What’s the best UK trail centre?

Apart from Hamsterley which used to be my local I haven’t been to a trail centre in probably 10 years.

So if I just want a quick few hours razzing around riding jumps, drops and tech stuff, where’s the most entertaining place to go? I need some fun to balance out all the pedalling I’ve been doing.

Ideally doable in a day from Sheffield. I know I need to get to the Tweed valley but I’ll have to plan ahead for that one.

Gisburn
Llandegla
BPW (would be a long day though)
Cannock chase/stile cop
Stainburn

Laggan for me.
The black is so fun and has sections that I’m always surprised exist in a trail centre.

Maybe not a day trip mind.

I don’t know about ‘best’ as I’ve hardly ridden any, but Llandegla is pretty good fun and doable in a day from you. Not sure it’s got more fun to pedalling ratio than the average decent Peak / Win Hill / Wharncliffe day though. It’s nice for a change especially when everything is wet and you want a burger at the end of the ride.

Leeds Urban Bike Park – not big but fits the bill for a razz, jumps, drops (and a pedal) and cake
Gisburn – plenty of pedalling, bit of fun, with a couple of flowy DH sections and the HOPE line
Stainburn – rocky tech

> Maybe not a day trip mind.

A days drive.
Each way.

Farmer John’s is pretty fun. Just don’t leave your bike unattended.

For a genuine trail centre I really like Nant Yr Arian, it’s not the biggest but great fun. Not many jumps or drops though, sounds more like a bike park that you’re after

Farmer John’s is good but I wouldn’t put that as a trail centre neither is bpw .
Gisburn I haven’t ridden in over 12 years so unless something miraculous has happened there I wouldn’t travel.
Laggan is the best I’ve ridden
Dalbeattie is also a favourite if I’m up that way
Llandegla is fantastic for the winter months as it rides really well all year but gets very busy in summer.
Stainburn is fantastic for hoaning yours skills for a couple of hours or longer if you know your way across the road .

And how can I forget the last rocky descent at afan…..mega id travel from Yorkshire just to ride that last descent lol

Is Lee Quarry still a thing? That’s surely the closest trail centre to Sheffield?

But deffo recommend Laggan as others have above. Also Comrie Croft is an absolute gem and very slightly closer to Sheffield.

Personally, I think of
the Welsh Trail Centres – Coed Y Brenin has the most to offer, Nant Yr Arian is a good
option too – both Afan and Llandegla suffer in comparison. Dalby is good, Gisburn I find a bit dull, Wharnecliff is fine, I quite like the Forest of Dean and Cannock though. North of the Border, Innerleithen and Glentress are good. Ae wasn’t as good to me, Mabie was good.

Ae wasn’t as good to me, Mabie was good.

Kirroughtree for me if heading north west! But Laggan for the win. Worth the drive.

I went back to the climachx trail recently. I’d forgotten how good the final descent back to the car park is,it’s an absolute belter.

The rest of the trail is a bit meh though, but if you’re in the area it’s well worth doing purely for the final descent

Greno/Warncliffe are much less than a days travel from Sheffield for razzing and jumps n shit! Lady Cannings/Blacka more on your doorstep as well. And that little one in the park I can’t remember the name of…..

Stainburn is great. LUBP is pretty much just jumps with a couple of drops. I always think Gisburn is fun. Haven’t been to degla or Hamsterly for years and I used to love Hamsterly.

Mini Marin or is it Gwyder Mar now, apologies for spelling, 100% better than Llandegla.

Biggish peddle up though but hey ho.

Penmachno

Underrated, proper red trail IMHO. Can easily be combined with the Marin trail

Only good thing about Llandegla is the Cafe. Poor riding and the grading is pants YMMV 😃.

Lee Quarry is trashed nowadays- avoid.
Gisburn winds me up – no flow whatsoever, Hope line is worn out, ballache of a road to get there.

‘Degla for me if I want an easy quick blast.

I wouldn’t make a big day out of Nant Yr Arian. With the continued closure of part of it, it only takes about half an hour to ride around! (It’s an excellent half hour mind you!)

