[Closed] Favourite trail centre?

head up to the seven stanes for the weekend

Wales 😉

Personally I love Coed-y-Brenin.

Lake district, Best trail centre there is.

Afan.

+nobeer

As a straight answer my favourite trail centre is the one that takes the least amount of time to drive to, which is Cannock, this saves more time for bike riding. But if driving time is taken out of the question then there is no other answer than BikeParkWales, it simply is fantastic.

I like Hopton. Doesn't really feel like a trail centre, there's no cafe or owt like that. Feels more like riding in the woods....which it is.

Forest of Dean is just awesome, but not the actual trail centre 😉

Lee Quarry, all time fave, 20 to 30 minute drive, followed by Guisburn, hour and half drive, and then my local- either no drive or a 10 minute drive to start from Clifton Country park and follow the banks of the Irwell to Phillips Park's MTB trail

Glentress for me - it has plenty of km of trails for a broad spread of abilities, and excellent on site facilities. Also, if you don't mind a bit of a pedal you can use the parking/facilities as a base for Innerleithen or Gypsy glen.

Trails at Fort William are excellent, but not enough km to be worth a trip to unless you are in the area anyway.

Red at Dalbeattie is possibly my favourite trail, but lack of facilities and good blue/green route let it down..

Red at Dalbeattie is possibly my favourite trail, but lack of facilities and good blue/green route let it down.

Good cafe, with a loo, What else do we need?. I love the red too, lots of folk don't and I can see why - It's pretty techy in places, and there's a bit of fire road too, but I have great memories of riding there with mates.

LLandegla for me, but it's a once a year road trip so it retains something special about it.

I like BPW, they don't class themselves as a trail centre, but I think that's splitting hairs. In terms of time is the closest Centre to me, but I don't go that often 2-3 times a year, I'm planning to get up there a lot more once the weather improves. I don't know why, but I've never really had a great day there.

For 'Great Days' Cwmcarn wins for me, Summer's evenings after work, it's a bit of a slog to get to due to traffic from work, but it's usually fairly quiet after 6 and when the sun is shining it feels almost magic to me.

Laggan. If you don't say Laggan the reason is because you've not ridden it, or the technical nature of the black is not to your tastes.

It's almost beyond compare to other UK trail centres, if it weren't for Golspie. Which is also amazing, in a more flowy way. Both are miles away though.

Cannock for me. It's two miles along a country lane I can pick and choose whenever I go. Was riding there way before there were any tourist trails so whether they're open/closed/busy/quiet it makes no difference to me I know the place inside out

Afan, but from a few years ago before the felling on the Glyncorryg side.

Honourable mention for Mabie, for being such a lovely spot.

Afan for me 8)

CyB for me, but there are still a few I've not tried out.

I really like Gisburn because of it's mixture of everything.

Lee is most local to me, but it's not your traditional riding-round-the-woods-in-a-circle centre.

I like Whinlatter because of the views, it can still feel remote, even though it's a trail centre.

Llandegla is the one I've ridden the most, mainly because I used to work 20 minutes away. It is probably the BMX track everyone says it is, but I still love riding there every now and then.

Good cafe, with a loo

Not on-site though. But point taken, not exactly a million miles away either. Kind of assumes a visitor has done their research and knows its there though.

What else do we need?

Changing rooms - applying a healthy dollop of chamois cream in the car park has potential to traumatise other visitors!

I can see why - It's pretty techy in places

and there's a bit of fire road too

I have great memories of riding there

...if you've not been hamsterley, really really varied for a small place...mix of trails, off piste stuff and Danny Harts DH

Kirroughtree probably for me. I'd love to do the red and black in one go with some mates.

Did them solo as two separate rides, and enjoyed them both, but would be a slog on your own.

Good cafe, with a loo

Not on-site though

Errr, yes it is....

Degla,
Gisburn,
Hamsterley
Stainburn (local)

Errr, yes it is....

Now this is an interesting mystery.
Certainly was no sign of a cafe when I was there (2014 i think).
Or I was somehow ultra blind and drove car in parked, rode trails and left without noticing.......

Not showing on the forestry commission site either:
http://scotland.forestry.gov.uk/visit/dalbeattie#about

Re Dalbeattie facilities, I've ridden it twice and didn't realise there was anything other than a toilet until someone mentioned it on here.

Decent trails though, if a bit slow/techy most of the way round.

I'll put a shout in for Cannock, Mabie, Drumlanrig and 2 laps of Cardinham.

Actually looking at that I just like trail centres. I think I've only ridden Ae that's not on there.

It's not linked to the trails, accessed from the car park - basically a house with a conservatory that sits on the car park, and they've opened it up as a cafe - would prob have opened around 2014...

Jemma who used to run the sadly deceased cafe @ Mabie runs it.

Innerleithen... Sort of. The trailcentre trails are actually pretty drab, I haven't ridden a full lap in years... But they get you to the good stuff. If you can include all the riding on the hill it has quality, quantity and variety. And still growing... It only loses out for lacking personality- there's no real signature, not much sense of place, it could be anywhere- no mcmoab or views or whatever. You find individual trails all over the place that are pure innerleithen.

