Hamsterley. Forest?

May as well give hamsterly a go. I preferred it to dalby

I've been riding at Hamsterley for a long time, not once have I ever considered doing the full red route as a large chunk of it is fireroads. Most of the locals do a mix of the old red and black routes as that gets all of the good bits without 4 or 5 miles of fireroad. The link below was last Sunday and does all the decent trail centre stuff (misses root 666 on the black but its easy enough to add on as you pass the signpost). The off piste stuff around Hamsterley is pretty good but its an absolute bog at the minute and you will need a guide to make a decent ride if not sure where to go

Check out this route on Strava: https://strava.app.link/55x0AcSGmZb — 🔨🔨🔨

I like it.

Might be worth taking a look at trail forks if you can as there is a lot of off piste. The main trails will be fine but the off piste will likely be muddy given the weather.

Its pretty easy to ride back up and do multiple laps of the main red bit (transmission/accelerator). That loop isn't well signed but so worth making a note if you fancy it.

When you get to the descend car park if you go onto the road turning right and ride a long there are options on the right that you can loop. Not Descend itself as that is members only but off piste. You'll see the main entrances .

I like, both but I'd go Hamsterley given what you said. A nice thing about Hamsterley is that most of the best bits are not far from the car parks and are fire road climbs so can easily be sessioned without committing to a long loop to get back home. At the moment I only use the long red route beyond Blackling car park up to 5 lane ends if I'm heading out onto the moor. Most of the routes bear up well in the wet, though there can sometimes be some deepish puddles on Boneshaker during winter. The skills loop is great fun and worth a look too.

Mate of mine really rates Hamsterley. Some trails around Sutton Bank too?

Hamsterley is great and worth the drive - totally different feeel to Dalby and more like the Scottish trail centre routes.

Its pretty obvious but don't do the full red with the slog out to the west. You can do a loop with the new blue, good red bits, black bits, very easily, and loop up and round to the super red descents till your legs/battery/both give up.

Sutton Bank is great too but again totally different kind of riding. XC riding, and do it on a clear day for the views and fresh air. 

Oh and a ridiculously good pump track at Sutton Bank! 

Hamsterley all day long, I think it's way better than Dalby. As already suggested, avoid the long slog bit on the red and mix some black in. Accelerator is always worth a few laps IMO and is easy to loop using the fire road.

I've ridden some amazing trails at Hamsterley but I can't really tell you where they are because I'm always following my mates who know their way around.

Hamsterley is brilliant. 

Hamsterley red as a loop is not brilliant.

My last visit ended up being a bloody excellent way round.

Headed straight up the hill to do pikes teeth. Bottom of that I dropped onto the blue that runs roughly alongside the fire road. When that starts to curve off down the hill I ducked back to the fire road for the climb up and over root 666.

Next was the dotted line on their map called hamster wheel which takes you to the top of Poultys for the full red descent. Or... and this is worth it... duck out at the radio tower and do K-line again.

From the bottom of there it is through grove car park and up the slog to the descend bike park car park where the rest of the red / black sections can be found. All the black are good.

Make sure to get a route loaded onto a device. Trying to follow signs as Hamsterley is the best way to get lost if you don't know the place. The trails are well signed - the fire roads between them are not.

FORESTRYENGLAND.UK "https://www.forestryengland.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Hamsterley+cycling+web+map+(Feb+25)+(1).pdf"

https://www.strava.com/activities/15752946231