I will only goto penmachno when it hasn’t rained for at least a month unless you like wet feet. Warncliffe is great and super close to Sheffield

Llandegla is a bit meh I think – I did it a few years ago and was underwhelmed. The only good bits were the ‘black’ graded bits that were at best Red bits. And there weren’t enough of them and not easily repeatable without loads of boring pedally bits. All the stuff I’ve done is in wales but I’m not sure that’s easily do-able in a day from Sheffield. Coed Y Brenin has a lot of stuff in North Wales – I didn’t mind it but found black / black loops back to back either side of lunch was pretty hard on the body.

South Wales is epic but that’s hours and hours from you.

Leeds urban bike park is ok for a few hours playing – I’d take a hardtail there as it’s pump track / jump track / mild downhill sections that aren’t very steep.

I’m guessing if you’re in Sheffield you’ve already done a lot of Grenoside / Wharncliffe?

Cannock I’ve not been to but it sounds like Swinley on a slightly bigger hill unless you find the off piste stuff. That’s about all my knowledge apart from South Wales though – love love love Cwmcarn, Brechfa is pretty good. Afan a bit underwhelming for me – Afan Masts off piste is good though.

Gisburn can actually be pretty good for a few hours razz. Just don’t do the full loop!

Instead from the car park go straight across past the farm house, up to the Hope line and session all the variations till you get bored. Then move on to the Leap of Faith DH lines. Again session all the variations until bored, then go down to Hully Gully, maybe that new bit and call it day. It links together nicely and you get to do all the best features multiple times!

Personally, I think of
the Welsh Trail Centres – Coed Y Brenin has the most to offer,

So I’ve had a bit of a [late] epiphany about trail centres recently. I used to think that they were about sustained grade, some challenging tech, long miles & interesting rocky riding.

And hence CyB was my favourite trail centre south of the border.

Went back to CyB last weekend and it was an absolute revelation ( not in a good way).
We avoided the Red Bull as I recalled it actually being a bit shit when we did it in October. So we did the Dragons Back, or at least most of it. OMFG it is dull. Soooooo dull. Fireroad hell. No flow at all really.
Did the MBR the next day. It was a bit better, but not much. Bubble well and truly burst.

CyB has aged terribly, as evidenced by the almost empty carpark at half term (YSHTMV).

It used to provide excellent endurance riding, and also a tech challenge on old bikes. With modern bikes the tech challenge has disappeared, and there’s nothing else there. There’s no flow, very little jumps, just mile after mile of rocky, unflowy filling bashing.

Contrast that with the insanely well built ‘Accelerator’ at Hamsterley, or the lovely black and red sections at Whinlatter, which had the kids grinning from ear to ear and raring for another lap.

For me these days there is no way traditional trail centres can compete with natural trails for techie challenge ( unless they ban bikes like my skills compensator 😉 ) . They really produce the goods when they are fast, flowy fun and jumpy.

I can’t see CyB surviving long as it currently is.

From my limited experience Coed y Brenin is a good option. Loads of trails. It would be hard not to find a couple of days good riding

Langdegla didn’t seem as good

The trail at Penmachno is fab. But you don’t get the options and cafe

Of the Scottish ones Dalbeattie and Kirroughtree left me with the feeling that probably the best trail centres are in Scotland. I was with younger teens so didn’t get the full experience

Laggan for me, or Glenlivet is great for a family ride, that’s another half day further from you than Laggan though.

I think my bikes got less travel than the Generalists

Only ridden Laggan once but remember it being great. Marin (Gwydir Mawr) is my favourite trail centre though. For jumps, drops, etc… I can’t imagine many trail centres topping what’s around Sheffield anyway though.

Are we all riding the same CyB? @thegeneralist sums it up nicely. That place is dining out on nostalgia, the trails are terrible, even more so with the huge variety on offer around the country.

I don’t get all the CyB love either. Gwdyr Mach and Penmachno are far better trails.

So if I just want a quick few hours razzing around riding jumps, drops and tech stuff, where’s the most entertaining place to go? I need some fun to balance out all the pedalling I’ve been doing.

Ideally doable in a day from Sheffield.

Leeds Urban Bike Park.

