Planning a ride next week and taking a mate who is a bit of novice, I was thinking of taking him Llandegla or North Face Trail in Grizedale. I’ve never been to the latter and was wondering if it’s any good?

Its very tame and theres a LOT of fire-road. Far too much TBH. But, the singletrack sections that are there, when ridden fast, are pretty good.

Probably better to go without a novice so you can mix the NFT in with some of the BWs (and cheeky bits) which are, quite honestly, superb! Parkamoor, Breasty Haw, Devils Gallop etc all link in nicely with Grizedales BWs and the good bits of the NFT.

Hmmm, I don’t like fire road, think I’ll give it a miss. How about The Altura Trail at Whinlatter?

Personally I rate Whinlatter a lot higher than Grizedale (in terms of the trail centre trails). There is a blue trail which, whilst not being long, is still good fun anyway.

The north and south loops of the red are both great fun. My personal favourite bit is the descent from the top of the south loop all the way back down, its great fun and goes on for ages!

Keswick makes a good place to be based for a biking weekend, we did whinlatter one day and Borrowdale bash the next.

When I did the NFT I found it really really good. Maybe not one to pootle around but it comes alive at speed. Whinlatter is better though, but then I don’t think there is a better trail centre than Whinlatter.

As a novice I really enjoyed the NFT, not so keen now. Whinlatter is much better IMO.

Yeah, Whinlatter is better, but NFT is still good I reckon. I didn’t ride it for years because everyone on here always says that it’s crap and you should go to Whinlatter or ride the natural stuff instead. When I did end up giving it a blast I really enjoyed it, more of an xc race bike venue than a 160mm mountain-masher place though.

I quite enjoy doing bits of the NFT as part of a bigger ride around the forest. First climb is a good way to get up towards Parkamoor etc and the first bit of descent from Moor Top is quite fun. But yeah my 160mm mincecorelite ‘rig’ is probably not the best for it 🙂

NFT is best enjoyed at speed on hard tail or XC oriented full susser

IME YMMV ect ect

I liked the NFT because it’s the first trail I ever rode, and I could do it all on my todd without worrying about navigation and all that crap, which I hate. I can’t imagine someone doing it and not having any fun – plus there’s a black section there now as well.

Not done Llandegla but I’d say Whinlatter is better than Grizedale for a novice. Start off with the blue, then the southern half of the red. Quick cuppa and then (if they coped OK) the northern half of the red. Repeat until tired/bored. The boardwalk sections at Grizedale can be unnerving for the unsteady, and there is more tedious fire road.