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Hi All, Apologies for another post about Staunton etc. I've done a search and seen quite a few threads over the years.
I'm staying at the girlfriend's parents house this weekend and they live relatively close to Staunton so will hopefully be bringing the bike for a Saturday morning spin. Question is, can anyone share where is best to ride in the surrounding area.
I'm from South Wales so spoilt for choice here with off-piste trails so I quite enjoy steep, techy and anything with features jumps, drops etc. I rode Staunton a few months ago and besides one big/steep rock roll with a sketchy run out and one trail with a few drops didn't find too much but a long slog back to the top on a non e-bike so might have been in the wrong place. Also there was quite a lot of leaves down then and I've recently seen a video where you can't make out a single trail at all for all the leaves. Are all the trails like this at the moment? (silly question I know being in the woods).
We parked in the lay-by last time and cycled up the road and dropped in from there. I know there's a few more trails towards the end of the woodlands (on strava labelled BUNKER, Drop to river etc) so prepared to give it another explore in that area but how do the surrounding areas fare in terms of the riding I like? Perhaps Mallards Pike way?
Thanks in advance for any local knowledge.
You’re in the right ballpark with the run you found. There are a few off that same fireroad with some tricky features. People don’t post about Staunton on open forums though.
Mallards had some logging going on this year - not sure what’s open and what’s not. It has 2 sides to it - a more mellow one down to the lake and steeper down to the road. I’ve only had a little explore once and it was ok.
Easier to find stuff is by the trail centre - there are 2 enduro runs and then a bit further along the same fireroad there is a load of stuff to your right.
It'll be super difficult to find all the good staunton trails on your own without a local guide. There are loads of amazing trails there but they're not easy to find. All the decent rocky steep ones will be very tricky to ride in these conditions too, probably best to give it a miss until spring honestly.
The standard answer to offpiste in the forest is barnhill/bixslade/rubber duck or whatever you want to call it. There are so many more areas but you need to have local knowledge to find most of them. At least barnhill is just across the road from the cycle centre, and you'll see lots of others going that way too on a weekend.
Thanks all, wasn't aware it was hush hush with all the videos on YT so apologies.
Will just head for an explore and hopefully will see other riders out who can help. Wasn't sure how maintained the trails were with leaves as from the last video I saw it looks like they get a big downfall and it's impossible to see where you're heading.
Staunton is probably my favourite place to ride in the UK... When it's dry.
In the wet (and on Saturday, the current snow is likely to be thawing heavily) it can be lethal!
Where's your GF's parents place? Almost certainly be better off heading further into the FoD and ride some trails over that way, and save Staunton for another day, with a guide, when its dry IMO...
Has there been a lot of snow up there? Rode Barry Sidings last Sunday and it had snowed quite a bit up there but the trails were running pretty nice (and it's very rooty and steep there).
They live near Usk so only other place I was thinking of visiting was Wentwood as I'm yet to explore there yet.
Has there been a lot of snow up there?
FoD facebook group has been full of snowy pics the last few days... Can't see Staunton being any different.
They live near Usk so only other place I was thinking of visiting was Wentwood as I’m yet to explore there yet.
Not ridden Wentwood in ages, but what I remember of it is the best stuff is either on private land (therefore not accessible) or local knowledge only...
Each to their own but I don't think the depths of a cold and wet December is the ideal time to go exploring particularly secret off piste trails myself...
Completely forgot about the snow. A shame. Perhaps best left for another time.
I know friends who’ve ridden Wentwood so I know where to ride there but thanks. I’m sure to share the same hospitality next time anyone wants some knowledge on the S Wales trail network 👍.
This weekend if I were going to FOD I think I’d ride the official DH trails / Y2K and Elephant man and a few of the trails tucked off that middle fireroad and then the rubber duck type area. Just follow that fireroad out of the trail centre by the skills area and follow your nose. You’ll see the enduro trail exits and there’s a climb up a path that has a big channel down the middle of it at the start (think it’s called impossible climb on Strava) that takes you up to the middle fire road.
