[Closed] GPX Routes round Ramsbottom?

I know Ramsbottom well. As I live in Hindley it is one of my local riding trail heads that I'm never away from for too long.

What do you make of that MBR route?

I know that route well. It really depends what you want out of riding but most of that first 5 miles in mostly road, a good few miles of it are A-Road!

Then there is a decent through woods with water falls and small drops.

After this there is even more Road, Some A-Road, loads & loads of climbing on minor lanes, then Scotland Lane Single Crappy Track (named that because it's often muddy and full of puddles!) descent.

Few more miles of climbing on minor country lanes, farm tracks and the odd little bit of off road down the old River bed track.

Briefly it joins Edenfield Road at the top before descending Bamford Road which is a Rocky descent, an absolute bone shaker.

Then a short hard hike-a-bike climb before Whitelow Road an even more rocky descent which drops down to the A Road at the bottom. Then it heads through Ramsbottom town centre and up even more Road this time plenty of traffic to worry about, including the Rawsons Rake a really steep road climb, before joining the Holcombe Bridleway.

The Holcombe bridleway is very rocky, technical and crosses a few streams. It goes up & down, mostly uphill in this direction.

Some great views at this point of the route and is one of the best parts.

The ride ends with a really fast descent. A lot of it is on single lane road (no traffic) then joins a main road for a bit then the descent continues but off road this time on double track right back to the finish.

Cheers, if there is that much road on it I might be looking to find something else.

I have loads of rides around Ramsbottom but they are all on Strava.

I live in Rammy and I've looked at that route before and thought "no thanks"! As @grannyjone says there's a lot of road in the first part of the ride, and most of it isn't "nice" road for riding on particularly.

The section from Holcombe to Edgeworth is decent enough in a trad XC-ish riding sort of way. The Whitelow Road descent is fun, although it is a bit of a rockfest.

The Bamford Road descent is just a wide, rattly blast -- it's OK as a way to get home coming from elsewhere, but I generally ride up it rather than down.

I think in general the route touches on lots of areas where there is better riding if you're willing to go off-piste a bit.

What sort of thing are you looking for though, OP? Mile-munching? Techy death? A bit of both?

Thanks Tom - Fun rather than XC miles i suppose. So of the two i'd say Techy

But without the death part..

Generally speaking from Ramsbottom you can either head up Holcombe or across to Scout Moor (or both if you're feeling sprightly).

Holcombe has a bunch of short descents from around Peel Tower, some moorland hacking over Harcles and Bull Hill, and some woodsy excitement.

Scout Moor has a bit more terrain to play with, and you've got a range of options for good descents over there, and you can also head over to Cragg and Lee quarries for trail-center type riding.

I'll PM you and I can probably share some GPX files of Strava rides which may suit.

Cheers for your help Tom. I've sent you an email.

there's loads of stuff on the Scout Moor side. Numerous descents, Cragg and Lee Quarry, Knowl Hill, Naden Res and remains of other various disused quarries can form part of a few good runs.
Hard climbing though. It is a much bigger hill.
Holcombe has some good stuff, and isn't as much of a slog to get up there, but options are much more limited.
Extending further out from Ramsbottom into Whitworth is also an option. Loads of tracks around Brown Wardle Hill and Hades, though that side is for more of a fun off road blast rather than tech fest.