If it's just the official trails, then, I do love Kirroughtree and Golspie, and the oddness of Balblair, and CYB. They all have great riding, decent amounts of variety, and distinct character. But I think maybe that's absence making the heart grow fonder, I tend to ride these once a year or less so they never get tired.

munrobiker - Member

Laggan. If you don't say Laggan the reason is because you've not ridden it, or the technical nature of the black is not to your tastes.

Or, because there's not really all that much to it- I love the riding there but it's pretty short. It seemed like a much bigger thing the first time i rode it, but racing it you realise it's all over in a flash and most of the black is actually pretty simple- spot line, ride line. Throw in the brown and other offpistes and you get more riding and importantly more variety but that feels like cheating, same as inners. this isn't a criticism, it's just that it takes more than it has to get top billing.

Re Dalbeattie facilities, I've ridden it twice and didn't realise there was anything other than a toilet until someone mentioned it on here.

It's not linked to the trails, accessed from the car park - basically a house with a conservatory that sits on the car park, and they've opened it up as a cafe - would prob have opened around 2014...

Innerleithen... The trailcentre trails are actually pretty drab

Afan W2 for me - feels quite alpine in places, very natural and un-manmade for a lot of it.

Cannock

I've been to better, more fun trail centres, but none are as close as Cannock and they do a great job with limited elevation. It's a great option for me when the Peak District is a gloopy mess or when I just fancy something different.

is it called brambles café or something similar at dalbeattie?

Canny remember the name tbh, Trekster is the man to ask.

Edit - Yep.

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North Wales. Just for the density of excellent trails, base yourself in Betws for the weekend, and CYB, Marin, penmachno, and Antur Stiniog are all within 30mins drive (if that). All are excellent trails, all of them offer amazing views and great trails

For bang-for-your-buck variety and always a fun day out, it has to be BPW (not strictly a trail centre, but...).

For making you feel like a better rider than you are, Llandegla. Yes it's a bit 'BMX'-y, but it's always fun and fast.

For convenience, Cannock. Still nearly two hours away from me (the only ones closer are Thetford and Sherwood...) but taken for what it is, it's a decent day's riding given the terrain and the two 'cliff' descents are both huge fun.

As for my personal favourite? Toss up between Laggan and Whinlatter. Both are fairly small, but both also have a distinct character of their own that makes them memorable every time you ride them (for me, the view at end of the climb up the south trail at Whinlatter when you come out of the trees up to DOA and Skiddaw rears up in front of you is just brilliant).

Penmachno or the ClimachX in Machynlleth, though I do like Whinlatter also but only been there once. The climachX has in my view the best descent I've ever ridden at a centre, once you know it well you properly hammer down it. Flat as it is I also like Sherwood Pines, it's a pedal-fest but is great fun on the right bike.

Overall, I'd say Glentress. It's local to me, it has good facilities and it's got a good selection of trails. What makes it even better is how the trails intersect and cross each other so much. With access to a map or some local knowledge it's possible to create a custom route each time you ride there and even moreso if you know about some of the unmarked enduro/race/secret trails.

I reckon I'd feel the same about Innerleithen, if I was a better rider and knew its unmarked trails better. As it is, I only know a few trails beyond its so-so waymarked XC trail.

So many other trail centres have great characteristics too...

In terms of providing a quality single ride, both Kirroughtree and Drumlanrig score highly for me. Riding at Nant yr Arian never fails to be anything other than lovely.

Coed y Brenin has great facilities and a good selection of quality trails.

Bike Park Wales shows what can be done when you build everything to integrate closely with an uplift service.

Laggan and Golspie are remote but have some great riding, but they're not as large as some centres. Fort William has the cable car accessed red trail, plus the DH route and some decent regular XC trails.

We're spoilt for choice, really! 🙂

no mcmoab or views or whatever

Inners would disagree yesterday 😉

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That's lovely but could be anywhere.

Ballyhoura in Ireland....make a weekend of it 😀

C-y-B 8)

At the moment due to various things I ride Llandegla a lot, and you know what, I rather enjoy it.

I prefer The Marin and Penmachno if I'm in North Wales, but CYB is my favourite overall to be honest, enough trails for a good day out with plenty of variety.

I would've said Glentress as its only 30 mins away from me but because of this and having been riding there for about 15 years I'm probably a wee bit tired of it now. But I'll still ride there every two or three months. My favourite at the moment is Comrie. It's just a great place, wonderful scenery, good wee campsite and trails for everybody. Not miles and miles of them but it packs a lot in.

I'm a very lucky bunny indeed, Brechfa, Afan/Glyncorrwg and Cwmyrhaeadr are all pretty much equidistant from home. As is a lot of excellent 'natural' riding.

Laggan is wonderful, really wonderful. Coed y Brenin has loads to offer too, so many trails. And a bothy too 🙂

But Glentress wins in my book. I need to get back very soon. Easter maybe.

From UK memory, cyb glentress or kirrochtree.
I agree the lakes has amazing trails but the nice thing is not having walkers or people riding up the trails you descend. One way blasts are fun (having only met one idiot defending his Scottish right to ride kirrochtree backwards with what appears the sole intention of pissing people off)

But really of the places I've ridden more recently Rotorua.