I’ve got a week in Brum at the end of April, I want to get some riding in (either MTB or Road), how easy is it to get to Cannock from the centre of Brum (where the hotel is) and is it worth it? any other areas for consideration?

Easy to get there just go down the A38 to Lichfield then the A51 to Rugeley . Not worth it as there are too many sniper pebbles.

If you decide to go don’t forget your permit.

Easy from brum. Get onto the A38 towards Derby/Burton then get off at the Litchfield junction and head for Rugeley. I’d guess, with no traffic holding you up, about 40 mins (if you don’t mind getting a reasonable lick on on the dual carriageway) – about the same time it takes me from where I live but coming from the other direction, so definitely worth it. You can get around the whole trail in less that 2hrs and if you want to repeat/session the upper and lower cliff downhills you can climb back up and come back down in about 15 mins for lower cliff and similar for upper cliff. This is my usual run – a loop round the trail with a few repeats of upper and lower cliff.

I live right by the chase and work in Brum. Piece of wee-wee to get to, no need for a car if you don’t have one with you.

I’d say if you are that close Cannock is very worth the trip, for road or off road. I ride the dog a LOT and don’t understand the bad rep it has, as long as you don’t go on a sunny Sunday afternoon it’s brilliant.

That’s great, cheers all, I’m going to give it a go at least once, a full five days on a course I’ll go stir crazy!

Cannock is definitely worth that trip, watch out for werewolves, pigmen & cucumbers!

Cannock is worth it, good riding for a blast around after work. Also consider that the Long Mynd is ~1hr 30mins away (depending on traffic and exactly where you are in Brum), so you could potentially do Minton Batch.

I live just outside Brum and regularly make the trip over and it’s well worth it.

If you’re after some riding away from the city of an evening the Sutton park is a lot closer and is normally dead quiet for an evening spin.

You should be ok from the cucumbers etc just keep to the main trails. Traffic can be a bitch depending on time

You can get the train from New Street to Hednesford or Rugeley Town for speedy access to the Chase.

Never mind the cucumbers, i live in Cannock, i’ll be riding when you are, and i’m proper scary..

Sutton Park is good but you have to know where you are going for the best bits! Same with Baggeridge Park which is small but again most of the fun bits aren’t obvious if you don’t know they are there! If you do go to Cannock then make sure you do the Monkey in addition to the Dog. Cannock’s ‘best bits’ in my opinion are the off-piste sections though.

If you are in central Birmingham then yes the train is a good bet. I live in Rugeley and at the moment commute by train from Rugeley Town into New Street. It take between 50-55 minutes.

To get to the way marked trails from the station is a sensible ride.

Rugeley Town Station’s postcode is WS15 1BL and the trail head for Follow the Dog / Monkey is at Birches Valley which is WS15 2UQ if you want to look on Google maps.

Trail info and stuff here; http://www.chasetrails.co.uk/

Watch out for the pebbles though. You’ll have no grip and certainly die according to many on here.

Personally, I enjoy it. Was out last night and it was riding well; dry and grippy.

st – Me too! I probably see you most days. I get on at hednesford grey and red timbuk2 bag. Usually trying to avoid a small group of noisy women.

St is the grumpy one , red eyes etc,,

The Cucumber Incident was on one of the main trails wasn’t it?

Definitely worth a ride there, I really like it for what it is. As said above, Upper and Lower Cliffs can be sessioned if you want, which you probably will!

By sessioned do you mean ridden badly by a mediocre rider on a fancy new bike all captured on a Gopro?

Cucumber……?

I’ve missed a thread here haven’t I?

Interrupting a dogging session with 700 lumens was the biggest danger when I used to live there.

By sessioned do you mean ridden badly by a mediocre rider on a fancy new bike all captured on a Gopro?

No I mean ridden a few times as they can easily be looped taking the fire road back to the bottom of the climbs. Although your description fits me on Monday quite well 😳

;o)

hatter – Member
Cucumber……?

I’ve missed a thread here haven’t I?

not quite… on the FB group someone posted up a pic of a half eaten (barf) cucumber together with some used jonnies that they *ahem* came across over the chase. 😕
run down marquis drive after dark from the very top near the tackeroo and the it’s nearly always got cars on with god knows what going on inside, together with a load of teenagers in small cars with lots of smoke inside playing loud tunes. 🙂 the chase has something to offer everyone.