Disclaimer: I don’t do much in the way of MTBing these days and haven’t been to any other trail centre in years. But I do like LUBP. Easy to get to, lots to do for a few hours (it’s not worth an all day visit IMHO), decent cafe, good flow to the trails.

Marin trail. Love it. Rocky, fast descents, feels a bit wild in places. It’s ace.
I liked CyB, just goes to show really, horses/courses. It’s a different kind to some but a lap of The Beast just feels like a nice day in the hills.

A few years ago I’d have said Afan or CYB but they’re both really suffering from lack of investment and being left behind by modern bikes and the push for Enduro. Cwmcarn has good stuff but not enough of it (especially after the uplift ceased) and needs a bit of updating. I’d probably go with FOD having the best offering right now with it’s DH trails, blue and red and the honeypot that is the off-piste the locals are constantly building. Although:

So if I just want a quick few hours razzing around riding jumps, drops and tech stuff, where’s the most entertaining place to go? I need some fun to balance out all the pedalling I’ve been doing.

pretty much describes my days at Windhill, Tidworth and Rogate. Neither are trail centres but, especially at Windhill, you can pedal up all day and just smash out multiple laps all day and never get bored.

At the end of the day we have a massive choice here in the UK and we do seem to take it all for granted!

So if I just want a quick few hours razzing around riding jumps, drops and tech stuff, where’s the most entertaining place to go?

Like I said, Farmer John’s ticks all those boxes and is only an hour away from Sheff.

Apologies submarined, I’m going to argue with you….

It’s a different kind to some but a lap of The Beast just feels like a nice day in the hills.

It’s really not. On both counts.
Yep, it makes a great brainsout thrash if you need some exercise for two and a half hours, but that’s about it.

It’s not really a day in the hills. Or maybe it is, but they’re dull as **** hills. Covered in tens of thousands of identical 20 year old sitka spruce. Views are nothing special, although I suppose they do compare well against most trail centres south of Lancaster.

Compare that with Laggan for example. The Scots pines spread about. The rocky slabs, absolutely gorgeous.

Back to the OP, in approx order:

The Good:
____________
Laggan
Golspie
Hamsters
Whinlatter
Kirroughtree
Dalbeattie
Gisburn
Comrie
Glentress
Inners
Llandegla
Dalby
Cannock

Indufferent:
___________
Marin
Afan
Penmachno ( apologies, its been 15 years since I went. It may be good)
Grisedale
Mach

Then the dross:
__________
Mabie
Nevis (sans remontees)
Haldon
Newcastleton
Kielder
Glenlivet ( deserves last place not simply because it is so bad, but because it is so bad despite being so new and being in an enviable position where they could have taken a look around and recreated the best things about lots of trail centres. )

The Good:
____________
Laggan
Golspie
Hamsters
Whinlatter
Kirroughtree
Dalbeattie
Gisburn
Comrie
Glentress
Inners
Llandegla
Dalby

You can’t put gisburn,dalby and Cannock in a list of good trail centres, they’re terrible 😔

The Good:

Cannock

Err…

Also, FoD is missing off the list altogether.

Echo the CyB comments I rode it in October, Dragons Back in the morning/MBR afternoon. Seemed to spend all day on fireroads (Nice views though and a nice cafe, was a lovely day though which helped!)  Old Marin AKA Gwndir was good though!

Wharncliffes the obvious one for me though from Sheffield.

Anyone enjoy some of the less-rated trail centres on a hardtail? Seems like an obvious compromise if the trails are too tame for an enduro sled, for example.

The best trail centre is the one you like going to I guess. I really quite like the old Marin although I know loads of folks actively hate it. I don’t mind CyB but you have to be in the right frame of mind, and the weather needs to be nice. Did a loop of Llandegla a couple of weeks back and it was heaving in the CP, but it’s still a nice enough trundle round, even if it is v short. Of all the Scottish ones, Glentress is my least favourite I think, I never seem to get any flow going,  but places like Dalbeattie and Kiroughtree suffer from the same thing as all the older ones in Wales do; they’re just not really built for easily pedal-able 160mm enduro bikes.

Wharncliffes the obvious one for me though from Sheffield.

Aye, the new Alec & Thora at Deepcar end was a delight today.