[Closed] Bored of trail centres, where is 'out there' close to NW?

The list is long, but for a start...
Delemere
Rivington
Darwin
Hebden Bridge
Saddleworth
Ramsbottom
South Lakes
Howgills
etc...
I'm sure others will add to this.

There are some good NW routes on the edge cycleworks page - plenty of ideas there. Something like this from Langollen, which must be about 90 mins from Liverpool.

http://www.theedgecycleworks.com/mtbroutes/the-beast-of-llangollen/

Get yourself to Rivington.Loads to do there

The Dales Routes from Settle, Grassington, Spipton. The Dales are your oyster.

Have you not seen the Torridon thread?

90 mins from Liverpool?, never mind South Lakes 🙄 ... you can get to the North Lakes from there..... 😛

The outlaws live in Rainhill and we do it in a 9 seat Transporter in 1hr 50mins.....

N.Lakes is where is`t at... 😉

drop me an e-mail happy to give you a tour of Rivvy or South lakes area

Lakes lakes lakes lakes lakes lakes.......

The other Saturday I set off for a last minute late afternoon Gisburn blast - then remembered en-route that the enduro practice was on. So parked up at Newton and revisited Slaidburn-Dunsop Head-Whitendale-Brennands etc. I knew it well from many years of riding over there when Gisburn was just fire roads and scattered singletrack / cheeky trails.

You'll require a variety of skills never needed at Gisburn (map reading if you've never been there, bog wheelie crossing, pushing) but I guarantee beautiful big countryside and plenty of solitude.

Also plenty of bridleways, forest roads and cheeky on Longridge fell (best if the weather is dry).

Crappy camera and the day turned cloudy / hazy, but these pics are less than 2 miles from Gisburn as the Hen Harrier flies - unless some cretin local shoots them 🙁

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-29354828

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Great stuff chaps, cheers 😀

Plenty of stuff here to get stuck into.

Maybe its just a Gisburn thing. I don't think its anywhere near as good as the hype suggests... Best bit is Homebaked - the rest is a bit meh.

Knight on/Kingston area of Wales

North Pennines/Cross Fell

Starter for 10:

[img] [/img]

Plenty of variations too.

If you want showing around the Rammy area, give us a shout fella. You'd have to drive further to get to Gisburn, and given the option, its a no brainer. We've got some bloody great stuff around here. We can even bung Lee or Cragg Quarry in the middle of a route, if you want to do a trail centre too! Its a win/win 😀

Within your range, Howgills (Bowderdale) is the obvious one, and some of the riding around Dentdale can feel pretty remote at times.

Further over, some of the riding out the back of Scar House north of Nidderdale has that lovely 'out there' feeling.

Mick - is the bowland stuff cheeky?

Martin, i ride the Bowland routes fairly regularly and a lot of it is b/w, but there are some cheeky bits in there, (particularly the footpath that drops off Salter Fell and takes you down to Whitendale,a brilliant few miles when dry and never seen a walker there). If cheeky isn't your thing there is a great route from Chipping that takes in some big hills, all on b/w

Don't mind a bit of cheek, just don't want the gamekeeper bollocking, particularly at this time of year. 🙂

I know it's a big area, but my recollection was that the estate was pretty strict.

I might just take you up on that Binners if you don't mind?
I just need to get rid of this gum infection and bad tooth ( Extraction 11am this very morning 8) ) but in a week or two when im reet if you fancy???

The last time I rode at Gisburn I got a 1/4 the way round a smooth path section, turned off and got in the car and drove home. Never been back. Its just too 'groomed'.

Theres a fair bit of that Hora and then on the flip side theres a load of stuff that feels absolutely shagged. The climb up towards the slab etc through the trees - some bits of that are about 10ft wide with huge ruts in it where people try and avoid the original ruts and now its like the Somme when its wet.

As I said, there are highlights but as I did the other week, drove straight past to the Lakes. Its 45 minutes further for me but worth it...

im all for promoting more natural riding, cant beat it, but theres still lots of fun to be had at Gisburn in fairness. Plenty of loamy off piste sections, the DH runs, and groomed as it is - Hope Line never gets old! all this combined with the better sections of offical trail still make a good day out. forget the '8' and have an explore...

