MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Moving to Stroud in a couple of weeks.
Just wondering if there's anywhere trail wise that's worth bothering with right now I've done a few heat map and map searches so I've got ideas of where I'd like to have a look at, at some point.
Is there anything that's not just grim mud slog that I should look at, fire road I guess?
Failing that there seems to be plenty of lanes that I can explore until the weather picks up a bit.
Mud levels are at their peak like everywhere in the country but this is finest sticky Cotswold mud. There's the old rail line to Nailsworth which is OK for a family ride, but dull otherwise. The canal path might be rideable but not much fun. No fire roads and any farm gravel tracks are full of puddles. Your best chance is getting out early on the cold frozen days or road ride out into the Cotswolds.
On the plus side, when it dries up it's a great riding area. Hook up with the Bigfoot club when lockdown eases to get to know the trails.
@qwerty should be able to point you in the direction of some good trails. If you look at his previous posts he organised a ride around the area in January and the route is posted online so you could look up some of them.
Great thanks I'm guessing that's probably up with Epping Forest clay for just not going anywhere near in the winter.
Road till it it's drier then!
Lots of decent riding in Gloucestershire, but much of it requires local knowledge to find. As already suggested, get in touch with Bigfoot MBC for post-lockdown shredding...
Loads of stuff around Stroud, yes they're muddy just now, but a few of the can easily be linked that are doable just now, the way i hunted round the area was looking at the strava/trailforks trails, then looking at ways of linking them, but it depends what you're after.
Where are you moving from? We moved to Stroud from Enfield in 2011, Epping was my local stomping ground as well as Trent Park over to Barnet, Goffs Oak - Herford etc.
If coming from London, first things first, set you calendar back 20 years or so, slip into some comfy ethnic threads and grab a handful of falafel.
Where in Stroud are you moving to? don't buy on the dark side, beware of quirky narrow steep lanes, and make sure you pack your climbing legs!
As above, Bigfoot are the most active MTB club by far, Stroud Valley Velos for road rides.
As Epping, its a mess right now, we've had a ton of rain & hardly any frost has penetrated the tree canopy for the last few winters. I'm keeping to the road right now.
Local stuff is kinda spread out, linked together by short bits of road and an assortment of short sharp climbs, you really need someone to show you or a GPX etc.
Cranham Woods has a way marked route negotiated by Bigfoot with a non bike loving land owner, Standish Woods also has a way marked trail, Fosse Way for a straight line gravel blast, loads of quiet back lanes for putting together a road ride but probably leave your 23c tyres behind.
It's a lovely picturesque area made up of 5 valleys that converge in Stroud, each turn offers a different perspective on the valleys folds and contours. Very popular with young families from Bristol & London. Great pubs. Nice vibe. People have more time for each other than in London.
It's equal measures of: affluent / hippy & chavvy.
Give me a shout when your ready to ride & if its dried up a bit i'm happy to show you round / offer some pointers (canal tow path is currently around 12" under water - it may take a while!!!).
This is my IG to give you a bit of an idea of various trees in the area: https://www.instagram.com/oldblokeonabicycle/
Only thing missing from the above is that it also has an aldi, and a mcdonalds, what more can a town offer ;o)
Lived there, most places seemed up hill, Rodborough common was flat on the top , Randwick was good for mud and trees trails, also between Cheltenham and Stroud,
Birdlip beacon as well, nice flat road bike ride from Stroud to Gloucester via Stonehouse the other way is all up steep hills. Also the ride to Bristol is interesting on a road bike.
It gets cold in winter and hot in summer with not much rain as far as i remember, freindly people, and a bit funky.
Which part are you moving to i lived in Cainscross.
I'm also in Stroud. Moved in 2012...
Be prepared for hills..... five valleys and all that.... I moved from Bristol, the hills here were a challenge at first..
It's a big muddy slop fest at the moment. Even the trails that were rarely used are now quagmire from 100s of booted feet.
There’s a good trail that holds up well in winter high up in Penn Wood through to Selsley Common, it’s a great bit of single track. There’s 2 or 3 DH runs off this trail that can be quite steep in places, but these are better when it’s dry.
