[Closed] Whinlater - Blue quercus trail - Worth doing?

its ok, but you need to do all 3 loops together to make it worth a trip out. start with north loop, then blue, then finish with south loop. Good fun.

there's a criminal amount of fire road descent near the start of it but it's an OK ride

I thought it was actually towards the harder end of the 'blue' spectrum, certainly it was a good & challenging workout for my newbie gf.
Some nice touches to it and runs through some great forest scenery.

I went round with my kids at half term and they loved it

I then went round again on my own and loved it. It cleverly done with a family friendly surface but with opt in jumps and rocky sections. I though it flowed well with swoopy turns and bermed corners.

But I'm a bike owner rather than Mountain Biker

I think it's great - perfect for mixed ability groups as there's optional jumps and techy climb sections. There's some massive berms on it as well - one in particular is huuuuuuuuuge!

It's quite short and, as above it's not worth travelling too far to do on its own but I took my 13yr old round as his first introduction to trail centre riding and he had a blast. Next time I'm up that way I would do again on my own as it would be a blast at full pelt.

It's very good, with jumps, big berms and optional rocky sections.

You were there for 5 hours yesterday and didn't do it?

Why is fire road complained about so much? The cost/difficulty of replacing it with singletrack (which would have to run close/parallel to that fire road) wouldn't make sense.

Can't help people who use trail centres a lot are too picky.

Anyone see that letter in Mbr suggesting that we all pay an annual license to ride in National Parks, so the money could be used to provide toilets/car parking at 'trail heads'.

🙄

You were there for 5 hours yesterday and didn't do it?

I was out with my 12 year old son yesterday and we did the north twice and the south once, plus had to get some running repairs done at the shop (those guys were brilliant by the way)

Thats my point, instead of trying the blue i thought i would rather do the north twice.

But i think i will give it a go

Why is fire road complained about so much?

I bet there are paths in the forest to thr right of the descent already - and I hope there's the intention to use/adapt one in future. Apart from anything else, a load of potentially inexperienced riders going quickly down a (steepish) road that walkers use isn't a great idea IMO

The cost/difficulty of replacing it with singletrack (which would have to run close/parallel to that fire road) wouldn't make sense

I bet there are paths in the forest to thr right of the descent already

There aren't. That fire road squeezes between some old ponds, linked to old mining, and the road.

They only had so much money - if they went for totally singletrack, the route would be half as long and wouldn't use the much better terrain that the fire road gets you to.
Also, losing that height sets you up for the climbing that follows.
😉

Also, losing that height sets you up for the climbing that follows.

(how about the little path to the left then - goes down to a pond about half way down the FR I think ??)

#2 for what boxelder says, all of it.

(how about the little path to the left then - goes down to a pond about half way down the FR I think ??)

There are these other people who apparently use the Forest - walkers, I believe they're called. It's their path, leading to ponds with habitat/wildlife value.

I'm told these 'walkers' are quite numerous, and were there first.
reports that I regularly walk those paths with the family are vastly overstated and libelous.

The Altura trails are an excellent facility and free to use. We should feel lucky to have what we've got so far. I've done some research up there (with kids from school) about you visitors feel about developments and [b]lots[/b][u] of folk aren't happy.

Excuse me for sounding a bit naive, but if you decide to ride a man made trail why do you complain about what man has made?

If you want to ride without restrictions then surely you should get a map out and head off into the hills?If you don't like a route that has been designed to cater for many needs and aspirations then surely you should plan your own route?

I can't see the logic in going to a trail centre then spending all your time trying to find alternative routes in there.

Am I missing something?

It's hardly very much fire road descending at all anyway.

(Now don't get me wrong, I said at the top that it's an OK ride. I also appreciate that it isn't aimed at keen regular riders.)

but

Sir Neil - surely feedback is a worthwhile phenomenon (especially when answering a question about the route), or would you discourage all comment on trails built by people (and thus potentially within our power to affect future projects)?
I spend no time at all in there trying to find alternative routes, so what you're missing is my point there, I suspect. I've been to Whinlatter twice and you're right, it's no use as a replacement for the other hills around (luckily it's an addition - useful to me as a non-local, often lone rider when weather's bad)

boxelder, my guess would be that the other visitors mostly dislike sharing trails with bikes (and sheer weight of numbers at weekends?). One reason why it'd be nice to extend the amount of the blue loop that's not on multi-user fireroad is that I do think that the open fireroad descent probably encourages higher average speeds than would a singletrack (at least among inexperienced riders) and this is on a "mixed" bit.
The "what about that other path?" was more citing an example of a totally workable path built in an area that you feel is difficult/impossible rather than a proposal to re-route down it (although... 😉 )

grumm, true but then it's harldy a long route overall. The other downward bits are almost all very enjoyable, so I can't help wondering what could be done there too

[edit - "criminal" was a bit hyperbolic, I admit 😳 ]

my guess would be that the other visitors mostly dislike sharing trails with bikes (and sheer weight of numbers at weekends?). One reason why it'd be nice to extend the amount of the blue loop that's not on multi-user fireroad is that I do think that the open fireroad descent probably encourages higher average speeds than would a singletrack (at least among inexperienced riders) and this is on a "mixed" bit.
The "what about that other path?" was more citing an example of a totally workable path built in an area that you feel is difficult/impossible rather than a proposal to re-route down it (although... )

Fair points.
That bits better going up anyway

Just got back from whinlater and surprise suprise it was raining again :roll:.Did the blue route for the first time after doing the north and south loops.If you push the pace you will Really enjoy it.Some of the blue is closed at the moment due to the storms though.

Is it worth it? simple, try it, i am not that fast on the bike and it only took me 45 mins to do the loop, use it as a warm up if needs be, i find it a good flowing track that can be as fun to ride as you want it to be.