Hi all
Above is a strava heatmap of Delamere (in blue) overlayed by my Saturday ride with my sons (in red).

I’ve been taken around Delamere many times by Dave Dodd and Tim at Sideways. Obviously when you’re following you don’t always catch where you are, especially as every fireroad looks the same!

Some questions if I may.

A) Is #1 on the map that great bit of swoopy track that descends from a road/doubletrack? If so, it’s one of my favourites, so I will have to search that one out. Is the stuff around #5 worth doing to get to it. I got lost leading 10 people around that way on a night ride once, so I’ve not been back.

B) Does #2 on the map follow a boggy ditch a bit like #3 on the map? I went along #3 on Sat expecting it to be the boggy ditch-crossing bit, but it obviously wasn’t the bit I remembered.

C) I’ve never done the downhill tracks from the tower. Tried once, but it had been sabotaged/overgrown. Is it worth doing now? #4 in particular looks like it might be fun? Any knowledge?

D) I’ve been around Dead Lake at #6 before, but last time it was overgrown. Worth doing in mid Summer?

Any other bits I’m missing out on?

Cheers!

Have you been over into primrose wood? Other side of the A road. Lots of good stuff there.

Blackflag – No – here?
http://labs.strava.com/heatmap/#14/-2.68097/53.20319/blue/bike

Any more for any more?

Some nice Singletrack between old pale and primrose

Lots, but it’d be easier to show you in situ..

Mind, with all the felling thats going on, a lot of the good routes are getting mashed.
Sadly.

a) yeah, although a new fence has been put in so think yer fainter line is new entrance. think the rickety bridge has been repaired. few different ways through now though to negotiate ditches. re 5, yes less affected by felling.
b) along the fence line, got trashed with the felling. I did pick my way through but not great.
c) the fainter ones are the downhill tracks, good when dry. tend to use the zig zag one as a climb.
d)dead lake very recently trashed. had to walk through but mostly gone.

primrosehill has some good bits but will be pretty overgrown at the moment.

as teeto said loads has been trashed. hopefully new trails will develope when things die back this autumn. a lot of the old ones had deteriorated to such a state that I’d stopped riding them anyway, but most of the less travelled good stuff has gone.

We ride over there quite a bit so I’d like to think we know pretty much all of the good stuff. As some have mentioned a fair bit has been affected by the recent felling, but there are still tons of good trails if you know where to look. Also the forest / trails recover really quickly, so as some bits are lost others quickly drop back into use.
Check us out at http://www.thewoollybacks.co.uk if interested in joining up.

Milt – Thanks for taking the time to go through my questions Milt. Really useful.

I did wonder if the zigzag at #4 was the climb.

Yes, we noticed quite a bit of felling – That knoll just below #3 with the choice of chute descent or more technical descent was pretty trashed.
But then last time I rode #3 it was trashed and now it’s quite nice again.

Teetosugars – I’m sure I must have ridden with you years ago on the Sideways Thurs night rides. I’d love to get shown around. Tuesday nights work for me.

Artillerydave – Thanks for the invite. Currently all my Thursdays and Sundays are taken up with our Bollington riding group though.

I really love Delemere for riding.
Hard work getting others in our group to see the fun side though.
They prefer climb/descend/climb/descend of the Peaks.

I’ll try and get them over one Thurs night.

B) #3 probably waas the bit you remember, it’s easier to ride recently, post all the felling round there.

A) the straight west to east trail down the perimier fence is a bomber, best approached from the wiggles just to the west of 5 if I’m reading the heatmap right. Goes over a swampy strem on a rickety ladder. Also the little loop around the swampy pond is good if you are up there anyway.

Thanks tthew – do you mean the straight bright line just above the #5?
I’ll probably recognise it when I get there.

No idea how I got lost there once. It did put me off though.

do you mean the straight bright line just above the #5?

yep, that’s the one.

Cheers!

Need kevlar at the moment to ride the singletrack as it’s rather overgrown in the forest, makes for good exploring.

Funny how you fall into a rut and tend to ride the same places all the time, its a long time since Ive been over to Delamere but its just gone back onto my list of need to go places.

butlerjamesp – Member

Need kevlar at the moment to ride the singletrack as it’s rather overgrown in the forest, makes for good exploring. yep – we struggled in a couple of places – Black Lake in particular

velopete – Member

Funny how you fall into a rut and tend to ride the same places all the time, its a long time since Ive been over to Delamere but its just gone back onto my list of need to go places. yep – I’m like that. 50min drive is off-putting, but it’s great a couple of times a year – just like trail centres are.
When you can ride it with a bit of pace, it’s amazingly flowy compared to the peaks.

My son who rides there a few times a week says the following:-

A. Yes, the small swoopy trail with the bridges on it is still there and very fast at the moment. Around number 5 isn’t really worth doing though as its just a bit to overgrown to go fast on. If you’re around 1, there is a more interesting trail which involves going over fallen trees which is quite easy. Its the thin line just bellow number 1, with small red writing beneath it.
B. 2 doesn’t follow the same bog, and it is a bit overgrown, but a lot of Delamere is so that’s not a surprise.
C. Number four isn’t a real Mountain Biking trail, its just a narrow fire road. The best trail from the top used to be the one furthest away from number 4 but the forestry commission has recently taken all of the features down on it and it has become over grown, so the one closet to 4 is the best now. Its really flowwing and twisty, but not when wet.
D. No idea, never been there. But I take it you know about Manley Hill bike park and No Brains because they have the best maintained trails and can be really fun.

Hi larkim – please thank your son for me. Very helpful.
I’ll definitely try and find that track just below #1

Cheers!

Hi Alex,
I’ve virtually stopped riding in Delamere now, as it’s being ripped apart as they convert it from a small forest to a smaller copse! So frustrating. There’s still some stuff there, but I prefer going to Cannock where managing the trees is done in a much better way. Oh, and it’s about 30 times the size too!
Dave

Hi Dave – good to hear from you!

I don’t know even a small bit of the natural stuff at Cannock. I went there a couple of times with yourself/Tim/BigJohn?/etc, but not enough for any of it to stick.

My boys love the FtD/Monkey trails, but it would be really nice to show them more.

Unfortunately, for me it’s a 1h20 drive, which means it only happens a couple of times a year. 🙁