Martin

All of that ride was 100% legal bridleways & road. Some of the BW sections are def best ridden in one direction only. The only potential cheeky bit would be to go down the road from Whitendale heading back to Dunsop Bridge rather than pushing up and over the BW to Brennands (for some reason the Whitendale bit of the tarmac road is technically footpath...)

There is a nice little ride from Chipping that is legal RUPP and BW. There is a section that goes over Mellor Knoll and drops onto the Trough road. I've heard that the farmer / gamekeepers give grief if you stray anywhere off the RoW (but never personally had a problem). Other bits of that area are heavily policed by the Duke of Westminster's henchmen so would never bother with cheeky.

Longrdige is BW , forest road on which Tillhill seem to tolerate mtbs. The rest is a mixture of FP or unclassified singletrack so need to be sensible with time of day and ground / weather conditions.

How very Hora to make up his mind based on 25% of the available information 🙂

Plenty of loamy off piste sections

Agree with this. From the bits of off-piste I've ridden there before, they're ace. But I can do steep, loamy, ace stuff from my doorstep 🙂

Lakes, Calderdale, Rivington, list as long as your arm.

One that everyone drives past on way to the Lakes but is the big lump of limestone just before junction 36 of M6 is Farleton Knot. Its not the biggest of places but a good easy to get to place with some varied riding.

Hitting up the Staveley routes would be a good start for South Lakes.

Its 45 minutes further for me but worth it...

Aye- Stavely etc is 1hr20min from me. Gisburn is that too due to the roads/getting there.

How very Hora to make up his mind based on 25% of the available information

I've ridden there before, its different to follow the dog/Cannock but still I don't like either, both for differing reasons.

Its one of those rides/'trails' where I think about the end/looking forward to the end of the ride.

I'm agreeing with hora on this (scarily) but he's right.
Off the top of my head the bits I really like at Gisburn at Homebaked, Hully Gully (when its not closed to be fixed), the Hope Line (just for giggles), and the bit where the 8 meets and you can cut into the trees and along the logs etc.

A lot of the other bits seem a bit like "we need to get from A to B, lets just straight line it and shove a load of stone over the top. Done". Whilst this is very fast to ride it seems a bit of waste. Obviously I know that top notch trails cost £££ and time but it just seems a bit of a shame. I was at CyB yesterday and off the top of my head, without fail, every bit of singletrack on the Beast is an absolute blast to ride. You look forward to every section rather then looking ahead 3 or 4 sections for the next half decent bit.

Obviously many will disagree and its in no way a slur on the trail builders there but its just not entirely for me 🙂

Fair enough on the Gisburn comments - I think those of us that have ridden there for +20 years just appreciate the improvements / extra trails. I hope one day there will be some links from the forest into the existing BW network / maybe a moorland singletrack into the top of the forest from Bowland Knotts (so could do a big off road loop using Salter Fell road).

I must say all of this just highlights how extensive the mtb options are if you live in the NW 🙂

Funny enough, had a couple of hours free and rode Gisburn today for the first time in a few months, and found myself a bit disillusioned with it as an experience. A lot of it seems to have gone to pot, even some bits that are only a year old or so.

Once this dry spell breaks, there are a few sections which will be in a right state pretty quickly. I may be avoiding it altogether this winter, I think.

Thanks Mick for the info on other Bowland stuff, BTW.

I like Gisburn, but i've not been there a lot due the fact that i can get to so many 'better' places for the same amount of driving.

If i were you loddrik i'd head up to the South Lakes when possible, probably starting somewhere like Staveley, Ambleside or Grizedale.
Staveley Mill Yard is ideal due to it's ease of access & facilities.
Also the area between Windermere, Coniston & up to Grasmere has so much to offer, there's so much good riding there, it's imo the best area in the NW to ride.
Also we're heading into the time of year when the weather can be against us & Lake district trails are pretty bombproof, so will be rideable whatever the conditions..

If you're considering travelling further afield have you not considered joining a club? Riding with others will save you a load of navigation faff & lift-sharing would save you fuel money..

I ended up going to Gisburn on Saturday, and I love the place. A nice bit of variety, not too easy, not too hard.

Looks like Im riding the Beast Wednesday

Come to Llangollen and ill show you all around the surrounding area on trails where you never see anybody!