[Closed] Cannock Chase worth a visit?

yes!

Do you like braking bumps?

The off piste stuff is good fun though (saying that I've only ever raced on the off piste, not ridden it normally!)

I enjoyed a visit there a few years ago, I remember the surface being some set in round stones that were like slippy cobbles. That wasn't so fun but otherwise good fun trail centre stuff

yes, definitely worth a visit

Was great when I went last year.

Sounds good thanks for the pointers, didn't want to take my mtb up there to think should have bought the road bike!

Definitely worth a visit, you can get a reasonable ride in 3 hours. Worth checking the [url= http://www.chasetrails.co.uk/ ]Chase Trails[/url] site for latest info on closures due to forestry works.

I haven't been up to cannock for years but fancied popping over and giving my CX bike an airing. Is there any trail area of cannock chase that would be particularly fun on a CX bike?

I've seen plenty of folks on CX bikes on the Dog and Monkey.

Cannock is my local trail centre, you read loads of people slagging it but it's one of my fav places to ride. Best English trail centre IMO. It'll never compete with the Welsh and Scottish centres but they do a good job with the geography they have at Cannock. As the place is so rocky and stoney it dries fairly quickly too.

Great fun, lovely forests and a proper hard workout in terms of ups and downs, and cornering. Some of the bouldery drop-offs are more testing than the black at, say, Llandegla.

And there's a train-track crossing where you and your mates can pretend to be in Paris Roubaix 😉

It's OK, there are a lot of flat pedally sections. Some of the black sections are a challenge. Definitely better to do it when it is running fast.

Kind of like new Swinley, but a bit better.

If you're making a big trip of it to go there though, there are better places. Anywhere in Wales for example. If you're in the area though, yeah it's worth a look.

There's also Stile.

I live 2 miles from the start of the Dog. Only sections closed atm are High voltage, Zig Zag and Devils staircase on the Dog , Lower Cliff and Tight squeeze on the Monkey.

Lower cliff is the biggest miss as that's most riders favourite section - but still worth a visit for the rest. As has been said the surface is 'interesting' in the wet but that's part of the fun, best thing is it is as near to an all weather trail as you can get - always drains well, always rideable.

Good fun on as xc or cx bike if you have one, not the best on a bigger trail bike IMO, very easy to be over biked there.

Best English trail centre IMO

While I really enjoy the Dog and Monkey and think Chase Trails have done an excellent job trying to keep as many people happy as possible. I think this is a bit of a stretch.

Nope nothing to see at Cannock. Try Llandegla it's really good

It was acceptable when we got lost on it at SSUK last year

The braking bumps are very bad

The local off piste stuff was well worth it and if i was to go again I woudl try and get a local to show me that

YMMV

Three hours should see you amble nicely round the Dog & Monkey, with the all important Cafe stop. Might be a few bits closed, but by & large its a couple of hours decent riding with not much worry of getting lost.

The Marquis Drive Cafe is my favourite, a few mins off the Dog, shortly after the Monkey re-joins it. Don't like the Birches Valley one since it went all "Starbucks a-la Pret".

Is it the best trail cenre in the land? No. Is it worth a visit? YES! If the main critisism it invites from some is that there are some bumps then that sounds good to me. Some other trail centres could do with a few more bumps. Some of the latest sections have been smoothed and sanitised unfortunately - chainslapper for example, it used to be fast, flowy and bumpy, but now super smooth, but there are still plenty of sections that are not billiard table smooth. Can be a bit skippy in secions when damp as its quite pebbly - but all adds to its charm and challenge in my opinion.