Hamsterley Forest – worth riding in the wet?

Forecast for next few days is rain and as I’ll be near Hamersterley I was planning on dropping in for a few hours ride. So to all you locals of Hamsterley – Do the trails turn to rivers of mud or do they hold out ok in the wet?

I did a course there in alternating drizzle/peeing rain (on the 4x track, bits of Section 13 and some of the DH track) and it was miserable 🙁 Dunno about the rest but I can imagine Root666 and the Oddsox bit would be crap in the wet as well.

There will probably just be a few puddles about on the red/black, it drains pretty well. Root666 will be wet but there is a fireroad past it if you want to avoid.

Descend DH lines can get pretty muddy if you plan on riding there.

If you’ve not ridden there before, just be aware the red loop has loads of long fire roads, I prefer to mix up the best bits of the red and do a full lap of the black (normal red difficulty imo).

WTF? 😥

Is Hamsterley ever dry? There’s a reason Danny Hart did so well in the gloop of Champerey…

Ermm some odd reply’s here.

I’m local. Ride all year there.

The offical graded stuff is hard pack gravel based. You’ll get covered in brown water but it’ll all be rideable.

the sneaky stuff will be wet and slippy. You’ll get caked in muck but it’ll be fun. I’ll be chucking the spikes on soon and be riding these all winter.

the DH stuff is all well dug and well used. You’ll get wet and muddy but oddly it’s always busier when the weather’s crap .

Enjoy ?

I’ve ridden there in the driving rain, not had an issue. 😀

You are are going to get wet, muddy and sideways.

You’re not going to melt.

Thanks survivor and yorkshire89

It’ll be OK on the entire red/black combo. I was there yesterday and there wasn’t much mud on route 666 so a bit more rain there won’t make it much worse. Some slippy roots if you go off piste on beehives and the likes.

I actually ride there more in winter as I find it drains well and it saves me chewing up the BW’s in the mountains after wet spells.

Red, black and fireroad link-ups is my usual route.

The bottom of Beehives was a mess this summer I’m sure you can get lost there now.

Route 666 gets puddles but it’s never that muddy.

There’s a couple of bits to watch out for. Special K and Brain Freeze are better wet than damp as there are some off camber cobbled bits t that are shit in the damp, and Pikes Teeth and Oddsox are better wet.