[Closed] What are your WORST 3 trailcentres

The only one I've really hated was the Dead Water trail at Kielder. Boring fire road climb to the top of the hill, followed by another fire road straight down the fall line. Other sections were ok but that ruined it for me.

The Marin trail also had a bit to much fire road slog for my taste but at least felt to have some pay off.

2nd vote for Kielder posted about that the other week
Ae
Carron Valley

Marin Trail, especially for that big long fire road descent, followed by a road climb, and all those masses of fire road slog for no payoff.

Cut gate

Calderdale: massively over-rated grubbing about on footpaths.
Peak District: spoiled by traffic jams of unimaginative weekend warriors.
Penmachno: Wildly over-stated soggy track in Wales.

yeah, that kielder was awful - isn't the first section of downhill on [i]tarmac[/i] 😯

i actually quite like carron valley, and so does my girlfriend! so there! 😛

i like kirroughtree but it's probably a bit overrated. i remember mbuk once saying it was really easy to get round but i always find it a bit of a slog. i wish there were bigger descents!

EDIT: are calderdale and the peak district classed as trail centres now? if we can choose anywhere where people cycle then i can think of far worse!

The "mtb trails" in Pollok Park are pretty short. The first time i went there i cycled to it and met a mate who had driven up from Stirling. The ride from the carpark to the trail head was longer than the actual trail. And the carpark was pretty much less than couple of minutes away!

Better than nothing as it will be good for kids i suppose but not really what we were expecting and certainly not worth a trip from Stirling.

[i]are calderdale and the peak district classed as trail centres now?[/i]

I struggle to see the difference between PD and C and other 'trail centres', apart from the signage...

I just must be confused as to what a trail centre is 😉

EDIT ; Inexcuseable sarcasm, Sorry.

Grizedale NF isn't too hot, though I've warmed to bits of it recently.

The 10 Under the Ben track at FW was mostly quite dull, not tried the WC track.

Most of the others I've done we're pretty good.

Not been to many, but one I didn't think much of was Skyline at Afan, much too much fire road bashing. Good final descent tho', it must be said

See, I think Grizedale is good, considering the resraints in the design brief.
Wharncliffe could be something, if FC would pull their finger out.
Every TC has it's inspired little jems of sections, sometimes that can be enough, even if the rest of it is a bit 😐 .

I'm not really a fan of Kirroughtree to be honest.

Carron Valley put a hole in my car's sump and I didn't think it was particularly great before then, either.

I've had three tries at Dalbeattie and it still doesn't do anything for me. the off-piste stuff that I got shown the last time I was there was nice, though.

I found Llandegla fairly dull too, plus there were some nasty breaking bumps there. However I hear good things about the new bits of trail that have been added there recently.

The fire road climb followed by a loose fire road descent at Kielder is pretty annoying but is easily avoided once you know to do so.

Calderdale; that well know trail centre with it's packhorse routes built in the 13th to 18th centuries specifically to disappoint 21st century mountain bikers. The foresight was truly remarkable 🙂

Apologies for the sarcasm, I was driven to it- must get get back to some 'grubbing around on footpaths'

The Raven trail at Brechfa. Soe fun bits, but overall I just don't get it.

brechfa
brechfa
and brechfa

Controversial saying that on here SBZ! I like it but don't get the love most seem to have for it - not enough big climbs and descents for me.

The least favourite I've done are Penmachno, Whinlatter and Grizedale.

[url= http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/ourwoods.nsf/LUWebDocsByKey/ScotlandMorayandAberdeenshireNoForestForestsofMorayandAberdeenshireKirkhillKirkhillMountainBikeFunPark ]Kirkhill fun park [/url] 🙄 What a waste of time and money.

brechfa
brechfa
and brechfa

You're doing it wrong.

didnt like dalbeatie much, maybe i was having a bad day

You might be right grum. I ride it on my hardtail, but have passed many people on very big bouncy bikes, all padded up. Not sure why.

The Gorlech trail is fun.

Oh and I don't like the centre by Beddgelert.

Or Beulah, where I always crash and scar myself, or have a major mechanical.

cannock chase, too many braking bumps 😉

take it none of you lot have been to bedgebury then..

Penmachno: Wildly over-stated soggy track in Wales.

depends when you ride it to be fair crikey i live fairly close and if you get it in nasty weather it can be a boring slog but on a dusty summer evening of which it had more than a few this year it is mind blowingly good.

honest.

The Raven trail at Brechfa. Soe fun bits, but overall I just don't get it.

I friggin love this trail! Whats your problem??

Agreed you must be doing it wrong.

the secret to loving Penmachno is shimano mw80 boots and waterproof overtrousers! 😆

Llangdegla is the worst I've been to. Didnt really enjoy it at all, there was a few very short good bits, but that was it. Didnt seem like there was much climbing or descending, felt like I was riding round centre parks.

You're doing it wrong.

Go on then, do tell!

Coed Llandegla, Grizedale and Coed Llandegla

I like bits of Kirroughtree - it feels like a proper day out rather than a spin round a trail centre.

But ther is one section in particular which is basically a series of pointless meanderings up and down and looping around, gradually ascending, followed by a mile of riding in a wide, wet ditch.

That bit ^^^ is just before the lovely swoopy, bermy section before Shredder (is that the right name?!).

My memories may be coloured by the fact that last time we did it, the shop was closed, so we did the whole loop on one small tangerine and 500ml of water between the three of us.

half the scottish ones listed there can hardly be classed as trail centres - kirkhill FP is not a trail centre! Likewise Pollock park.

and ChrisL - what were you driving at CV? we used to razz around trailbuilding at CV in everything from clios to lowered audis and not so much as a knock on the sump. The road in was more like a bombing range than a road though 🙂

For me.....

North Face Trail at Grizedale (IMHO more fun to be had away from the signed trails)
Tarw Trail at CYB
Pheonix Trail at Mabie (admittedly I have only done this once, which was after 6 days solid riding & I was quite tired)

1 Cannock
1.1 Swinley
2 Grizedale
2.2 Llandegla
3 Gisburn
3.3 Hamsterley

cannock
marin
skyline

At least you've got some trail centres. There's **** all down south.

+1 bedgebury. Like riding round a muddy park compared to a proper trail centre. Swinley although OK for the SE wouldn't even get a look in if it was located almost anywhere else in the UK

Kielder, Llandegla & Skyline.

Kielder for making me cycle up a big hill without rewarding me with a big descent. By the time I got to the good stuff I was still angry!

Llandegla, well you've no doubt heard it all before.

Skyline, zzzzzzz

Sherwood pines!!

Haven't been to any truly terrible ones...

Ae is the one that irritated me most. Some very nice riding, but miles and miles of average/poor riding. I think if the Omega Man wasn't so hilariously overhyped I might have been more forgiving but after slogging round the rest of it, it was just the final nail. But I need to get back and do it again with realistic expectations.

Kielder is a weird one, with that terrible top section (I suppose some people like it but not many) and all the misgraded trails, blues that are green, red that's "an easy red", ie, blue... But the good stuff makes up for it, 2 laps of lower deadwater, once down the red, once down the black, sorted. Good skills area too. Into the Valley's one of my favourite trail centre sections anywhere.

Calderdale is totally crap. Grubbers everywhere. Don't [s]come[/s] go

given how much great riding there is around the waymarked trails then it has to be

grizedale
haldon
cannock

although each one of those trails serves a purpose and as such none can truly be considered bad.

Grizedale
Grizedale
Grizedale

Grizedale
Grizedale
Grizedale

So much potential. So little result