Afternoon,

I’ve recently moved to Leamington Spa, and although the road riding is pretty good round here, I’m struggling for decent mtb trails. Cannock isn’t too far but is a 1hr15 drive, and I’ve done a few bridleways nearby but they’re not the most exciting. The Chilterns are doable but agin, I’m looking for something a little closer to home. I used to live in south east Manchester so was a little spoiled for decent hills straight out the door.

Does anyone have any other recommendations for places to ride. Is anybody else on here from nearby?

Thanks,
Ed

http://www.bikeadventuresuk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3564

I’d seen that site a few weeks ago after some Googling, thanks though. I was still struggling to get any decent info from it, without much local knowledge.

The Wyre forest has some great riding but it’s still 45 miles from you though.

Most of my riding is the other side of Brum to you.

I work between Warwick and Lem so will keep my eyes on this thread 🙂 I passed Hay Wood the other night on the way home, apparently that has a few bits and bobs in it?

Hay Wood

It’s proper crap round there, that’s why I moved. Malverns should be added to your list of ‘places you might only be an hour away from’. Think there are some limited bits around the Clent and Licky Hills. Peaks is prob hour and a half, but then so is Shropshire, Cotswolds and Bristol.

Get used to driving more than riding.

Maxray, do you know if there are any public ROW in Hay Wood?

Edit: There’s one bridleway through the middle.

I do loads of riding around South Birmingham. Its all bridal way and nothing gnarly, Long Mynd is good. Got a mate I ride with who lives just outside Lem. We have done some bridal way routes round there before. Get the OS map for the area and look for the dashed green lines, or have a look at Get A Map, the OS on-line service.

I live very close to Hay Wood and yes there is the single bridleway through the middle. However if you aren’t adverse to a little cheeky then you can cobble together a half reasonable singletrack loop. More fun on a cross bike than an MTB and stay away if its been raining recently as it turns into a soggy mess real quick in there.

You’ve got a 4x track & dirt jumps

There is loads around Leamington and Coventry, if you know where.
Drop me an e mail and I’ll show you how 😀

I live in Leam. Its not the greatest riding on the doorstep, but you do have the benefit of being in the middle so most stuff around the country is within reach.

That said, there are some ok loops around the local area linking up bridleways, unclassified roads and canals.
Its all about getting out with an OS map and seeing whats what. To nbe fair, i don’t do as much xc around here as I used to. Muddy field edges can be a problem in the winter but I ride a lot of 4x, pump tracks and even skatepark sometimes.

Its not all hopeless around here for sure.

Look up The Bikeyard in Leamington. They do regular evening rides and would be a good starting point I’m sure. Also Godiva club in Cov.

flatwarwick and bernaard are right, lots of stuff, but mostly tame cheeky stuff intersperced with urban, i used to do 20mile loop from the centre of warwick using bridlepaths, a bit of cheeky and the canal, add the stuff around leamington and it’d be about 30.

riding the canal, the greenway and disused railway you can get to long itchington(great when the beer fest is on in May)and over to Draycott Water without ever hitting tarmac, there and back must be close to 40 miles, nothing technical but it’s all riding and there’s plenty of bridleways to explore over there

if canals is your thing you can pretty much get anywhere from Lemmers, i ride Bromsgrove to warwick, then road to stratford then the other greenway to bidford then Bromsgrove for a nice 60-70 miler in the summer when the towpaths are not a mudfest

there is of course always campion hills in Lemmers

5,4,3,2,1…GO!! by rOcKeTdOgUk, on Flickr

takes about an hour to wyre forest from you but well worth it if someone with “the knowledge” shows you round

We’re riding the Wyre on Bank holiday Monday but don’t know what time yet. Hopefully it’ll be a bit dryer/warmer by then. Maybe.

MrTall – Member

We’re riding the Wyre on Bank holiday Monday but don’t know what time yet. Hopefully it’ll be a bit dryer/warmer by then. Maybe.

hoping to be there myself at some point

It was great last Wednesday, dry and dusty.

Have a feeling Monday won’t quite be the same….. 🙁

I’ll let you know what time we’re going over.

last week was sweet (even too dusty in places 😯 ) at least that dust will have been damped down now, tempted to take the Racing Ralph off though

Random thread bump, but has anyone in Leam ever had a problem with the bridleway that leads to Hunningham? Mr Toast was accosted by the police over the weekend because the landowner had reported that he’d been riding across the field – he pointed out that he’d been riding along the bridleway. The policeman said, “Oh, really?”, then drew out an OS map… which confirmed t’husband’s story, as he pointed out the bridleway on it. :s

Just wondered if there were any known issues with the farmer not liking cyclists on the bridleway?

When you say Hunningham, could you mean Via Offchurch? (they are next to each other)
The route from Newbold Comyn park in Leamington to Offchurch is a bit renowned for problems with the landowner. In fact I remember a thread about it on here some time ago. They’ve done a bit of work in there to make the footpath more obvious but the landowner is a bit militant about it, it would seem.

There is a Bridleway which leads from Offchurch towards Hunningham and I always found the entrance to it a little confusing so perhaps the landowner there has had a few stray bikers…

Incidentally, its changed a bit since that photo Rocketdog. The first straight is all doubles now, pretty hard ones to clear too. Shame in a way as its less accessible for less experienced riders as its kind of Huck or die now….

The route from Newbold Comyn park in Leamington to Offchurch is a bit renowned for problems with the landowner.

Somewhere that direction. He didn’t call the police to chase me down, apparently they were already at the farm for some other business. Given they had an OS map to hand I’m assuming it was another land owner issue. Bit silly really, the policeman did apologise and tell me he wasn’t going to tell me not ride there.

I’ll just go a different route next time, I was trying to find a route from my house to the Ryton Pools loop. 🙂 Certainly not much proper mountain biking about, there’s some nice little country lanes about though.

Back on the original topic, the Thursday evening RLS XC rides sound interesting:

http://thebikeyard.net/content/events-club-rides

Rather tragically I live a stones throw from this and have never made the effort to tag along. I know the routes they go along though vaguely.