New stuff is what keeps us riding our bikes. If you need some inspiration and information, here’s our starter for fifteen.
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By ben_haworth
Get the full story here:
https://singletrackworld.com/2022/01/15-new-or-revamped-places-to-ride-in-2022/
Typo?
Fort William and its gondola is no longer just the preserve of Blue and Red grade tracks
I remember accidentally doing the Afan Skyline about 15 years ago, after missing one of the turns on whatever route we thought we were doing that afternoon after doing other stuff in the morning. That was a loooooong day, and pretty much cemented by hatred of trail centres.
Grneo woods is due a big refurb this year, dates not firm yet but Ride Sheffield hope to make an announcement for plans before the end of Feb.
This is curious - MBR had almost exactly the same article in their mag this month, even including the West Kernow Way, Elan Valley, Skyline reopening, the trail in Manchester....
Also there's a typo in number 3 - it's the Garw (Garoo!) valley. I haven't heard anything locally about anything being done up there - I'll have to ask around.
I use rowmaps.com to show bridleways, restricted byways and BOATs on an OS map when planning routes. It takes a while to get used to the clunky web site, but once you’ve set preferences and tweaked the map size it’s great.
I've never heard of Darren Fawr, I must try it, it's not far from me.
Cwmcarn news bits... Well, the red extension is... ****. There's no other way to put it, I know a lot of diehard CC fans and I'm yet to find someone who likes it. The very first bit, 300m or so, down to the forest drive is fun... the rest seems it's either built exclusively for eBikers to like, or backwards, it's a long climb with a couple of berms and jumps on very strange. It's supposedly phase 1 of 2 that will see it being used as a way to connect Twrch with Cafal, but there's already a better way of doing that, that doesn't involve doing 90% of the climb of Twrch and then leaving it just before the best descents.
The Blue / Pwca is great fun, just don't take your youngsters on it thinking it's a easier trail, it's short, but the climb is quite tough for little legs and the descent is just a great succession of jumps broken that can be at least attempted as doubles or triples broken up by steep, sharp berms. I've no idea why it's classed as a blue, loads of fast, experienced riders I know have binned on it.
I was at Drumlanrig during the summer and part of the trail was closed there.
Rik (trailbuilder and general in-charge-guy) said that they were redoing a lot of the trails, regrading much of the black as red and adding new parts.
Can't remember the details but it might be considerably changed.
I’ve never heard of Darren Fawr, I must try it, it’s not far from me.
It's ok, and would be good if it was longer. The problem for me is that it's up a dead-end valley, doesn't link up with anything else and totals 6km. You need to enjoy doing multiple laps, or you'll get bored very quickly and wonder why you didn't drive somewhere more worthwhile in the first place.
I suspect @ossify it will be a loooong time before anything re-opens at Drumlanrig after the storm. I doubt they have the kit and resources that Forestry Scotland can call upon and the trails are buggered right now.
Cwmcarn news bits… Well, the red extension is… ****. There’s no other way to put it, I know a lot of diehard CC fans and I’m yet to find someone who likes it.
Yep, completely pointless. Much, much better ways to link the two already using quick fireroad links if you do the Twrch first and two separate options if you do the Cafall first depending on how much of the Twrch initial climb you want to do. So much more could have been accomplished with the funding.
It’s ok, and would be good if it was longer. The problem for me is that it’s up a dead-end valley, doesn’t link up with anything else and totals 6km.
You can link it into bits of Skyline if you want a big day out but otherwise it's only something to do if you're there anyway.
Downloaded Bridlewayz app. Claims to cover UK. North of Scottish border - zilch. I know there are technically no bridleways in Scotland. open access, etc.
Like the look of Blue Doon.
Hopefully Aston Hill will reopen later this year and can feature on the list at some stage!
I visited the Bridlewayz website, but could not see where to download the app. Could someone please point me in the right direction.
Download it from the google play store or apple app store on your mobile device
Getting a few bad vibes from that bridlewayz app (more incompetence rather than nefarious) I think I'll wait until they've ironed out the bugs...
Thanks JWH and jimdubleyou
Cwmcarn news bits… Well, the red extension is… ****. There’s no other way to put it, I know a lot of diehard CC fans and I’m yet to find someone who likes it. The very first bit, 300m or so, down to the forest drive is fun… the rest seems it’s either built exclusively for eBikers to like, or backwards, it’s a long climb with a couple of berms and jumps on very strange
Aha, I was wondering what the Glenlivet trail crew had moved onto as their next job 🙂