[Closed] Driving north to ride Lakes/Scotland, worth a stop off in Hebden Bridge area?

For what its worth, I have spent a lot of time in the past in the Dales and the Peak District (not really with the MTB though). This bit in the middle though is somewhere I have never really visited, hence it has piqued my interest. Happy to hear of other suggestions in that rough area.

Happy to hear of other suggestions in that rough area.

It's not that rough !

😉

Hi yes it is worth it. You need local knowledge. I've just sent you a pm.

I spent a couple of days riding around there when I was working nearby.

It has a different feel to all the places you mentioned - short techy descents and the landscape is interesting. I feel better for having ridden there but the descents were, IME, shorter than you might find in the Peak, Lakes and Scotland because of field / land boundaries and the geography of the place.

Definitely worth exploring if you're curious about it. Just followed route guides off here and stuff in the South Pennines of West Yorkshire Guide book.

Are you after xc or short, sharp, sweet ups and downs?

I was there on Sunday, Hebden Bridge and surrounding areas are fantastic. We did 30 miles and 4000ft of climbing. That was from ogden in Halifax, over to widdop, down the blue pig to hard castle crags and back. There's a campsite at ogden by the causeway foot. That's an xc route with some downhills.

I'll leave the more dh stuff for others as there's some cheeky bits.

I once camped at the new delight pub on the Mary townley loop when I did the pennine bridleway. If the shower block is closed due to covid then it's an improvement! Pub did good food and drink though.

It's definitely worth a visit if you've not been before! If you need to put up tents you won't get more local than the New Delight pub in Colden, but the riding will be straight from the door (or flap). Pretty much all the best riding is 'cheeky', but there are that many new tracks appearing and people riding them at the moment that a lot of the locals revolting. You'd get the best out of a visit by meeting up with a few locals who can show you the best bits where you're least likely to upset people or get shouted at at any given time. There are scenic, xc loops aplenty too, but i guess you're not coming for that kind of riding!

Thanks for all the helpful info so far. Much appreciated. The New Delight looks to be a good bet, though the campsite website says it is closed! To be clear, we are not adverse to some XC stuff, though it needs to have some interest to it and generally be a means to an end to get between the best descents! As I said, it is still in the planning stage at the moment but I have had enough encouragement and a few pms to make me keen to make a visit happen. Just going to pray for a nice Indian Summer now to dry it all out again 🙂

I moved from West Yorkshire (just north of Hebden) to Oswestry area.... not sure where OP is exactly but I think your mid Wales?

The riding in Hebden /Bingley areas is better than Oswestry area IMO, but you definitely need local knowledge to get the best of it. It’s a fair detour from the M6 though

Last month's STW magazine had a route based around Todmorden, which is just up the road from Hebden Bridge....

Not sure how much of a techy route it is and the article made it sound like a lot of hard climbs, but might be worth a look.

Thanks Dunc. I am in the Brecon Beacons the southern edge of Mid Wales. Got all of the South Wales Valleys stuff and Forest of Dean on my doorstep plus all the natural riding in the hills. I realise that the best stuff in any area is always only really known to locals, hence why putting in a request here. I have provided local area route advice to many on this forum over the years, it is one of the great things that forums enable to be fair.

Thanks for the pointer Stumpy, I have that issue somewhere, I will check it out.

So we are heading up tomorrow afternoon and plan to attempt to ride the steepest techiest trails we can find around HB on Sunday. So if anyone is free and fancies showing us around 🙂 Pretty sure we can locate some good stuff, but always good to have a local guide.

Earnie’s love tunnel will be pretty tasty at this time of year. Plus the decent off the front face of stoodley pike

Hiya,

The new delight is currently closed for camping and the kitchen is also closed, bit open for drinks of your passing that way. It’s more XC on that side of the valley than techy
Here I think is open and Stoodley pike is on the doorstep.
I agree with ☝️ For 2 good descents.

https://www.oldchambercamping.com/

Barely Legal/Spaggot down to the bottom of Blue Pig is good. And lots of new stuff on that hillside too.

There’s some new stuff been put in off piste off the track at the top of Hell Hole rocks but it’s like free fall for most people.

Lockdown led to increased walker bike clashes on footpaths. So many just worked and cut new trails.

I’ve not ridden off-road since March. Just running now.

Oh. And Vocation & Co for sit down drinks. And Drink for cans to take.

Thank you for that info Slight Return, Gniffer and Brant. Much appreciated.

And lots of new stuff on that hillside too.

Also currently repeated efforts to close those trails off this year by landowners, and not always in a safe way. Go careful.

[strong]kelvin[/strong] wrote:

Also currently repeated efforts to close those trails off this year by landowners, and not always in a safe way. Go careful.

Thanks for the heads up

So we are heading up tomorrow afternoon and plan to attempt to ride the steepest techiest trails we can find around HB on Sunday

If you want ridiculous steep tech head through Tunnel of Love and turn right when the trail opens up in the trees, follow this to Hebden Delph where there are some new (ish) jumps then turn left towards the station and look for a large rock by a tree and turn right into the abyss 😉 if you survive this climb the concrete track to the first wall on your left and drop down a few steep berms the local kids have dug!

The main trail on barely legal mentioned above is fine, I rode it yesterday, the fencing is on The Black Pig which crosses it

@welshfarmer how did you get on?

Had a good day thanks. Started with Stoudley mnmt. And then down Love tunnel, turned right, did a few hundred metres and saw a steep trail dropping into the woods. Rode it down to bottom. Boy that mud has no traction 😁 then up tother side and did Hendon DH, Black Pig and one of the naughty trails. Then over for a beer in Hebdenstall before dropping down towards HB. Found a lovely very steep trail over some rock slabs with an impossible corner that only half of the group rode. And that was it. Great weather, and a great area. Feel there is a lot more to do. Will return