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Looking for some bikepark recommendations in southwest England and south Wales, within an hour of Bath/Bristol.
So far I've been to windhill and that was great. I like downhill trails with a mix of features and difficulties. Also, I'd prefer not to pay for an uplift if a pushup is possible.
Level : beginner - intermediate
I've heard that Tidworth and Forest of Dean are pretty good
Bike park Wales, Black Mountain Cycle centre, 417 should all be doable in an hour. As you say FOD is good, very beginner friendly. Never done Tidworth, apparently very slippery in wet.
FOD is great, but for really picking up skills and having fun it’s worth considering BPW. Being able to just concentrate on the downs, and repeating stuff makes a huge difference. With so many runs you can find your level safely, and build gradually. For example they rate the blues from easy to harder then red/blue and on. It’s non stop fun as well.
Full disclosure, after 30 or so trips I broke my wrist on Monday doing an easy blue warm up. It is fast and demands full attention especially in the dry.
My summer is now screwed and I’m very sad.
Try okeford hill in blandford forum.
Spent a few dry days there sessioning trails with some friends and it's always a hoot!
Belmont, just outside Bristol. Mostly quite big jumps but there are easier lines. Dry weather only.
FoD is probably the best though.
BPW is probably the ultimate for long fast trails with a mix of beginner to intermediate and all nicely signposted. It’s possible to ride up there a variety of ways - there’s a proper ride up trail although bits of it are tedious - or you can ride up bits of fireroad. I tend to session the top half in the morning and the bottom half in the afternoon so you don’t have such massive long climbs per run.
FOD has DH trails that generally aren’t too difficult - but are much more natural and rooty vs BPW’s surfaced trails. There’s a fireroad up the middle that’s quite rideable so it’s easy to shuttle, plus they have blue and red marked xc type trails. That’s without even exploring all the off piste cheeky stuff that’s close to the trail centre.
Black Mountain Cycle Centre is ace fun - but you really want to uplift there. It’s Covid friendly though as you sit in an open bike trailer behind a tractor for the uplift. It’s different again to bow and FOD -‘it’s all natural sort of hard packed mud trails but it’s very much big berms / rollers / tables on the blue and red runs. The few blacks are another level though with 40ft long doubles (full moto) and large drops (bomper). Love the place though as it’s not very commercial and has a chilled out vibe.
Flyup 417 at Cheltenham is ok for a play and you don’t need the uplift there. Trails are longer than Windhill I think - parts of the push-up are rideable but the middle bit gets steepish and quite loose so it’s really not worth the bother. It’s not got a huge number of trails bits it’s ideal for progression with swoopy rollery blues, rockier reds with some steeper table jump takeoffs and also some bigger doubles around the place.
Belmont in Bristol is a free to ride sort of local place - I don’t know if it’s open yet or not - with the recent dry weather maybe it is - checkout their Facebook page. It’s not great for beginner to intermediate tbh - it’s got a few trails that are rideable without clearing gaps - but most you need to put your big boy pants on for. As I’m local ish I might go there for an hour play on the easier stuff but unless you’re confident on big doubles it’s not worth a journey for on it’s own. If you made a day of exploring you could ride Bourton Combe / Belmont / Leigh Woods off piste stuff and piece together a fun day but most of it isn’t marked.
Rowberrow near cheddar is fun - you could combine the sort of trail centre bit with a wider lap of the mendips. Blues and reds - quite natural with lots of ruts and roots but still managing to have good flow. Only discovered it recently and been back once already. Either quite a steep loose fireroad climb / walk back up or a longer easier fireroad that meanders about. Some good bridleway descents around the area too.
There’s one being built in Exeter currently
There’s one being built in Exeter currently
Really? Where?
Guessing the Haldon/Telegraph hill ridge is the only place with enough elevation.
Thanks for the very helpful info all!
Hi Josh, best thing is to join up with one of the Bristol groups and head out with them, for what you are after FoD is the place to learn, you can go to the main Cannop centre to practice on the skills area and DH runs, or head outside and hit places like Dowies, Mallards, Wasteland, etc to progress.
Within an hour of Bristol/Bath you have Windhill as you know, then you have Leigh Woods/Ashton/50acre which are not so great, Belmont is good for runs as well, but gets busy quick, FoD as above, is the place to go for me, you also have Nibley/Dursley, which has well manicured DH runs at Nibley as well as several natural ones, and also has some nice practice bits over by Stinchcombe, pretty much at the golf course.
You can go a bit further up and hit Cranham area, or hit Flyup417, again this is a pay and play bit, uplift is expensive and they don't have many runs, can get boring fast, over the road you have Leckhampton Hill, which has some decent stuff and is free!
You can also add Cwmcarn and so on, BPW is nice, but 50 quid a time for uplift is a lot of money, plus it's pushing it to over an hour from Bristol, i'd avoid Tidworth, it's horrific in the wet due to the chalky nature of the place, and is a hell of a journey.
