Haldon BTW....
Day parking is expensive, but £30 for a year's pass is a good deal. Think I got my money's worth in the 1st week of the summer holidays!
Good coffee and even better cake at the cafe. The homemade flapjack and chocolate caramel shortbread slices are huge.
An excellent breed of local trail pixies. The off-piste stuff is brilliant.
Talking of the off-piste....however busy it is up there, you can do a full day on the non-official (though kind of semi-authorised) trails and not meet a soul.
It's exactly halfway between my house and work. Ideal for a quick end of day spin.
The terrain is steep with a good drop into the valleys. Some of the longer bits of DH singletrack are 3-4 minutes in length.
I got married in a 'castle' in the woods up there. So that was nice 😀
Good facilities and trails for kids. My 3 year old loves the Stickman trail, and happily scoots round the 3km long green trail.
*edit* Good toilets too.
I'll think of something......give me a minute........Yes........It's not Cannock.
There you go.
8)
Shouldn't you be sleeping while you have the chance?
Hi Del :waves:
Ah, just enjoyed the ride today, and thought I'd write a positive post on here.
Bet nobody else posts though, as I haven't disparaged any minorities, or made out that I'm a riding god from the year 3000 😉
Sleep's for wusses anyway.
I had a quick blast round the blue this afternoon after my boys birthday party there. I’ve never bothered riding it before and it surprised me how good it was.
Cwmcarn is my local.
First and foremost, the trails. Yesterday I rode Cafal, but not the climb after the ranger station, straight into Twrch, skipped the tech climb again. I could have just as easily done the first climb, skipped the last descent and rode 2/3rds of the Pedalhounds, or rode Twrch to the crossing and then pushed up for the DH, ir rode almost to the end, gone 200m down the fire road and rode the last 3rd of the DH form there. It doesn’t take long to learn how to cut and paste whatever you fancy in that day.
After that, I don’t really care. The cafe has never been great, but I don’t use it. There’s a bike shop for essentials, a wash, toilet, shower, car park.
Gisburn - real variety, challenging freeridey bit, remote feel, gets wet but not really sloppy.
mine is the whistler bike park. i like that.
Mine is Swinley and it's bloody awesome. Everything about it is great, the way it rides, the way it drains, the work people have put in making it fun... it's a top day out every time 🙂
Mine is Queen Elizabeth CP.
The blue is fabulous, switchback climb followed by rolling / contouring single-track then a whizzy bermed bit to the bottom of the hill. My five year old can get round it with minimal pushing and my eight year old is a huge fan.
The red is also really enjoyable and substantially more weatherproof than it used to be.
Based on all that the best thing is therefore ... The QE trail collective who build and maintain them and who, despite my best intentions, I have not managed to get out and help on a dig day.
I wish mine was still the Alps....
😥
The terrain is steep with a good drop into the valleys. Some of the longer bits of DH singletrack are 3-4 minutes in length.
Hmmmm... 😉
Llandegla was my local Trail Centre. Loved everything about the place.
Trails, Café , workshop and the locals. Ian and Jim are good friends too.
But what I love the most is seeing families out on the trails, groups of kids just out on bikes riding in a traffic free environment. 😀
In the spirit of being overwhelmingly positive....
[b]Sherwood pines[/b]
-Trails are fun (if you pedal hard) and there's a high percentage singletrack
-Ground is flat but the trail builders have used what they've got really well
-Shop is surprisingly well stocked
-Cafe is good
-It doesn't really get muddy, just wet
-Off piste stuff is a riot (but still pretty flat)
🙄
Hicks Lodge - slightly closer than Sherwood Pines.
Unashamedly pitched at families and youngsters.
No draggy fire road climbs.
Doesn't get muddy, only wet and splashy.
Great for learning to corner with all the berms there.
Things to do for non-riding family members.
Great café
Annual parking pass also covers Cannock
Great team of FC volunteers who I miss working with.
Ranger Chris is great at First Aid when I do go out with the volunteers.....
Which one?
QECP here too. I just love that the red never gets easy. Been riding there for about 20 years I think and never have an easy go! Never boring. Once did 6 laps, before the QECP Collective changed the trail - no way could I do that now! Mixture of techy climbs, fast bits, natural roots everywhere, such a good learning spot. And the fact that it's so close to my house.
Should go in the "things you don't like" thread, but I do hate the fact that people have made so many new lines to avoid the difficult bits.. learn to bloody ride, it'll do ya good!
The cake shop is pretty good too, though not as good as it was.
nothing exactly on the doorstep but I'm about 90 mins from Kielder and Hamsterley, 2 hours from Dalby and Whinlatter and 2.5 from the Tweed valley or Dumfries so not a bad choice.
