[Closed] Decent natural trails near train stations - do they exist?

Aviemore
Fort William
Achnashellach
Strathcarron
Dalwhinnie
Pitlochry

Just some ideas.....

I can think of 3. Tring, Wendover and Princes Risborough. Trails within 400m of all three.

Yes, loads! Which station will you be starting from?

I rode the peak district from the train for a number of years. Works well either for doing a loop or getting the train into the peaks and then riding back out to Sheffield

All the loops near Ladybower in the Peak District are easily started and finished at train stations.

Gomshall 8)

sowerby bridge, hebden bridge, todmorden, settle, skipton, kirby stephen, kendal, staveley, marsden, greenfield.

these are the ones i have used

Windermere in Cumbria & hope in Derbyshire.

Eskdale - on the ratty!

I'll be travelling from Bristol.

Thanks for the replies!

Peak District.
Dumyat Hill. Shit, I didn't do it this summer.

Machynlleth
Barmouth
LLanwrst/Betws y Coed
Llanwrtyd Wells
Church Stretton

You could be in the Pentlands in less than half an hour's ride from Edinburgh Haymarket:
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Or Corrour station, if you fancy somewhere wilder:
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The new Borders Railway might give you a few routes.
eg the Southern Upland Way from Galashiels. Or the Lammermuir / Moorfoot hills from Stow?

Stirling Uni/Bridge of Allan (Dumyat, as above)

Long mynd
Garburn pass
Rivington

Peaks, most of Shropshire, Scotland and the mecca of Hebden Bridge, though in a non condescending way finding some mates and sharing a lift/paying petrol might be a better plan as it is nice to get changed at the end of a ride rather than wait a few hours for the cancelled sunday train and then bus it back... Biggest issue with most of those train lines is you need to go somewhere first to get to them.

+1 Barmouth (Morfa Mawddach station), almost endless options: Cader Idris range, The Rhinogyddth, Mawddach Cycle trail to Dolgellau - then only ten miles from there to Coed Y Brenin

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*edit* The Rhinogydd

Bristol - Bodmin stops at Lanhydrock and also Cardinham is 5 minutes cycle away

As a rail employee I get rail travel free and still struggle at times to find riding near stations, I just don't know where to go when I get there. I mostly go to New Mills (where the mrs is from so shes described where to go), sometimes I go to Manchester and do Clayton Vale, Delameres really close and I've done Hope once.

Silly really, I should be all over the country with travel beig free and living a mile from Stockport Station.

I'll be watching this thread closely.

Closer to home/Bristol, Malvern station is only a short ride from the hill

The woods behind Nationwide are only a ten minute ride from the station 😉

You can be playing in Cranham woods and Leckhampton Hill within half an hour of leaving the train at Cheltenham.

Get off at Stroud and there's all the stuff in the valleys down there.

To be honest, I don't think you're trying very hard...

Machynlleth is a great shout, the forest is literally around the corner.

20 mins to Cam & Dursley, a quick spin up the hill and you have some good loops in lots of directions.

Define 'near.' In Bristol you're a short rail hop from Bridgwater and Taunton, both of which open up the Quantocks. Add in bikepacking gear and an overnight stop, and your options increase.

Tang, I've thought about Dursley routes a few times. Care to share?

As a rail employee I get rail travel free and still struggle at times to find riding near stations, I just don't know where to go when I get there. I mostly go to New Mills (where the mrs is from so shes described where to go), sometimes I go to Manchester and do Clayton Vale, Delameres really close and I've done Hope once.
Silly really, I should be all over the country with travel beig free and living a mile from Stockport Station.
I'll be watching this thread closely.

You're not trying very hard either. Surely it must be very easy to get to Hebden Bridge from you. Also Staveley and Windermere in the Lakes have train stations.

Edit, Nathen... Sorry, misread thread a bit, I was replying to Jonny just up there!!

Don't want to sound like a total arse but I'll echo IHN comment.. Your not trying very hard!!