I can confirm Stroud is muddy, but Dursley is muddier! Loads of good riding around, most of it is pretty bad at the moment though.
Thanks everyone this sounds like it'll be ace when it dry's up!
I'm currently in E11 so ride the lower bits of Epping and the woods over to Chigwell in the dry.
Moving to the Top of Town apparently the climbing will be a shock most of my riding has been flat so I expect a few months of abject misery before I get any form of fitness back.
I live in Dursley which is near Stroud, it is pretty muddy in places at the moment but there is a bunch of stuff rideable in the wet! A lot of Steeper trails drain pretty well, stuff near selsley common, the new stuff in Dursley and north nibley all ride well in winter. Depends what kind of trails you want I guess!
As others have said, Bigfoot mtb club, edge mtb club or any of us to ride with.
We have a Dursley Instagram for trails around here. It’s @dursley_mtb
I'll be honest my biggest concern is beer is there anything locally?
I've had Stroud Beer a few times when I've been down and can't see that much of it in my life...
There's Deya in Cheltenham anything else?
Bread is easy it seems.
Is there anywhere good for light roasted coffee, or just order from Town?
Thanks Qwerty just had a look at your Instagram we seem to both have Bespoked Show Bikes ;0)
I'm in Cam so not far away. Plenty of routes all round the area that can be strung together to ya heart's content but as others have said, very muddy at present. As for beer, Deya is good, I'm loving Gloucester Brewerys Dockside Dark and Old Spot from Uley Brewery. Tis all good, we moved up from Kent in 2007.
In no particular order:
https://www.artisan-ales.co.uk/
https://www.instagram.com/felt_cafe_brimscombe/?hl=en
https://www.funkyfalafel.co.uk/
https://www.instagram.com/loganberry_stroud/?utm_source=ig_embed
https://www.theprincealbertstroud.co.uk/
https://www.thealehousestroud.com/
And if you ever need a performance tuned wooden CNC'd propeller for your Spitfire:
https://www.hercprops.com/
👍
Don't forget @the_shop_&_postoffice 😂
Thanks Qwerty I suspect a period of adjustment will be in order, Waltham Forest is beer and Coffee central right now...
"Cranham Woods has a way marked route negotiated by Bigfoot with a non bike loving land owner, Standish Woods also has a way marked trail"
I live on the outskirts of Cranham woods. The "permitted" trail is an absolute mudfest at the minute. My personal opinion is that we shouldn't be riding it as it's getting more and more chewed up, and people are riding around the worst bits and making them even wider. It's not a great advert for mtb to be honest. And the signed trail in Standish wasn't much better the last time I rode it, and that was before all of the rain we've had in the last month. It's a nadgery little trail even when it's dry!
There's a decent loop out of Bisley in the Cotswold Mountain Bike guide, but again I suspect we're going to need a prolonged dry spell before it's even vaguely fun.
We're in Cirencester and are moving back up North, but if we were buying down here again we'd very probably buy in Stroud. To be honest, we've often wondered why we didn't buy in Stroud in the first place.
It's essentially Gloucestershire's answer to Hebden Bridge.
If you have a gravel bike the Roman road from Kemble airfield is not to bad mind the Byways that link to it from Sapperton are Muddy to say the least plenty around Stroud just need to wait a while Cranham is ok past its best I think but nice woods all the same last winter was Yuk around here and this one is worse for mud.
I had a really good look around Stroud when we were looking at relocating. Really liked the area, just too far for me to commute into London. Looked like there'd be some great riding. Some really nice houses around too
Standish Woods also has a way marked trail
Thank Ricky and Shane at Cytek in Cainscross for that one.
I'm from Stroud originally but moved away, then went back in my early 20s. Some great riding there if you get to know how to link it up. Selsly singletrack is good and between Randwick and Painswick Beacon has some good trails. Randwick mini DHs always were good. Carrying on to Painswick and Cranham then Birdlip and back made a good most-of-the-day ride, probably still is.
It’s essentially Gloucestershire’s answer to Hebden Bridge
Is Hebden full of anti-vaxxer loons too? 😀