I find myself over that way next week with a couple of hours to spare, thought I might take the bike. Research (only a little mind) shows 2 fairly tame trails but implies more/better stuff if you explore. Can anyone shed any light or is it just that – explore! Or is there somewhere better nearby?

I’ll be on my own so whats the capacity for getting lost?

On that note if any other old/slow/overweight riders fancy it, I’m hoping to be there Wednesday say 1.30pm to 3.30pm ish – cant promise thrills and spills but at least you’d be out the house.

Yes, there’s lots of “hidden” singletrack, but it’ll be VERY muddy at the moment.
I’m sure there’ll be plenty of other riders there on Wednesday, to tag along with.

I’d expect the bike shop (Tracs) to be open, since it also does bike hire.

Is that timing a definite? I could be tempted to a couple of hours, though this time of year I tend to favour Primrose wood on the other side of the A556. The tracks from Delamere to Primrose are worth a ride in themselves though, so the start point is the same.

Thanks Esme.

And tthew, timings fairly accurate but can try and be more precise later (delivering family to Hartford 1.00 ish then pick up 4.00 ish). Not stuck on Delamere but circular route may be better time wise? Thoughts?

What sort of bike/ride would you like? If you want a circular ride from Hartford it’s flat, bit’s of singletrack, double track, other woods. More suited to a hard-tail, even a singlespeed than full suspension.

edit – got to go and start my jobs now, I’ll catch up with you in a bit.

As has been said, it’s an absolute shit fest in there at the minute, and many of the old, good, trails are long gone now sadly..
I appreciate it’s a working forest, but they seem to have gone all out to just trash it.
Shame really..
I’d be tempted to drive to ‘degla. It’s only 40mins away from Delamere..

It’s a bog at th best of times and to get to any decent trails you’ll need the fire roads and over the next week they will resemble the Euston station concourse at rush hour. Head to Llandela.

I appreciate it’s a working forest, but they seem to have gone all out to just trash it.

Not just me then. They seem to have gone for a thinning approach rather than clearing and coincidentally(?) trashed the best bits. Just noticed yesterday the section where they had the very old north shore next to the 4x has been the latest victim 🙁

I don’t think there’s time for Llandegla in that time window.

I’ll use the private message thing to try and sort something Stu. If any of you other contributors fancy a trundle let me know, post back and I’ll let you know the meeting point.

This is what I was thinking of. Probably wants another couple of miles loop or diversion to add another half an hour, perhaps down towards Weaver Parkway but I can’t think of a way to make that particulaly interesting.

We’ve ridden it for a very long time, lots of great single track and if you know your way around you can find bits that aren’t “to” bad for mud, but it’s very hard to put a couple of hours in at this time of year without getting knee deep at some point.

We ended up getting fatbikes and the places was almost made for them…

Just back from there and can confirm it’s a mud bath in place, so mud tyres if you have them.