I lived in Great Moor (now in New Mills)
From Stockport Station train out to Sheffield and ride home via Hope/Castleton
Train to Hope, you'll get the ladybower loop from there.
Buxton has a decent loop you could do from the station
I don't know the Lakes too well but I'm sure you'll not struggle if you got to Windamere
From your door you can get out to marple via the canals then you've got the Roman lakes routes

I realise it's tricky if you don't know the areas well when you get there. The vgraphics range of guide books are very good
If you want any more suggestions or local routes feel free to email!!

Hebden Bridge around an hour
Windermere 2 hours
Staveley 2 1/2 hours

Bloody Macc Forest is 14 minutes and I've not been there yet!

Any stop on the Settle-Carlisle line; get off, ride north with the wind then get back on and train home.

An OS Landranger map of the area will help you to work out a route using train assistance.

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Peaks are easy enough by train, they're actually better as doing a loop from Hope misses out the stuff on the Sheffield side, and doing a loop from the Sheffield side involves a lot of road to link up sections.

You could get a ticket to sheffield via manchester, get off in hope, ride any of the guidebook routes around there, then head back over Stanage, Houndkirk and Blaka moors.

If you're travelling from Bristol and don't want to be on a train all day. or forking out for a huge fare, then how about this fairly close to you:

Bristol - Taunton or Bridgwater, then a 8.5 mile ride on road to Quantock hills. So you have to factor in 17+ road miles, which is a lot. You could take it easy and it would be OK, and you'd have loads of time to get home.

Bristol - Ivybridge (Dartmoor) and it's right on the moors, with a few off road options straight from the station.

Bristol - Newport - Abergavenney for Black mountains, lots of great routes nearby

Bristol - Cardiff - Crosskeys If you want to go trail centre and go and do Cwmcarn. Good winter option perhaps?

Those photos are ace, I want to get back there in winter now but it will have to be a last minute decision to get those conditions based on weather forecasts.

Thinking about it again off at Cam then up frocester hill to warm up, Selsley woods, randwick (cotswold way ish), Painswick beacon, Cranham then dive down to Gloucester for train home or do Leckhampton and drop to Cheltenham. All doable as a day trip.

Train to Reading, then up to Henley. Some fantastic natural riding around there.

Train station in Lydney, few minutes on the road then you are into the Forest of Dean natural routes.

Abergavenny. We start almost all our regular winter rides from the town and the station is about a mile from the centre at most. Loop of the Blorenge and the Sugar Loaf are the obvious routes that start from the town itself so involve no extra riding. Not as wild as further into the hills but great singletrack riding if you know where to go.

If you head to Reading the trails start North from the centre, in a triangle from Reading - Stoke Row - Henley is where best of it is, you don't even need to go to Henley first. Not as great in winter though, esp if it's been wet.

Eastbourne, Glynde , Polegate, Berwick , all at the foot of the South Downs.

I use the Hope Valley service a fair bit

Also Westhumble & Dorking from London gets you the Surrey hills.

As far as finding trails - that's what OS maps are for!!

Any station in the highlands.

North of Manhester, just pick a station, and head off from there.

Horwich, or Darwen and you're straight out onto great moorland trails. Todmerden or Hebden Bridge and you're onto great stuff in Calderdale

Ivybridge is on the southern edge of Dartmoor

Nobody mentioned Cannock Chase yet? I'm amazed!

Several stations near there.

From Bristol the obvious would be somewhere in South Wales. Cardiff/ Newport/ Cross Keys/ Caerphilly/ Ponty... anywhere really and not a long journey. Main problem is getting the bike on the train out of Bristol! Once on the Valley Line they don't give a monkeys about bikes 😀

Nobody mentioned Cannock Chase yet? I'm amazed!

Swindon! Trail behind the Nationwide! Trail behind the Nationwide!!!!!! 😆

@nathanf

One way to check things is to use streetmap.co.uk - search for your chosen station then start scrolling around to see if you can see any bridleways nearby and try and make a route out of them. Streepmap uses OS maps so BWs are red long dashed lines (footpaths are the short red dashed lines).