For the 2 closest - Hamsterley: trails are fun and continue to be built on, its never been overwhelmingly busy but has enough riders that you're not alone, has the required refreshment facilities.
Kielder - so much space. The last weekend I went up there I didn't meet a single rider out on the trails. Granted it was pretty dreich but even so... I could however have ended up in a ditch and not found for months. facilities OK, trails are pretty rain proof. Cafe is adequate but needs better coffee.
35 mins drive from my house gets me to Cannock and I suppose that is pretty much my favourite things about it, that it's not too far away.
I think it's a great trail and I always consider it a treat. One of the things I do like about it is the fact that most everyone you meet is really friendly. If you actively engage with someone for a 'hello how's it going' or 'where you from' or whatever, generally you will always get a positive response.
The terrain is steep with a good drop into the valleys. Some of the longer bits of DH singletrack are 3-4 minutes in length.
Hmmmm... 😉
Hey, it's not my fault you're bloody quick 😉
Anyway, Traily McTrailface + Ring is 3 mins, and the full Teepee is about the same (though not nice in the wet!)
Pity the 'new' bottom bit of Ring is closed off now 🙁
Glentress/Innerleithen is my local places....most of you will know all about them I guess!
FAO: MoreCashThanDash
Annual parking pass also covers Cannock
Funnily enough, only a couple of minutes ago I asked the FC about Cannock car parks re the Discovery Pass:
As of 1st April 2017 changes to the combined Cannock Chase and Hicks lodge discovery pass came into effect. Cannock chase and Hicks lodge separated.I am sure you are aware that the money generated through car parking and discovery pass sales helps fund the management and maintenance work of those sites therefore by separating the sites and having defined pass ensures that more of that income can be directly returned to benefit and cover the costs that would have previously seen a shared. I recognise if you continue to use both sites that means you will need to purchase two passes, but the cost of pass remains the same it is just we have removed the “benefit” of using it at Cannock Chase. The price of the pass presents excellent value for money and with the current daily charges means you only need to visit the site 10 times in the year to have covered that cost. The decision to separate the pass and make them site specific was also influenced around Hick lodge car parking capacity and it’s car parking becoming full and visitors parking on road verges etc and this spilt of passes will work toward ensuring sustainable levels of people can use the site whist maintain a great visitor experience.
Therefore our decision to spilt the pass was based on protection of income to maintain the site whist ensuring a quality and safe visitor experience.
Kind Regards,
Michelle Keeling
Discovery Pass Team
TL;DR
Cant use Cannock Birches for Hicks Lodge
Cwmcarn is my local.First and foremost, the trails.
Yep. Did both on Saturday, can't believe how great they are still after all this time.
I was there from about 11.30am, might've seen you P-Jay 🙂
QECP was my local when I was working on the South Coast.
It's the only thing I miss about not working down there any more.
FoD and Cannock are my closest now. I've been riding the FoD on and off for over 25 years. Only been to Cannock a couple of times and don't really rate it; just seems to be a hell of a lot of climbing for a pretty disappointing descent.
Thing I like about llandegla (my local) is that everybody goes there so I can ride the Marin in the peace and quiet
It's only 5 minutes ride from my front door.
(to counterbalance that, it's VERY small, pretty flat, and despite building some trails for us the FC really don't care for MTBers here)
My nearest is Drumlanrig, which is an hours drive. I usually ride closer natural stuff but go to Drumlanrig every month or so. It is quiet, challenging, great fun, good coffee and cake. In fact there’s is nothing at all that I don’t like about it, although if it was a bit nearer that would be even better.
I'm with you on Haldon, excellent venue on my doorstep. Recently extended carpark is handy as it gets rammed at weekends. The off-piste is wicked, so much good rooty and vaguely steep stuff, it's seldom that you see another rider on it.
The only downside is the unrideable 'pumptrack' that is always overrun with 5 year olds. How about a proper pumptrack, one with more than 8" berms and that's not built on a slope? And less gritty?
I must admit I see the pump track at Haldon more as somewhere my 4 year old can scoot around while I have some cake, rather than an exciting addition to the available riding 😉
Fod is about the same distance for me as Cannock.
Fod is just such a beautiful area. I've not ridden the official trails there for ages and ages and it just has so much variety in all of its riding 'pockets'.
You can ride all day and see nobody, or you can go to the centre and see everybody.
You can get mileage in, or chill and session bits or get an uplift or ride a family trail.
Absolutely brilliant place.
Drumlanrig prob my nearest actual TC, Haven't been since a wee STW ride a couple of years back. It's decent, but I'd rather spend the extra 20 mins in the car and ride the good stuff at ae if I'm heading that way.
