick-ups would have been Conservators.

I was up there several weeks back when the weather was similarly appalling (although not this bad). I stopped at the top of the Beacon and lifted my bike to turn it around. The wind nearly pulled it out of my hands! Hope you get a good ride up there soon, you were probably wise to cut it short.

One of the chaps had recovery on his jacket. He was asking for our planned route just in case and was giving us tips on how to make a shelter using our bikes as a frame. I think we were wise to cut it short better a missed ride than the worst outcome.

hmm, maybe it was one of the “didnt get in to the army so going to dress up anyway” ATBRUSAR lot.
http://atbrusar.org/