Im away with work for the week and looking for some places to ride xc in or around Dartford. I’ve had a quick search which has turned up Dartford Heath, but the site says it might be tricky to find the jumps, and it probably isn’t upto much other than that xc wise?

Is there anywhere good within a 30 minute max drive for a couple of hours?

Did pop over to Cannock chase today on the way down which i enjoyed very much!

Bedgebury prob a bit further than 30mins, Cyclopark 15/20mins away

Joydens wood is about 10 min ride from the Heath bit of a warren but enough to keep you amused for a couple of hours.

Thanks. Where and what is the cyclopark? I will give joydens wood a try! Here all week so have a few nights free to try out a few places.

Cyclopark is near Gravesend, there’s a BMX track, road loop and a singletrack loop. It’s run by the council and is a great idea but it’s on the route of the old A2 so not much elevation change and it didn’t flow very well when I was there when it opened about a year ago. It may have improved since then.

If you are still there thursday night , i ll probably be out in joysden wood or local to dartford . A group of us normally go out .

Ride start at 7 at last till 9 max , so lightsvare needed .

Email in profile if you want to know more .

Farningham wood is good too .

If you are on Strava , have a quick look , plenty of trails marked .

Cheers may aswell give it a go, beats sitting in the hotel!

Cheers Chris im still here on Thursday but didn’t bring my lights with me. I haven’t got strava either. Will have a search for farningham wood though and go for a bimble one night 🙂

Is there anywhere good to eat around here? Food at the hotel is pretty poor :/

Which part you staying in? Normal selection in Dartford town centre, Indian, Chinese, Mexican etc.. Bluewater has a bit more variety.

Im staying tight near the crossing. In the car so can venture into the town. I did pass bluewater last time i was down so will head over there and see whats on offer. Thanks 🙂

follow the darenth valley path , will take you along several villages , including South dareth and Horton Kirby . you will arrive at a large pub called the Lion Hotel in Farnigham .

if you are staying at the Holiday Inn , Campanile , Hilton or the Travelodge, find the Asda warehouse in Crossways busness park , there is a path which goes along the Thames, underneath the QE2 bridge . not very far but enough . The pub in Crossways , the Wharf is ok for food .

Bluewater has lots of food choices –
Cyclopark is OK – the road cicuit is good fun, but as others have said, the XC loop doesn’t flow as well as it could.

If you want a good curry not far from your hotel, try this place –
http://www.thesaffronlounge.co.uk/
The surrounding area is a bit grim (I used to live there) but the food is great.

lesnes woods/abbey wood is good for a pedal round and only ten mins from you, you can park in woolwich road right outside the woods opposite erith and belvedere sports club. we had some short but sweet dh runs over there but most of the good ones have been fenced off by the ranger. it`s very rarely muddy there either so a good call when the weather is bad. you can link up some nice xc loops from swanley through canada heights mx track through to farningham woods past lullingstone castle and across the golf course 😆

Shame I’m tied up all week but there is scope for a decent ride or two using the Heath, Joydens, Farningham & a few bits in between but you do need to know where you’re going to get the best.

Cyclopark’s not great but you can trundle down from there to Shorne Country Park which has a loop that can be fun (if it’s dry) & then maybe across the A2 to Jeskyns, but that’s just a ‘family’ oriented gravel track.

Maybe Team Darenth have a few riders out this week? Could be worth an email.

Popped up to the heath this afternoon. Couldn’t find any of the jumps but its not bad for a couple of hours plodding about. Weather was great too 🙂

Bluewater was great. Massive place and dead quiet on an evening! Had a tasty wagamama’s to fill up after my ride.
Think ill be back there tomorrow to try the tapas place. Indian sounds good too so will have a look for Thursday night possibly.

Think i will try the cyclocross place tomorrow, wouldn’t mind giving the bmx track ago if they will let me on.
Will have a look on my maps and check out the oter areas mentioned. Thanks for the help!

Is there a bike shop around? Brought 3 spare tubes with me but picked up 2 punctures at cannock and another today 🙁
Bitterly disappointed with my new mountain kings!

Also if anyone has a postcode for cyclopark please could you post it i can’t seem to get on their website.

The tapas place is good but I really like Ed’s Diner.

OT cycles near Dartford town centre has been there forever.

Cyclopark is just off the A2 at Gravesend DA13 9RA according to google

DA11 7NP for cyclopark.
There’s not much in the way of bike shops in DF, there’s a place called cycle king in the centre that sells BSO’s or Halfords just off Prince’s rd. There’s an Evan’s just over the Bridge but that’ll put £4 on the price of the tubes for getting there and back. Or you can ride to the crossing HQ and the’ll put your bike on the back of a 4×4 and run you across for free. Can take a while.

I wish i didn’t bother eating at the hotel now. Eds diner did look good there’s so much choice though and only two more nights! Like the sound of wasabi, tapas, indo place and a couple of others i can’t remember the name of!

Thanks i will pop over after work and head over to cyclopark afterwards!

Da11 post code was according to trip advisor.

If it’s an old satnav, then when on the A2 and the satnav freaks out… you’re there. I think cyclopark is the bit between the new A2 and where the A2 used to go before it got re-routed a bit. Old sat nav probably tries to route you right thru the place.

we are riding thursday night near Blue water . meet at 7 . you should be ok without lights till at least 8 .

Ah found it on google maps. Thankd for the offer but its a bit late for me hoping to be finished and out riding by 3-4pm. Cheers anyway will look out for you when i head out for tea!

for Cyclopark go past Bluewater, past the exit for Ebbsfleet and take the next one signposted ‘Gravesend Central’ – then follow the brown ‘sport England’ (or whatever they are called) signs.

Make sure you ride to the top of the ‘mound’ no the MTB course – quite good views on a sunny evening.
Oh, and the Cafe at Cyclopark is pretty good.

Not too bad that cyclopark. Nice for practising on the bermy stuff but you’re right it doesn’t flow the best. Did have a go on the road route but got bored after a lap. The bmx pump track looks good but you need to have coaching before attempting that!

Back in bluewater scoffing down a Wahaco mexican. Yum!