And the guy that runs it is an ignorant bawbag. Which is nice.
Ae, Mabie and Dalbeattie are my local trails, all 3 are totally different. I can bike out to Ae & Mabie. Brill cafe @Ae and Mabie House @Mabie.
Brambles Cafe @Dalbeattie.
F.C. Need to get a grip on maintenance of the trails before it becomes uneconomical to repair/maintain all the trails 💡
Cannock is my local.
I usually go early on a Saturday to avoid the crowds, sometimes it's like having the place to yourself.
Usually mix it up with Red, Blue and off-piste stuff to make it a more interesting ride.
Also like that if you want to spend all day off-piste you can do so without seeing too many people.
Just balance it out - one thing I don't like just lately is the amount of pedestrians walking on the reds....
Used to be stainburn, technical, short laps mean can ride as far (or not) as I like.
Moved to leeds now so it's still stainburn until the Leeds urban bike park opens properly, looks alright though!
My local is Swinley, and as above, the best thing about it is that all the people who go there now aren't at the places I ride.. 😉
Actually I suppose Healy Nab is my local TC.
It's not bad at all, plenty of corners and so many lines on the DH bit that you never have to do the same run twice.
Always use it a warm-up for a bigger ride, as the loop is about 15 or 20 mins. Off there in about an hour actually.
Cannock Chase is an easy ride along a country lane
26 sq mi of trails inc but not limited to the official ones.
I'm there 2-3 times/week and every ride heads off in a different direction.
Brilliant
Pity the 'new' bottom bit of Ring is closed off now
Yes, it was quite a surprise to find the diversion the first time and have to take that awful uphill instead of hitting that skinny bridge and trying to survive the off camber mud when wet!
One point to add to your list is that the weekend staff in the cafe are very easy on the eye too...
sadly certain 'accommodations' had to be made.
i've made it up the bank on the SS but the wet track after is just too much. in a few years we might be able to get the lower section back, and even take it further down the hill. the current climb out 'might' get a revisit in the meantime, but i wouldn't count on it TBH.
on the flip side, the line from the chute on smelly ring to the blue got reopened, where all the windblow came down a few years ago.
also 'harassment' has been cleared, and can be ridden from bird of prey all the way down to the bridge/stream on the blue again. not quite the same without the tree cover on the middle section, but everything changes, and in some respects it's better IMO.
Cannock is my local too.
I like that it is stupidly close. I can ride from my door, only along about 500m of tarmac and do a lap of the dog all in less than an hour.
Trails are good too considering what they have to work with, plus its very well maintained. In comparison some of the 7 Stanes and Afan are a wreck.
Also I like that the trail centres keep people to the main trails in general so I can play where I like in peace. Also it attracts enough people into the area to support a few decent bike shops.
Cannock is my local too , 1/2hr by car or 1-1 1/2 cycle up the canal and onto the monkey , I like that money does get spent on updating and improving the trails and that I can spend all day off piste and only see 1 or 2 people , but smiles for miles I take the 1 1/2hrs drive to hopton it may be short, but you get all kinds of surfaces and tech in that short loop , no café no toilets and very few people no matter when ive ridden it
The way you beys are eulogising about Haldon almost makes me want to go out to check if my bike is still in the shed (I haven't looked since last year)
I quite fancy a trip to Hopton, but at a 3 hour round trip it's too far for a day trip and not far enough away for a holiday.
Maybe when the kids are older I'll take them/they won't want to hang around with me so I can do one at the weekend.
Drumlanrig is nearby - I love the roots
It's not to bad a drive tbh prawny as long as you've got enough time for a couple of laps it's only about a mile longer than the dog but your legs feel like you've done the dog and monkey ,
Swinley would be my local and I so love the ginger and cobbles, and the ease of parking at the weekend, empty trails, and the awesome coffee 😈
Kielder would be mine ..20 mins up the road ..nothing but respect for the amount of work that goes into maintaining the trails there with only a handful of volunteers ..and sometimes not even that.
I still do the occasional trail build but not on " official " weekend Sundays ..but midweek with Ian ( The Bike Place )& Russell ( F.C.)..
As mentioned earlier it's not uncommon to see not another soul..so if space & tranquillity is what you like it ticks all the boxes .
The riding is as good as any other trail centre ..but doesn't get the numbers as it is so remote and to be fair is by-passed for the Tweed Valley which is only another hour or so up the road..
90 mins away is Hamsterley or Whinlatter both of which are excellent ..the new section of trail ( K-line) at Hamsterley should see it voted as trail centre of year as linked into Transmission etc it makes it the longest continuous red descent in the country ..great fun !