Just about any station outside an urban area is likely to have bridleways close by, especially those in upland areas. We've used Ton's idea of the Settle-Carlisle line a couple of times as we live close to the main feeder line for it: get a train then ride home via whatever trails we fancy.

As to whether they are "decent": beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that.

Train to Didcot, change for Goring&Streatley, cycle the Ridgeway to Avebury, then cut across to Chippy, train home. One very long day out.

Newton Abbot station puts you within about 20 mins of Bovey Tracey which is an ideal place to start an east Dartmoor ride..

Also try starcross station which allows you to access Haldon via a Tour of Britain kom ascent at Mamhead

Bristol-Newport; Newport-Abergavenny. Plenty around there to go at... up onto the Black mountains or the Beacons

Windermere 2 hours
Staveley 2 1/2 hours

It would still be my choice for the lakes though

+1 Barmouth (Morfa Mawddach station), almost endless options:

Sorry if already posted elsewhere. Local council proposing closing Barmouth Bridge to walkers and cyclist to save money.

https://www.change.org/p/gwynedd-council-keep-barmouth-bridge-open-to-walkers-and-cyclists

Swansea. Get off train, look at the 200m high hill just to the east, head for it. 15 mins later you'll be climbing up the trails. Once at the top you can choose a variety of DH/techy trails.

Alternatively, head down to the seafront, maybe 5mins ride, head west along the beach to Clyne valley and you'll find waymarked mtb trails (and plenty of locals trails.) about 25 mins ride from the station.

Or keep riding 'til you hit Gower and spend a few hours exploring one of the most glorious coastlines. Easily do-able from central Swansea.

I have never used a train to get to a ride, but Edale and Bamford in the Peaks and Church Stretton for the Long Mynd are very close to the start of good riding - especially Edale as it practically at the bottom of the climb up to Mam Tor!

Any of the stations on the Settle-Carlisle line. Great riding from Settle, Horton in Ribblesdale, Ribblehead or Dent (I don't know much about the Dales north of there!). Or could easily do train one way and ride back, or multiday rides using the railway.

When I was a car-less student in Leeds we did all our climbing/walking by public transport - Peak District (Edale), Pennines (Hebden Bridge, Todmorden) or the Dales (Settle-Carlisle)

Also don't forget other Dales stations. I often ride back from Clapham to Skipton to take advantage of the prevailing northwesterly winds.

There must be loads.

West Highland Line - take your pick
Windermere for Southern Lakes
Ivybridge for Southern Dartmoor
Newton Abbot for Eastern Dartmoor
Abergavenny for Black Mountains
Bangor for Snowdonia

As an off the wall suggestion there are occasional connections from Taunton main line through to Norton Fitzwarren / Bishops Lydeard for the West Somerset Railway for access to Quantocks and Exmoor. Qs are a fairly easy ride from Taunton in any case.

I also don't think the OP is trying very hard.

FWIW My top tip - look at any of the above locations on Bing Maps and click on the Road dropdown and switch view to OS Map view and look for the green dashes.

http://www.bing.com/maps/?mkt=en-gb

Bizarrely ,Bangor....notsomuch.

I was thinking it's not too much of a schlep to get up to Llanberis from there but you're right thinking about it. Conwy would probably be a better drop off for Conwy Mountain trails

I've done Conwy to home (Wrexham) off road a couple of times over 2 days.Jumped on the train first thing and mooched back via Drum,Colwyd,Betws,Penmachno (kip at the Eagles),Ysbyty Ifan,Bala,Glyn Ceriog,Llan and sofa.

Plenty in Hampshire and West Sussex but not sure what the bike situation is like on the service that runs from Cardiff through bristol to Southampton and Portsmouth which would be your starting point

There are stations close to both ends of the SDW and a few along the route

Woburn 15 minutes from Milton Keynes Central station.

