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So I've a day off tomorrow and plan to ride somewhere, I did Rivington Pike on Tuesday and enjoyed the change from a trail centre however with the temperature tomorrow, a trail centre offers more tree cover than most other routes I know of (a very limited few admittedly).
I'm driving from Liverpool and am sick of Llandegla, last time I was up at Gisburn was maybe 4 years ago but remember it being a decent route. Is it still holding up ok or is it eroded to hell? If so anywhere you'd recommend?
Lake District, Yorkshire Dales, Peak District
Gisburn is ace, I see it as a guaranteed good day out.
Ive had good and bad rides in the Peaks, Lakes and South Pennines but Gisburn always good, its built for bikes while the others are not.
Apparently one small section is still closed the boardwalk.
Have you tried Worlds End, a great (if cheeky) add-on to Llandegla.
Also have you tried Antur Stiniog, another suggestion
Wouldn't go to the lakes, M6 northbound is now open but no guarantee when southbound will reopen. Probably be chaos!
Trail centres are designed to be all weather so why waste such good conditions going to one?
Go and do something that's normally wet, something like Cut Gate in the Peak.
I suppose my justification was the cover you get from a trail centre, under the trees etc as it'll be so hot today.
It isn't too hot today in the dales. IMO. If the M6 is putting you off then come over to Settle.
I'd be struggling to justify driving straight past Calderdale to get to Gisburn.
It appears almost unanimous, I'll look at a couple routes in the Peaks and Dales now. Having only done a few natural routes I'm still trying to find the best way to navigate without a gps. My last one I just used an OS Map and my phone but have heard people use view ranger/os maps apps.
I’m still trying to find the best way to navigate without a gps.
It varies TBH. Sometimes a map is best, sometimes a GPS, sometimes a combination. With something like Cut Gate once you are on the trail there are very few options so looking at a map and (if you were starting from the Ladybower end) saying to yourself "ride to end of reservoir and take the first valley on the right" is probably all you need. If you don't want to buy the maps (and the cost does add up) then using something like streetmap.co.uk and/or a mapping application like ridewithgps or bikehike lets you create a GPX file to use while still getting a "feel" for the terrain from looking at the map.
I've downloaded both viewranger and the os maps app and have a gpx of the route, plus print outs for my pack as a back up (saves me taking a whole os map).
If it’s four years since you went to Gisburn you should defo get back up there as there’s plenty of new bits. The Long Way Down is a good edition but don’t forget to loop back up and do Hully too.
Oh, and I’m in the Dales and think it’s hot today!
It'll be even hotter amongst the trees at gisburn, no breeze!!
Just a few personal notes :
Gisburn is normally full of puddles (well at least for half of the year) so good chance to do it in the dry
I always miss "The Long Way Down" - Hully Gully is much better if you are a Black level rider.
I usually avoid Gisburn during the Summer though just because I do it ALL the time in late Autumn/All Winter/Early Spring and I'd just get sick of it if I did it all year round.
As for natural routes: my Favourites in relation to each National Park:
Peaks - Cut Gate. Another guaranteed good ride, has most of the good things about MTB'ing and not much of the bad!
South Pennines - suggest Calderdale esp. over Blackstone Edge and Stoodley Ridgeline and one of the numerous singletrack descents from that side!
South Lakes - Harter Fell/Nan Bield Pass from Staveley. If you can put up with an hours Hike a Bike!
Or the Howgills