Once you’ve done those if you follow that fireroad further until it hits an actual road - cross over there. There’s a diagonal (steep) path up to the right at the beginning of the hill or you can follow the fireroad along and take the next diagonal climb to the right (this 2nd one is a nicer pedal). At the top you have a couple of decent trails going off to the left. Or you can go right and there are some trails to the right.
Nobody rides Staunton in the winter. You will be lucky to survive 2 descents.
Yeah okay 🙄 I’m surprised anyone rides anywhere at all in that case. Might sell my bike now. Note to self - the Staunton community isn’t so welcoming 😂
People 100% ride Staunton in winter
Yeah okay 🙄 I’m surprised anyone rides anywhere at all in that case. Might sell my bike now. Note to self – the Staunton community isn’t so welcoming 😂
They're just trying to tell you that it's probably best to ride somewhere else in the current conditions. You do understand that some places hold up better in the wet than others yeah?
People 100% ride Staunton in winter
People do because there's loads of trails there but most people avoid the more interesting trails because the rocks and dirt that make them up become like an ice rink when they get wet.
Yeah okay 🙄 I’m surprised anyone rides anywhere at all in that case. Might sell my bike now. Note to self – the Staunton community isn’t so welcoming 😂
Off you go then, have a nice time & good luck in finding the fun stuff.
As others have said, there are better places in the FoD to ride in the winter.
Thanks all, wasn’t aware it was hush hush with all the videos on YT so apologies.
And the fact that the layby is on a main road so you can easily hide the fact that you're unloading a load of bikes from the back of your van before heading to the secret trails. 😀
Just go up to the top and follow a motorway down to the river. Nip back up and down another way. Repeat
Now I've got this stuck in my head:
The way to ride any new area I find is to use strava , go to maps and press record , your location will now be on screen , now look for ay faint blue lines, these are all the trails the darker the line the more it's been riden, I find absolutely everything using this method , the secret is that everytime someone rides a trail it leaves a blue line even if they are not saving it to strava .on a separate note look at Staunton mead over the road loads over there .
Might sell my bike now. Note to self – the Staunton community isn’t so welcoming 😂
No need for the over reactions...
Staunton isn't widely publicised for several reasons, but by the same token, I have never once come across anyone riding there who is anything but friendly. There are a few unwritten rules though, and Strava is mostly hidden there too. The trails don't hold up well there in the winter either, not only do they become very slippery and in some cases pretty much unrideable (SOAP isn't kidding), but they also become quite fragile and given these trails are maintained by a small group of locals only, it's pretty bad form to go and trash them in winter when there's so many other trails to ride within a stones throw that hold up much better in winter...
Would you appreciate it if a group of out of towners came and trashed your local trails, then buggered off and slagged them off on the internet? 🤔
Best approach for Staunton... Plan a weekend when it's gonna be relatively warm and dry, get a good guide, and enjoy... When you've ridden Bunker and Camber in good conditions you will understand why we are warning against riding it in current conditions!
Bunker in the wet is a rite of passage... 🤣
Bunker in the wet is a rite of passage… 🤣
Not during an ambulance strike though 😂
I've done black run in the wet and that was enough for me! Tripod mode!
Staunton is the first place i avoid with winter hitting, it just doesn't drain well and fills up quite a bit, there's loads of trails around it that you can find easily enough from the lay-by or the little car parking bit with the gate, couple of nice ones nearer the lay-by.
The difficult ones like bunker are just a horror show with the wet roots, loose terrain and having to work out the best line, widowmaker nearly lived up to its name last winter for me, after that i went to the calmer stuff near the lay-by 😂
As others say, this time of year, FoD has some stuff that holds up to the weather more, i find dowies is decent, but shutcastle isn't, Mallards has some tracks that do well, but others that don't, it's an old saying, but local knowledge helps so much over there.
I live in the Forest of Dean and the trails were lethal last week. First time in 5 years I never went out so stuck on the turbo trainer all week. Snow vanished overnight at the weekend.
Have never seen so many leaves on the trails though, and you never know what's underneath them so I stick to the tracks that I know well.