Strines Station (on the Manchester to Sheffield line) is ON a great trail. Come out of the very small car park and you have to be careful not to get clattered by people screaming down the Fox Inn descent! Go up the climb (and the great rocky one after it) and you are staring straight at Kinder Scout and the rest of the Dark Peak. Superb mountain bike trails all the way to Ladybower and beyond from Strines or Marple stations.

Great response, thank you all for your input!

I'm quite new to riding so I'm clueless when it comes to finding new trails. Looks like I'll be planning a few trips to Wales, Peaks and Scotland.

Thanks again!

I also don't drive, and have even considered writing a book or putting together a website about this exact issue. I live in Sheffield, so am already winning when it comes to accessible trails, and my parents live in north Wales, pretty much next to a train station... plus I recently spent 3 months living in Inverness. So I thought I'd share...

Peak district - check out the monkeyspoon website - it doesn't really seem to be updated anymore, but most of the trails they mention are still very rideable, and easily accessible via the stops on the Hope valley line (Hope, Edale, Grindleford, etc.) which runs hourly between Sheffield and Manchester. I took a friend who's new to MTBing up from Hope to Potato alley the other day and (I think) he loved it, so that's worth checking out.

North Wales - the Marin Trails are fun, relatively easy and easily accessible from either Llanrwst or Betws - it's a trail centre but whatevs. A really fun ride (or I enjoy it, anyway) is to set of from Dolwyddelan and head north over the landrover track to Pont Cyfyng. From there you can either head down to Betws-y-Coed (and the train station) or head over to Llanrwst (and the train station). Alternatively, you can head to Plas y Brenin on the fire roads, and then pick up the by-way that goes up to Tryfan/Cwm Idwal, and then either double back in order to come back to Betws, etc. or keep going down towards Bangor.

Scotland - there's a couple of books called "The Wild Trails" vol 1&2, which have loads of circuits which are accessible from train stations, although they don't usually make it terribly clear how to do that. The ones I did were:

- Torridon circuit from Achnashellach station - absolute 5 star classic, but long, hard and technical, so perhaps not for beginners. Also the station is amazing in it's own way.
- Ben Alder from Dalwhinnie station - not especially hard, but very very isolated.
- Glen Tilt from Blair Athol - fun, quite a long day, with nothing to tricky
- Burma road from Aviemore
- Loch an Eileen and Loch an Einach (sp?) also from Aviemore - fast, fun, easy.
- Glen Feshie from Aviemore - boring, wouldn't really recommend. Also, there's a bridge which the book I had says you should cross, which was washed away in 2011. Not sure if that's been updated in later editions though.
- I also improvised an almost coast-to-coast from Achnashellach back to Inverness via Glenuaig, although that involved a fair amount of riding on the road, so I'm not sure about that one.

Besides the train lines in Scotland, there are also buses that allow you to take your bike, although the only one that I remember that does that is the bus from Inverness to Ullapool. From there you can get onto a coast-to-coast which is described in vol.2 of the books above, IIRC, and will get you back to a train station on the Inverness to Thurso line, although I've forgotten which one... Ardgay, I think.

If you do spend some time up there, it's worth trying to make it over to Skye. I went over in January and again a few months ago, by getting the train to Kyle of Lochalsh and then cycling over the bridge to Broadford. It is a fairly unpleasant cycle ride down an A road to get there, but once you're there you have access to all sorts of wonderful places, and in particular Glen Sligachan, which is described in one of the books above (vol 1 I think). I really can't recommend Glen Sligachan highly enough.

Farnham - start of the North Downs way. Bail out train stations back to London along the whole route.

You'll need a map to avoid the footpaths

Just to big up the Sligachan/Skye idea slightly more... I stayed in a B&B in Broadford which set me back about 50 quid for 3 nights (off season) but the guy who ran the place was a former bike mechanic, which was all kinds of useful when I broke a bit of bike on the trail. Otter Lodge, I think.