I would go Errwood Hall, Spanish shrine, Pym Chair, Shining Tor (small extension to cafe and/or Cat & Fiddle) Goyt's Moss, Errwood Hall.

If its windy the top section to Shining Tor is a bit exposed as I am sure many here could advise you.

Good walks (and mountain biking) around Three Shires Head, Axe Edge Moor, Wildboarclough, Shutlingsloe, The Roaches.

Each to their own i suppose.

What annoys me more is people that go to a beauty spot, such as Sandwood Bay, then leave litter all over the place.

After taking the scenic route in to the bay along the pathless cliff tops it was saddening to discover 5 plastic bin liners full of litter, much of which was blowing around the place.

Peatpits wood and is about to be destroyed 🙁

My vote is for Ambergate. Then you would get both the passing A6 traffic and A610 traffic.

Close to major road networks for deliveries etc. and some excellent riding on the doorstep.

Also if the celts 'arrived' who was here before..?

The beaker people.

why can't they name things properly? Or places? Hwlffordd

It's the same reason that Polish people "don't name places properly" Hairychested 😉

great pictures 🙂

Is their grammar getting worse?

Judging by the original posters' inability to distinguish 'to' and 'too' the grammar level was pretty low to begin with 😉

Edit..

Doh! Just seen oddjobs' post 😳

Gomorra

Looks great. Will have to make it down there one day.

Thanks for posting the pictures 🙂

It sounds strange when people pronounce Afan as "afff-an" though

I was looking up a Welsh pronounciation guide on the internet and realised f = v and ff = f. I thought about Afan and realised i had embarressed myself on my last trip there 🙂

Also can you clarify does "dd" = the?? Does this mean Dafydd = Davithe?

It is certainly boggy there and there is alot of tussock grass in places. There is another route in the vicinity that emerges onto the road close by so it is not exactly a massive loss.

I don't suppose there is any chance of giving that one up and having the descent through Oak's Wood upgraded as pay-off 😉

…

On a recent trip to Wales i paid £2-3 to ride the trails at Coed Trallwm. At first i didn't like the idea of it but then after a while i thought fair enough. The problem was that in many places the trails were in worse condition than natural trails.

On reflection i thought the cafe was expensive and it would have been better if they charged a couple of £2 for the parking instead to raise the necessary funds (having ridden to the centre i would have avoided this).

A few from today

Some singletrack to start the day 🙂

down by the canal

on the way home

dry and dusty descent home

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the woodland singletrack section in spring

hoping for some more mornings like this, later in the year

This thread has made me realise i don't have any pictures of some of the best bits. Will have to sort those out later 😉

Well done for helping the injured rider. Sounds like he was lucky to have you guys around.

Thanks for the link Zulu, enjoyed watching those.

The chap on C4 didn't seem to have much of a plan for food procurement and stayed about as long as his fat reserves would allow.

…

make sure you can see who your bidding against (ie make sure they actually exist and are not just a wall). I was told that the person selling the house can bid on the auction too!! Not sure if this was a wind-up though.

I didn't see him as "battling nature" but battling his own physiological response to external environmental pressures. Evolution has placed limits on what people are capable of achieving in these environments and the ice-man was pushing the boundaries of these.

For those that say he was selfish i guess you can say that about many people with sporting ambition, Steve Redgrave, for example.

Maybe you would have all been happier if he had bought a nice family estate car, got himself a 9-5 job and spent his weekends popping down to IKEA to get the latest "must-have" consumer items.

…

I've heard that Balblair is the best with views of both coasts. I've yet to ride it but that will change very soon.

Looking east…

Looking west…

Great pictures, thanks for posting.

Looks like you still made the most of the trip and found some quality riding.

