West Midlands or UK/Wales "wilderness ride"

Greetings to you all. Am planning a short “wilderness” ride which is to include a single night camping out somewhere remote. We will be documenting the trip whilst attempting not to ruin the ride or cameras. Planning this for October so not expecting the best of weather. Can anyone advise on a suitable loop somewhere in the west midlands or uk/wales border region with a nice halfway point to bed down. Please bear in mind that we are not looking for an epic trip. probably only 15 miles each day. Oh and I realise “wilderness” is probably not the best turn of phrase but in an attempt to glorify what will probably be a weekend of riding, arsing around with exposure levels and arguing who has the best hip flask juice…I think it serves well.

Possible idea

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1r4vFZo&doc_id=7170&v=5b

Hmmm looks interesting but at 164 miles, probably a little more than we had planned. Delved further into the site and found a very encouraging picture caption

“The start of Monks Trod. A completely insane, centuries old route which is pretty much impossible on a bike”.

Some people just take the word challenge to a whole new level!!..or perhaps I’m just lazy?

The classic ‘Wayfarer’s’?

http://www.offroadadventures-online.com/rr049.html

This has two bothies and some nice self catered cottages en-route. And a couple of great pubs close by too.

Email me for updated details of the route.

Ambrose

if in the west midlands you should include Clent, the lickeys and kip out in the Wyre forest, the latter can be proper wilderness away from the visitor centre (and the ants are HUGE 😯

15 miles?

Cannock Chase?

Cheers everyone, Wayfarer’s and wyre forest looking like good options especially the latter. Looking forward to it.

Do u know the wyre, all the best bits are off the beaten track

Yo Reynolds, if you do choose the wyre forest, prop the best place to bivvy down for the night ( in oct) would be at goldilocks cottage. actual house is owned by the cabury family, and normaly boarded up like fork knox, but does have a nice wooden veranda ( spelling?) to doss down on. Would provide a bit more comfort /shelter for you.
As RD says, best stuff is via local knowledge but quite a few locals on here. Have got GPS routes if needed, but a rough namecheck of people to ask , RD, myself, MiltiantGraham.

As for doing 15 mile a day, appriecate you would be carrying own kit..but it’s not exactly pushing it..You could do an off road route of Clent to Kinver to Wyre then a quick loop of the forest. approx 35miles…just a thought.
Hope this helps..

There is no wilderness in the west mids, the closest to it would be the borderland around clun/knighton.

Cheers for all the tips guys and gals. As you say 15 miles per day is not that much but it’s positively epic for the chap I am riding with!!! To be fair it’s a sensible distance for the first time at doing this especially given the amount of beer I will be dragging along!!
Unfortunately I don’t have a GPS unit so guides won’t be of much use – thanks anyway MicArms

15 miles will give a great sample of all the good stuff in the wyre, is your buddy good at technical stuff or just a bit unfit (like me!)? if he is the fireroads and the few obvious paths will keep you entertained but it’s not that inspiring

Where is the UK border? Do you mean England/Wales border?

You’ll struggle to find a 15 mile off road route around here without just going round and round in circles in the Wyre Forest.
If you want to follow Mics suggestion of Goldilocks cottage and you don’t mind a bit of road mileage you could start at either Clee Hill and do a bit of a roundabout route on lanes and bridleways, or Bridgnorth and follow Sustrans Route 45.
Another option would be to start from Kidderminster, head up the canal to Cookley, then up over Shatterford and in to the forest via Arley. This is one of my extended commutes and is a nice mixture of lanes, bridleways and other trails. 😉

Thanks for all you comments and help regarding the first “wilderness”, now retitled bikepacking ride. Have finally decided to head out to the Elan Valley reservoirs in Wales. Looks like some good riding riding in the area, as well as the opportunity to camp down overnight with cracking views in the morning.

monks trod is ace. i urge all mountian bikers to have a crack. 😈

There is no wilderness in the west mids

You’ve obv never been to Bilston or Dudley

You won’t regret chosing the Elan valley – some fantastic riding round there 🙂

thomthumb – Member
monks trod is ace. i urge all mountian bikers to have a crack.

Your little smiling devil I guess is down to omitting the ‘but not during or following wet weather’ tag 8) It is indeed a fantastic area around there though.

To Brummies Cannock Chase is like the Amazon Rain Forest.

Just seen a report in pics of a very wet ride in the Elan Valley. Hey we are going in the first week of October…it should be scorching. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the reservoirs dried up! Got my tent and a couple of bottles of Death or Glory if we need to camp down prematurely due to unscheduled meteorological nastiness. Does anyone have any route guides aside from this one – http://www.mtbbritain.co.uk/rhayader_round_route.html

I like the sound of that crazy guy’s route. Cack website, but a nice write-up and something to get the epic weekender juices flowing.

There’s a 30k Elan Valley route in the Wales Mountainbiking book by Tom Hutton, Vertebrate Publishing. Lots of trails around there so I’m sure it could be extended to suit your needs. HTH

Okay..so we ended up heading over to Elan Valley, heading off from Rhayader along the Elan Trail to the visitor centre. From then it was round the reservoirs and off into the hills for some great riding, lots of pushing and a fantastic nights camping with a sunrise to equal those experienced in Kenya. Next time we will definitely look to reduce the weight of kit to make the experience more pleasant. Would recommend the area to anyone. Thanks to all above for advice and suggestions.