You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
After me praising UK as a MTB destination they've decided to fly over to London for a weekend.
Wales seems to be the prefered destination.
Unfortunately they need to rent bikes and my car can only fit 2, so we'll need to rent in place.
They aren't enduro riders BTW.
Initial idea was to book an uplift on Saturday at BPW and do mostly blues and some reds, then Cwmcarn on Sunday.
Another option was Southdowns, but I found it pretty dull in terms of tecnical skills.
Any other suggestions that are relatively close to London?
Thxs!
Quantocks. Taunton is < 2 hours on the train from Paddington.
Definitely Quantocks
Awesome place.
and so so different to Spain
Triscombe, Wind Hill, Tidworth,
JP
Thanks.
That's a 3h drive from London, not too bad.
Is there a trail centre or should I surf the internet to get some gpx files?
If you can. Find a friendly local to show you round.. there's loads of great stuff you'd miss following some of the Qs routes I've seen published in mags/articles/online. (of course if a nice local sent you a GPX taking in all the best bits. That would be nice 😉 )
🙂 ok I see thxs!
Does Quantocks offer enough trails for 2 days? Or better to do 1 day there and another day somewhere else?
You could do a day there and a day on Exmoor?
Exmoor,Triscombe and the Quantocks is a great riding location-tons of XC style riding.
Depends when they are coming over - this is a good event around Exmoor - Sunday 30th June.
The Surrey Hills and the rest of the North Downs is much closer to London though.
I'd second the quantocks - and with local guides we had 2 good days riding there.
Another vote for the Quantocks. It's like a natural trail centre, and almost every track is a bridleway. Fabulous place!
(It will be the 20 and 21st of July)
Seems Quantocks is the clear winner, thanks everyone!
My mate runs an outdoor activities company which includes guided MTB rides, uplifts and/or bike hire. Based on Exmoor. He may be able to sort you out. If you’re interested, ping me a message and I’ll put you in touch.
Where do they live in Spain? I did a trip to Wales (Afan and Coed) some time back (longer than I care to remember!) and it was a great change, nice to have marked trails and man made obstacles. And the contrast to Madrid is massive. But if I lived in the Basque country I possibly wouldn't have been so impressed, it's just as green as Wales...
Anyway I'd say a trail centre, a couple do exist in Spain but IME they're nothing like as popular or mainstream.
They’re from Barcelona.
Ideally I wanted to take them to Coed and Penmachno, but it’s almost a 6h drive from London, too far for a weekend.
Lot of Forestry Work currently in the Qs, so the cheeky stuffs is a bit restricted.
I would be happy to guide you on Quantocks if I'm available, or send some suggested routes if not.
I definitely think that there is more than 2 days riding, but you could reach out to Exmoor, Dartmoor or South Wales if you want to add a bit of variety.
However I'm not aware of anywhere that offers bike hire in the area.
Would you not be better flying to Bristol (google days direct from Barcelona) or Exeter (probably rubbish flights) rather than that there London?
(or Cardiff for South Wales?)
Exmoor for a day and quantocks for a day? Porlock/Horner area is a great day out.
However I’m not aware of anywhere that offers bike hire in the area.
exmooradventures.co.uk do all sorts.
Jambo - Exmoor Adventures is my mate’s company I was talking about!
Hello, Dan here from Exmoor Adventures!
We offer bike hire (a fleet of 30 Scott Aspect 730's, as well as a fleet of 8 E-MTB's).
We offer guided rides on Exmoor and The Quantock Hills.
Please feel free to get in touch if you require some more info.
Thanks, Dan
Any other suggestions that are relatively close to London?
Not to throw a spanner in the works, but they're travelling over from Spain and then you're driving like 3hrs to the Quantocks? Surely there's something closer to London so they aren't so knackered from all the travelling...
Unless, of course they're youngsters then carry on with shipping them around!
@the00: Thanks for the offer, that's very kind, I'll get in touch with you if we finally go there.
@dangeourbrain: Indeed, I have told them to not book the tickets until the destination is decided (I still have to drive from London though).
@exmooradventures: Thanks for the info, will keep it mind.
@DezB: It's just a 2h flight, but I might ask them to fly to Cardiff or Bristol, it will depend on what we end up doing.
on the Qs front.
go on trailforks and nick the routes I've done for the recent Quantock Trail Riders Group (QTRG) rides. #4 and #5 were designed to show people a good sampling of trails, and as I write this are up to date with current closures since #5 only just happened on Saturday.
If it were me I'd take em somewhere familiar to yourself.. so that maybe a factor?
I only know Surrey Hills and Bpw at a decent distance.
Loved Coed Y Brenin and Penmachno, but it’s just too far for a weekend.
I think I’ll show them all options and let them decide.