You were lucky to see the tops of the Black Cuillin too 🙂

Here's a few for ya

The bridleways around Sheffield are smoother and flatter than the roads!

you will be greated by a beasty road climb back to Sligachan Hotel which would possibly spoil what is otherwise a great route

Not if you take the Moll road round the peninsular. I rode the Srath Beag loop also but did it in the opposite direction which meant cycling up the rideable sections then hike a bike for about 1 hour back to the road at Luib 🙁

If i were to ride the route again though i would do it as an out and back from Kilmarie then you could have a lunch stop at Sligahan hotel. Here are a few photos (hopefully to whet the appetite) from when i did the route on an early March day with "changeable" weather.

enjoy 🙂

you will be greated by a beasty road climb back to Sligachan Hotel which would possibly spoil what is otherwise a great route

Not if you take the Moll road round the peninsular. I rode the Srath Beag loop also but did it in the opposite direction which meant cycling up the rideable sections then hike a bike for about 1 hour back to the road at Luib 🙁

My hummer ('05 model i think it is) was/is badly damaged by chainsuck. I didn't need a redesigned frame to tell me that.

I thought they redesigned it immediately the year after anyway?

Glen Sligichan works well as an out and back IMO.

Start it from the car park at Kilmarie and it shouldn't matter too much what the weather has been like.

I took a flash photo of a Red Grouse in Scotland that was defending its territory. The flash angered the bird which then proceeded to attack me very aggressively for a period of about 2 to 3 minutes whilst i was desperately trying to to get away from the bird.

Unfortunately i was riding a technical part of the black trail at Glentress at the time and me not being a riding god meant it was a slow attempted escape which involved further bird attacks.

If the same event happened with a bird of prey i guess there could be alot more blood!

I think its because they have a higher GDP per capita than most other places and use faux rightous/religious arguments to pusue policies intended to increase their GDP per capita higher.

Personally I like the Americans I have met so far.

Was at Dixons Hollow in Dalby Forest once when a bus load of OAP's were being shown around for some reason.

Someone was explaining the concept of the bike park to the pensioners who seemed to be generally responding positively. There were some teenagers hanging around on the jumps grabbing a bit of air etc. and all was looking good in front of the visitors.

Then i decided i should add to the spectacle by riding along the raised boardwalk section in order to demonstrate to them how it should be done. After a full 2 feet i overbalanced and went ar*e over t*t falling in a big muddy puddle in the process.

Cue the comment "It is better left to the youngsters i think" to which there was great amusement and i scuttled off looking suitably embarassed. 😳

If someone is tailgating i try to increase the distance between myself and the car in front in order that i do not have to apply any harsh braking.

a trained chimp could probably do the latter

This move could put us in grave danger. Have you not seen planet of the apes?

I always thought these signs meant

"you should modify your behaviour towards me and allow me greater access to space because i am special because i have a baby in the car. If you could also see fit to give way and allow me priority access to the earth's resources that would be greatly appreciated".

To be fair the signs do work on me though. I usually tend to think "oh look this ****'s covered their back windscreen with stickers, they probably haven't seen me in their mirror so i'd better allow them even more space"

[…] = optional for longer day out including alot of road/back lanes

Gradbach – Lud's Church – Danebridge – Clough Head – Bearstone Rock – Moss End Farm – [Morridge Top Farm – Dun's Cow Grove – Edgetop – Hollinsclough Moor – Hollinsclough – Fough – Booth Farm – Leycote – Tenterhill] – Travellers Rest (Head of Manifold) – Knotbury – Three Shires Head – Holt – A54 – Cutthorn – Three Shires Head – Holt – Cumberland Brook – Macclesfield Forest – Nessit Hill – Wildboarclogh – Leech Wood – Tagsclough Hill – Burntcliff Top – Gradbach

🙂

No problems in Snowdonia but my stay there coincided with windy conditions so not a surprise really.

Later on during the trip i was in the Cambrian mountains and when the wind dropped there were alot of them around and they were biting. Seemed to be more near areas where there was alot of bracken. The weather didn't stay fine for long though and they soon vanished once the wind and rain returned.

Judging by the way the weather is going since the start of July i wouldn't worry too much as it will probably be windy and raining anyway 😉