You also have Rowberrow Warren up in the mendips, have to be honest, it has some nice bits, but again i wouldn't choose it over FoD.
Give us a shout if you want more info, if you are Bath side then you also have some runs at Conkwell Woods just up from the Aquaduct, and many other little bits, i'm up in Sodbury area so if you're nearby can point you in some direction.
The new Exeter bikepark, opening summer 2021
Okeford Hill is around an hour or so from Bath.
Steeper and more natural than say Windhill or Tidworth but does have a range of trails:
Bit more than an hour but Gawton has had a fairly major overhaul.
Thanks a lot for the help! Sounds like FOD is the place to try next but I will definitely visit some of the lesser known places around Bristol & Bath too as they seem good fun. Are they all relatively easy to find (e.g. Nibley/Dursley/Stinchcombe trails) ?
Nibley you just park in north Nibley then there’s a long fireroad climb straight out from the village. At the top most stuff is off to the left in terms of built DH trails / more natural trails. Just ride down stuff and see what you find pretty much.
Edit - park somewhere sensible in North Nibley - it’s all got a bit contentious / silly with parking with Covid.
If you want to make a lap from there round via stinchcombe it’s probably worth picking up an os map / using an os map app on your phone.
If going to nibley please park on old London road which heads up from wonton under edge to opposite end of the woods joe is talking about. There is a lot of tension with locals not being happy with riders parking everywhere. Even a few cases of riders scaring horses and livestock so tensions are high! Most of the natural/less bike park trails are at that end. Just follow all the paths around the outside and you can’t fail to stumble upon trails.
I live in Dursley and dig a good bit around there. There is quite a bit of stuff at the minute, fair few trails from the golf course that drop into the Dursley side of the hill. Also a fair bit of stuff around breakheart quarry.
Loads of space to park in the walkers car park on the golf course
I can probably help out with better directions if you message. You can also link in to selsley trails nearer Stroud from Dursley/nibley, lot of bridleways and not much road riding
As above, Old London Road has tons of parking up the side, especially further up nearer the scout hut bit, and even more further on, not sure why the Nibley end is always so rammed, not just bikers but walkers seem to start from there a bit too much.
I prefer heading in from Old London Road as you can then go for a little warm up and then into a natural DH run on the Westridge Woods side, then head over to the DH stuff if you want, loads of choice throughout though, but the DH stuff in Nibley/Wootton is pretty much red or black level mostly.
Stinchcombe Golf Course is a good starter, as above, the walkers car park in the middle of the course is a good starting point, although you can also start from the road across from the sculpture trail or Breakheart Quarry, this then leads you to the entry bit which has some fun stuff to practice, so small drops, jumps, gaps to play about on over and over, couple of runs to the bottom as well with chutes and so on, but nothing too problematic and a good practice area for me, further round you get the stuff at the back of the golf course that runs down towards the Leaf and Ground, again quite nice stuff and nothing too crazy, plus you can then get a coffee/ice cream/etc at the Leaf and Ground if you like!
As i say to most folk though, if going to Nibley, just park up and head into the woods and ride about, if you see a trail through the woods, go in and have a look, they link up and go on for miles, if you continue round the bowl of the hill then you'll hit the DH stuff, the monument is pretty much right on the first DH run!
Went FOD today and it was pretty good! Unfortunately the rain yesterday made it pretty slippy on the rooty trails but it was still enjoyable. Seemed like there's a good range of trails for beginner/intermediate but unfortunately Launchpad and Countdown were both shut for repairs.
And cheers for advice re. Nibley and surrounding places. I'll defo be heading there soon as sounds like there's lots to explore... I'll do my best not to annoy the locals!
You'll be fine, as a few say, start from Old London Road (at the Conygres Campsite) and you'll be fine, just nip across the road and into the woods that way, when you get to the gate, head right and just hunt around, you'll see singletrack all around, investigate and keep going, you'll waste an hour or two just hunting before hitting the DH stuff!
I,d just like to bump this thread and put a shout in another for Okeford bike park. Push up and uplift options.
Went for the first time this weekend. It is very fast, loose and twisty. Got a decent length run. A min 4x route at the top to work on some easy jumps. We road the reds and I personally found it more challenging to get right than bpw. (Not more challenging as in harder to ride but harder to ride right). Really fun and they just got their booking system improved allowing booking further in advance.
If you choose FOD it's always worth a look to see if you can combine your visit with one of the Katy Curd coaching sessions run from there. A few hours learning whatever course you choose and then the rest of the time having a play and putting it all into practise. Great way to progress massively in one day.
EDIT: OH! Just seen that this thread was a year old and been bumped, I am guessing the OP made their mind up a long time ago 🙂
Can't believe nobody mentioned Triscombe....
Not been there myself but I'd like to visit ... https://tirpentwys-trails.co.uk/
Can’t believe nobody mentioned Triscombe….
hasnt it been flattened by the forestry again?