whinlatter forest

wayhey went here on saturday for the first time ever, and oh my god it was AWSOME…. so much better than Dalby…i have to say…
i like the way they split up the routes (north and south) .. so we did the north loop first, how cool was that, some exhilerating decents, then had lunch and completed the ‘south loop’ and the ‘blue route’… what a day (even if it was red hot)… and good god what exposure when decending (i darent take my eyes off the track for 1 second…….. got back all in one piece too (bonus)
i will be defo going back !!!!

I have to agree with you on that one. Went up a few weeks ago and it was superb.
Glad you enjoyed it. I’m hoping to get back there soon.

Rode the South twice and North once yesterday on the way back from Glentress. Good little trails with absolutely stunning views. They are quite short (45 mins each) and there was more fire road climbing than I would have liked but that’s nit picking. The series of jumps of the North descent were amazing; I bottomed out my bike for the first on the 3rd and decided I needed to calm down. It’s good practice for switchback climbing there was one on the South route which I you must need to use trails skills on to clear.
Nice chilled out feel to the centre too.

Yeah they have done a really good job with it I think. Took some noobs up there on saturday and they loved it.

The blue route is well worth doing too with some good berms and optional jumps/drops/rock gardens.

The views from the top of the south loop are superb.

I was expecting my mate to do that boardwalk like you did cheers_ , but he dropped it instead

The fourth time, which I didn’t film, he crashed down the hill 😆

Really enjoyed it myself, the blue is a great warm up loop.

However, better than Dalby? Think it has some way to go IMO, but its not far off!

So its only me that wasn’t particularly impressed with Whinlatter? I found it fairly uninspiring for some reason. I suspect I am feeling that way about most trail centres though – same old predictable stuff with little to challenge. What a grumpy old bastid I am…

Maybe I should go back and try Whinlatter again sometime to see if my opinion changes…

Depends what you are into I suppose. Personally I find Whinlatter a good contrast to the rocky natural stuff in the Lakes, with all the jumps/berms etc – think the challenge is in nailing all that stuff at speed, rather than simply getting down it.

yep at speed its gotta be challenging !!!! very ‘slatey’ tracks too.. you dont get that at Dalby… i felt i little exposed to my elbows if i had come off at speed- gulp ! had my six one ‘knee pads’ on tho , glad i did as i saw someone at the car park with a bad knee injury…
must get some elbow pads to take next time.. yehaaa whhoohooo

I rode Whinlatter in horrible foggy weather and was unimpressed. Based on comments here I might give it another go this weekend, hopefully with some nice sunny views

yeah we rode it first time a week ago. Miniature version of a welsh/scottish trail/centre. More jun/technical than Dalby and a ‘big mountain’feel to it all especially on the last descent of south loop

Rode Whinlatter earlier today and must say I was rather disapointed.
It’s not that it was bad, but it wasn’t as good as I was expecting and it is much, much shorter than I thought.

North loop was pretty boring to be honest, very few intereting sections.
South loop was better, but only the final bit really stood out.

Only an hours worth of riding when I was expecting big mountain loops.
I think it has been hyped up, which is why I was expecting something special.

mtbmatt has hit the nail on the head.

The Lakes has so much good riding that I wouldn’t want to “waste” a nice day at a trail centre BUT if/when the weather does turn bad it’s nice to have a trail centre as a wimp-out option. Unfortunately Whinlatter is not really big enough to keep you occupied for more than a couple of hours. The other problem is that it seems much of the appeal is in the views, which takes us back to the beginning of my point…

Still, must do it again on a good day if only in the interest of balance

mtbmatt u must be very fast if you got round both loops in about an hour!!

I thought it was great. Took my 13 year old on Saturday who reluctantly usually comes on more natural rides in the Lakes with us. Wasnt expecting much and was very impressed, a real open feel, great vistas over Keswick and two great downhills. Got him completely hooked with a return trip planned soon. He’s outside now practicing his bunny hops

I’d recommend elbow and knee/shin pads. My mate managed to launch himself on the last section of the north loop and ended up with four stitches in his elbow. It ruined our planned night of boozing in Keswick. 🙁

mtbmatt – should have done the blue loop as well, plus the bridleway descent to Thornthwaite – makes it into much more of a ride.

It would take me more like an hour and a half to do all of both red loops btw.

Oh and I think part of the reason it has been ‘hyped up’ might be because it’s so much better than the North Face Trail in Grizedale, which is the only other Lake District trail centre.

yep its good!
I was grinning for a few days after, even if we did sit in a van for 7 hours that day to ride it!