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I can drive back to the Malverns or the Forest but bikes in the car, finishing Redditch about 5ish. Anything close by that's worth a ride/easy to find. Considered follow the dog but a bit of a hike back to Ross. Ta.
Lickey Hills and Clent would be closest - both good for a quick blast
ta. trails easyish to find? any recommendations for the best place to park for either?
Both Clent and Lickeys require a bit of local knowledge to get the best out of them but basically as they are both quite small areas it's not too difficult to explore, parking at either visitor centre is as good as any really, suspect they both will still have some pretty muddy sections too.
Lickeys are a bit of a mud fest atm it tends to retain moisture longer than in the valley, best place to park would be around Lickey Church, then most of the trails are down hill from there. you could cover all of the areas riding in about an hour though. Clent is usually drier and has more gradient to play on.
Also if you just want some miles there are lots of bridleways from Redditch heading out around ****enham or towards Alcester via Coughton, pretty tame but some nice views and occasional fun bits.
I used to work in redditch, finish work at 5....then hit the BMX track on my 4x bike, they have a club night once a week, floodlit in winter, all weather surface, loads of mtb'ers there, Scott Boom Boom was there often too for a masterclass in getting a snap on. (maybe not what you want though).
I always thought the lickeys where off limits, many a time chased by a ranger off the hills and warned not to come back, it was a few years ago!!
Ranger stopped me the other day to say the restrictions put in place after the gales because of downed trees had been lifted which was nice of him....i had already ridden through though 😳
The Wyre Forest is not as close as the Lickeys or Clent but offers better riding than both (and is still closer than Cannock).
We're there from 4pm tomorrow if that's any good to you and it should be drying out nicely as we speak so should be riding well.
We're there from 4pm tomorrow if that's any good to you and it should be drying out nicely as we speak so should be riding well
All right for you work-shy fops!!! Will be there 5-5:30 straight from work. How's the ribs?
Thanks All. Wyre I've been to once. Came back a swamp monster but it was mid Jan. Shall leave it this week and try and catch up with some locals next week when I'm a bit more organised.
you are surely mistaken - it is always dry in the Wyre!
If you can't make the Wyre tomorrow - I'd say go to the Lickeys. Local knowledge is helpful (of course) but don't think you go too far wrong on your own.
You can do a good few miles over Clent once you know the layout of the area. There are basically 2 main hills each of which having multiple routes up/down allowing you to do many 'circuits' taking in the best of both.
I went up there on Sunday night and did 4 circuits of Clent and 2 of Walton hill without ascending/descending the same trails twice - 2500ft of climbing (including the ride from Blakedown). It's a pretty good area if you are local or work near the area as it's so convenient and quiet in the evenings.
It's pretty boggy on the West Hagley side of the hill at the moment as it takes a week or so for the water to drain off the hill and another week to dry out completely.
I tend to be over there late evenings (from 7:30 - 8ish) if you want to be shown the sites.
There was a dry line appearing up The Lickeys so more of this sun and it'll be dusty!
[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7233/7211840344_73edf1a7cd.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/rocketdog/7211840344/ ]the only way is down[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/rocketdog/ ]rOcKeTdOgUk[/url], on Flickr
The bluebells are out in force too
[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7099/7190514874_fa5dd65c5a.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/rocketdog/7190514874/ ]tiptoe through the bluebells[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/rocketdog/ ]rOcKeTdOgUk[/url], on Flickr
Trail hidden by cam angle)
looks ace 🙂 I'm spoiled for choice. I'll collect some emails tonight and drop some messages out to take advantage of some guiding. If you don't store your email here, it'd be great if you could drop me a msg to alex_leigh100(at)hotmail(dot)com.
Cheers, Alex
Alex, stick me down for guiding for clent, lickeys and the wyre too..should be able to show you a good time, (fnarr fnarr)... Work shifts so normally have 4 days off at a time.[i]
Thanks Mick. Sounds good. Will sort out a day next week 🙂
No probs, good for Monday through to Thursday next week in the day time. Can also do Mon, Wed and Thursday night's too.
I do a local loop around the Ditch ...its not the most technical although there are fun bits if you know where to look. Give us a shout if you want a guide
Here's a route Lickys to Clent that starts at Barnt Green train station. As this route is permanently on my web site it's all bridal way and no cheeky bits. 🙂
http://www.composite-projects.co.uk/mountain-biking/barnt-green-to-clent-loop/
and here's another one around that area just for some ideas.
http://www.composite-projects.co.uk/mountain-biking/hagley-to-barnt-green/
BTW neither of these routes are at all technical but fine to just get out on your bike. 🙂