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What areas of England can you recommend for mtb routes that are easily accessible by train?
I live just on the Southern edge of London so the further South the better, but I'd be interested in anything across the country.
Quantocks? train to taunton thats within riding distance or there is a train line runs along the southern edge of them
Sheffield? ride out into the pennines
Plenty more
England or Britain as a whole?
Sleeper train from Euston to the highlands. Leave work, few beers and something to eat in town on Friday night, get on the train at 11pm and wake up in the mountains. Two full days of fun and then back in town for 7am Monday.
Locally, you've got both the Surrey and Kent end of the North Downs and the South Downs within an hour's train journey.
I'd also +1 for the Quantocks, or stay on the train a little further and get off at Exeter or Newton Abbot for a stab at Dartmoor.
Euston to Aviemore FTW.
Be sure to have a few scoops so you sleep OK. Wake up in Aviemore, sort out a bag drop at your B&B. Breakfast at Mountain Cafe, some of best riding in the entire world beckons.
Dinner at Old Bridge Inn. Sleep. Repeat riding experience on Sunday on different trails. Dinner in Aviemore then train home.
Sleep.
Back to work on Monday.
Job done.
Is there an echo in here? 😀
Peak district is very easy to get to by train. All Dark peak riding is accessible by train tbh.
We speaks the truth innit.
Sleeper trains are AMAZING.
I was on a secondment to London for a while and the sleeper-enabled weekend at Fort William World Cup was one of the best weekends of my life.
Top moment - the dude at the tube barrier at Canary Wharf on a Monday morning being so flabberghasted at the £300ish return fare he let me through despite that just including Zone 1 underground 🙂
Can also get sleeper trains dirt cheap if you book well ahead and aren't travelling at peak times (ie Friday / Monday). Wife and I got one a couple of year ago for £40 each return.
Quantocks I will look into, and it's about time I visited the Peaks too as they're probably the most major mtb hotspot I haven't been near.
Looking specifically for England as I'm from Scotland; have ridden plenty of it already, and have a list as long as my arm of other rides to try when I get the chance.
Ideally I'm looking for somewhere to spend a night or two, perhaps to fit in with a long weekend away.
Waterloo to Dorking in 50mins to ride Surrey Hills.
Waterloo to St Martins Heron to ride Swinley.
Can get to Cannock Chase (via Rugeley) for £18 in 1hr50ish from Euston.
Kings Cross to Arlesey to ride Chicksands.
Waterloo to Liss to ride Rogate.
Waterloo to Southampton to ride Lordswood.
.
Loads of options, and they're day trips.
Thanks for that Brakes, I was getting worried after bringing my bike to London from the north, but it seems like there are some mountains and dirt in reaching distance
Well worth train to Portsmouth then ferry to IoW for a day/weekend - may have no 'mountains' but you'll know you've been out after a few hours of chalky up'n'downs and have earned that beachside pint at lunchtime 😀