Looking for a bit of help from the cycling parents out there. My eldest has been able to ride all the blue at Glentress excluding the climb up to the Buzzards Nest and all the blue at Whinlatter, my youngest has riden burm baby burm and the decent from the buzzards next to the cafe at Glentress but struggled on the first section of the blue at Whinlatter because the stones used for the trail are a little larger so he couldn’t role as well. Both have riden the greens and green skills area at Glentress, eldest has ridden the easier bits of the skills park.

What are your recomendations for trail centres with blues / greens that would be rideable, or have easily accessed sections that would be rideable for the boys?

Thanks for the help.

If you are in Central Scotland, the Callander Trails @ Falkirk would be superb for them. Red would be too steep but Blue and Green are ideal for this level.

Bit more of a journey, but the blue at Llandegla is a really good ride for the little ones…

Thanks both, don’t mind about the distance as we may end up on a bit of a road trip this Summer.

Thanks both, don’t mind about the distance as we may end up on a bit of a road trip this Summer.

Take in a little of Brechfa as well, then! Tie it up with seeing some castles and all the beauty of Wales while you’re at it!

second the blue and the green at Brechfa.

Brechfa’s good, as are the trails in Brizzle.

What are the blue trails at Kielder like?

Whinlatter, great for the grown ups too!

Whinlatter blue is great. My eight year old loved it.

What are the blue trails at Kielder like?

Sandy!

Dalby has some great family stuff

I’m surprised by your comments on Whinlatter Blue. My nephew did this recently on a wooden push along balance bike and he’s 3 years old. The only problem was fatigue near the end. It’s such a great route too, I’d stick with it. The south loop of the red isn’t much harder really.

Otherwise, Sherwood Pines has Green, very easy blue and very do-able red routes – my nine year old manages the red route just fine and is very new to all this.
Dalby has similar but the red gets far more tricky.
Avoid Gisburn IMHO.

Do you lead from the front or follow behind your children?
I was following behind and being probably too over the top with the amount of verbal encouragement and praise I was giving. Whinlatter blue took about an hour and ten minutes. I now lead from the front and have cut way back on the amount of talking/praising I do . We did it in 50 minutes last time round and he enjoyed it much more.

Hope some of that helps.

Re Whinlatter, I think he would have stood a better chance on a balance bike; with sixteen inch wheels he was getting kicked around a bit when he got any speed up and his inclination was to try to ‘balance bike’ it.

In terms of leading, with our eldest it’s usually Mum who rides and I think she rides from the front. When I do I ride behind but I’m not that verbal. When our youngest rides I again ride behind quietly if it’s mainly down hill, or if its undulating I’ll often run so I can give a handy push on any longer ups.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far folks.

Why avoid Gisburn? My wife has riden the red / black there a number of times and loved it, but hasn’t done any of the blue which we assumed, given the quality of the other trails, might be an idea.

Blue and the red overlap for a short while at Gisburn. I’ve seen kids on it they seem to love it, see no reason to avoid.

Ah. I guess he’ll be on a 20 inch bike pretty soon and should find things a lot easier.

Thinking about it further, the main thing I find myself repeating is ‘Stand Up’ as my boy tends to sit down too much on descents. As you say, he ends up balance biking it unless I get him standing on the pedals first.

I’m going to have to go back to Gisburn soon. Only been once – weather was great but the trails seemed disjointed and particularly tricky. My son really struggled and, if I’m honest, so did I. We’d done Whinlatter the day before and wished we’d gone back there instead.
Most black runs are well beyond my skill level (maybe fear level) at the moment. Many of the sections at Gisburn seemed more black than red to me! Same thing at Lee Quarry. I’m getting better but I have to pick and choose what I will and won’t attempt.

Hicks Lodge in Moira (Leicestershire) is a nice little trail centre with a blue route!

Kielder blue doesn’t have anything too tricky in it from memory – mostly smooth singletrack and fireroad climbs. GPS file etc here

Since you don’t say where you are, Swinley has loads that would be suitable for both – and no big hills to push up.