[Closed] Embleton Northumberland off-road ridding?

Try thrunton woods nr rothbury. Lots of off piste trails. There’s a local group prob have a Facebook site or something if you need a guide. Lots of gravel riding and old school mtb on the Forest roads, byeways and bridleways...

You’re not far too from kielder in a car either. Trails there if that’s what you’re after...

Loads of quiet little lanes around the area but not lots in the immediate area is off road. You will need to drive somewhere. I would head to the beach, walk to Dunstanburgh Castle or to Newton. Not sure if the Grey's is open yet but the hotel beer garden is nice on a sunny day.
I usually just road bike round there cos it's flat and fairly quiet.
Weather looks decent hope you have a nice week.

Depends what you class as family riding, but down the coastal path past Sugar Sands towards Alnmouth has some good beaches, small crags, places to swim and explore. Small back roads to make a loop back to the start. Might be quite busy and parts are singletrack, so factor that in if that will be a difficulty.

For a quick escape from the family to XC type stuff, there are plenty of bridleways and little bits in the woods in the Ros Castle/Eglingham/Chillingham area. Pretty obvious on the OS and a short spin on the road from Embleton.

Further afield Thrunton is good, but not "family friendly" in the main. Lots of steeper woodsy stuff there though, and some more accessible stuff a little south of there around the Simonside hills. Probably about half an hour drive. Similar distances to places like Ingram for family friendly valley spins on quiet roads or old school XC routes into the Cheviots beyond. For this see also Wooler, the Coquet above Rothbury etc.

I'd guess you're about 1.5hrs drive from Kielder and not a lot more to Yair/Innerleithen if you're in need of something with a bit more vertical. I wouldn't suggest Kielder is worth the effort of getting there for more demanding biking with those as alternatives, unless you want family signposted lap of the reservoir or blue route.

The coastal route is great for family rides, there’s a few bridleways scattered about too but nothing exciting. Inland head to the Wooler, Ingram or Alnwinton for hills, Rothbury for an easy ride.  Trail centres Glentress is not much further than Kielder so I’d go there. You’ve picked a good week it’s red hot again today. Oh Embers for pizza.

the greensand way map has some old style xc ish loops on it. might get it in a local tourism place or national park centre - Rothbury if its still open perhaps or a local bike shop.

Not sure I'd call Thrunton "family" riding, but depends on the family I suppose - is your surname Atherton?

Coast path as Drac says. You could make a loop up to St Cuthbert's Cave on decent tracks too - would make a nice family trip with a picnic in a cave.

Kielder might look close on the map but 1.5 hour drive sounds about right. Not worth it if you want "gnar" - the Tweed Valley's a similar distance and in another league. But the Lakeside path is a family crowd pleaser.

Rothbury's a good shout - the Carriage drive above town but make a nice, if short, bimbly loop.

Burko - presume you mean the Sandstone Way? The day loops are worth a look, but treat with caution - a lot of the main route is boggy (even in the summer) fieldy gatey rough-stuff mess which probably won't fit your family's definition of fun.

Spookily, we booked a week's stay in Embleton for September, me, her and the dog, so interested in whatever you end up doing (cycling or otherwise) 🙂

I was up there not long back and took the CX bike (think they call it a gravel bike these days 🤔)

Mix of quiet lanes, trails, gravel. Was about as good as it gets around there I think.

https://strava.app.link/RPXfsclQg8

What kind of bike have you got with you ?

Also family stuff, hire a Stanf Up Paddle board for the afternoon at Beadnell Bay

Cheers all for your help. We have two boys 7 & 6 so you think Thrunton is not a good idea?

Thrunton has plenty of forestry roads that young kids will be fine on, but they're not that interesting and climbs may take a bit of work. I'd not rush there for family riding over other options mentioned earlier, but if you do go then there are a couple of accessible tracks that run along the line of the crags above (roughly N of) the main car parking area. These lead to several of the more obvious descents that are likely too much for nearly anyone that age - make sure they don't drop off one of these. The tracks are relatively level, a bit more singletrack-y, and should be more interesting - good views in a couple of places, blaeberries to pick at this time of year, a few alien rocks to climb etc... There is a bit of a climb/descent to get up to and back from them, and isn't a great distance to cover so you might feel not worth the effort.

Thanks. Our plan was to ride today & weather forecast looks pretty bad! Rothbury trail a better shout then? Thrunton woods by foot instead?

If you want to entertain the kids, go to Rothbury. Head for the carriage drive which sits slightly north of the village which has plenty of variety for all abilities. There's not loads of trails but you can put loops together to fill in the time. Failing that, it's Simonside which is 90% fire road. I might see you out there!

Thanks

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/embed/32690275

Carriage Drive.

Thanks for all your help guys & sorry for the late reply. I did manage a ride on my own in Thrunton woods and a couple of road rides along the coast with my Dad but we didn't manage a family ride as the boys had too much fun playing on the beaches 🙂 We did though do a family hike in Thrunton Woods which prompted me to go back their on my own and have some fun. I only had my Trek 29er hardtail with me but would like to go back to Thrunton on the full suss as it was lots of fun 🙂