as above. going to keilder next wk and the web site is not that helpfull
any recommendations for what trails and or routes to take avoid.
our usual stuff is red/black inners, tress etc but seems to be a fair amount of stuff there and don't want to miss the good bits if as i've heard some stuff is just red due to distance and not technicality, also heard mention of some new stuff???
Cheers
The Deadwater black/red is good... Not done Lonesome Pine, that's the one that gets most of the criticism, every time I'm there we just do both Deadwater descents, ie do the climb and Into the Valley/Up and Over twice then once down the black and once down the red.
Now not to prejudice you here, but the very top section is IMO absolutely s**t. It seems to be just a broken up fire road, there's some jumps/drops that might have been built or might have just happened, it's covered in places with deep gravel, but mainly it's just hammering down a messed up fire road. And the climb up goes on forever. First time i went there I said "That was rubbish, never again", second time I was with a mate that wanted to check it out so we did it then he said "That was rubbish, never again". Even the views are pretty poor.
But, the rest of the loop is mint. It has horrible black graded technical climbing, some ace descents, interesting bits on the singletrack climb... I really rate it. Maybe a wee bit lacking in variety- for instance Into the Valley's nothing but rock steps, switchbacks, and switchbacks with rock steps in the middle- but it's one of my favourite trail centre descents for all that.
Stick to the black all the way to the top through peats sake etc, when the trail ends on the tarmac road, head along road till you see a fireroad on the right with a gate on it, go up here till you reach the top. This will put you back to the top of the red decent you miss doing the black. 😉
Google the kielder trailreavers as they have a better selection of maps.
There are loads of trails, how fit are you. My favourite is the Lonesome pine/bloody bush/ cross border trail over to Newcastleton. It's about 50 miles though with some sporting climbs.
Generally the Lonseom pine and Bloodybush are red due to climbs/distance/exposure rather than technical difficulty. I like it but to get the most out of it you need to be fit so the hills don't take you days and exhaust you for the downhill. The Deadwater is better if you prefer short and technical. As others have suggested doing the Deadwater and then repeating the bottom loop to do the extra black bit is a nice shorter ride.