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Dobo, I have emailed you some GPX.
Anyone up for 'Part 2'?
Might be a bit heavy & greasy at the mo, but can't see it drying out any time soon 🙁
Been done there a couple of times now and really enjoyed it. Can just about string a nice loop together, just gets a bit sketchy around the derelict house.
Nice little section of path from West Stratton that joins a bridleway that goes under the motorway into Micheldever Woods, just a shame there's not more there and Itchen Woods
rianOfWinchester - Member
Dobo, I have emailed you some GPX.Anyone up for 'Part 2'?
Might be a bit heavy & greasy at the mo, but can't see it drying out any time soon
Cheeky request! Any chance of a copy? My parents live that way so I'm sometimes looking for a new diversion....
Thanks
drofluf - they're in the post!
All, these are the routes I posted on page 2. You should be able to export gpx from there.
Target decision date for the holiday chalets planning app is one week away. fingers crossed...
Thanks - and they've arrived!
The planning application for the chalets is going all the way.
The case officer had recommended approving the application but referred it to the planning committee due to the number of objections.
The planning committee has now deferred it for consideration by the special planning committee, 11th October...
Yikes. It would be absolutely terrible IMO if that wood was ruined by those chalets.
Thanks for the update. By the time the trees are felled to make way for the chalets, there will be no "countryside experience". Those country lanes are just not made for construction traffic. It's a ridiculous idea. 🙁
Has anyone ridden there recently?
Last chance to file an objection...
The future of Black Wood is hanging in the balance.
If you wish to be able to enjoy the cycling here in the future, please put your objection in writing ASAP, and send it to the Case Officer, Nick Parker, at the Planning Department, Winchester City Council, City Offices, Colebrook Street, Winchester SO23 9LJ.
It could just be enough to swing it.
Done, spent about 45mins writing one at work today(!).
It's quite rare for me to care this much to write letters, and its not just about riding bikes either. Places like Black Wood are so nice and so rare it would be criminal IMO if the develoment went ahead. If anyone else is thinking of doing the same, my objections (in short) were:
1. Irreversible damage to area of natural beaty and important wildlife habitat (Woodland very rare commodity in the UK, mostly agricultural or urban landscape)
2. Loss of access to the general public - areas of natural beaty should be enjoyed by all, not sold for profit.
3. Little ameneties in surrounding area, the ~240 residents will almost certainly end up needing to make car journeys, adding stress to the local road system and being further detrimental to the wildlife etc.
Good work, Poppa. What else is work for ? 🙂
I went for a little walk up at Black Wood on Saturday. I noticed one of the parts of the cycle track, off the gravel track from the main gate, had had a raised log placed across the entrance to the track.
If it's an attempt to stop cyclists then it's quite futile as the log can easily be moved, walked over or around. I just wonder why? Maybe the Forestry Commission are trying to eliminate use of the woods by those that object to their plans - though they have not erected no cycling signs, and not surprisingly as their development plan involves cycle hire and family cycling.
Alternatively, maybe they were monitoring use of the tracks to see how long before someone removed the log. One of the planning reports did acknowledge 'occasional cycling'.
I wonder how many other obstructions have been erected? I have not cycled there since the trip a couple of months ago, due to the weather and being far too busy.
I also noticed the blocked-off track starting to suffer from vegetation growth, still easily passable, but if the motorcycle event cannot take place (due to chalets) then that bit of track will be slowly lost.
I wonder if they are just trying to stop the motorbikes. Heard one there yesterday and somebody has spent a lot of time places logs to form a circuit.
Prejudiced opinion I know without actually seeing anybody but I assume they are from the showmans (pikey) camp. Nice place for a holiday village, sandwiched between the A33/M3 and A303 with enclosed showmans camp and the odd rave, oh and all the flytipping. Woodmancott/ Micheldever I thought would have been a better proposition, already a caravan club site over there already
Where's the showmans camp?
When I was walking around the woods, I noticed how bleak and sterile it was. I didn't hear or see any wildlife; just endless beech trees. (I even got lost, it was so featureless) Great location for a holiday.
I enter the circuit from a small car park opposite the Woodmancot turning on the A33. The camp would be on the left hand side from here, accessed from the A33. I do recall seeing it years ago but according to a dog walker I got talking to it's just degenerated into a pikey camp (possibly around by the plant hire site).
PLANNING APPLICATION REFUSED 🙂 🙂 🙂
[url= http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/8447469.Micheldever_holiday_village_plans_rejected/ ]daily echo[/url]
Good news there Brian, although pretty close! Ridiculous idea anyway!
How are the trails there at the moment?
I haven't been up there cycling since the summer, but I expect the trails will be pretty good at the moment.
this made the news on south today or something the other day, forgot to post, quote from the echo though...
"Among the reasons for refusal were concerns about the impact on the habitat of the endangered dormouse."
is there more info on why refused, it would be good to know for future methods of objection for other locations, but clearly mentioning endangered species is the way to go..
That's a tricky one, dobo. There are reams of arguements you can read on the council planning website (link poster earlier in thread) and next Thursday the council's weekly list should show a summary, eventually a full decision report will pop out. But at the end of the day, this was won by the weight of local objection. Dispite the woodland being a SINC and the presence of endangered species, the planning officers actually recommended that the application be allowed. It was only that the decision went to committee, due to the number of objections and a request by the local community, that the planning officers were overruled by elected politicians. So, I'd say no, endangered species count for nothing. You need masses of objectors - or some councillors keen on being re-elected!
[url= http://www.stevebrine.com/record.jsp?type=news&ID=440 ]a bit more info[/url]
Hurrah! I only found this out from the news on telly. Brilliant news! I was up there about a week or two ago - it was nice and dry, but all the fallen leaves are making some of the trails a struggle to see(!) and maintain speed on. Saw a hare though, which was nice.
[url= http://planningapplications.winchester.gov.uk/Planning/848839.pdf ]Black Wood Planning Ruling[/url]
Thanks for the update Brian and that really is good news.
Not wishing to sound negative but would they be able to appeal/resurrect planning application in the future?
I'm pretty close and keep meaning to get over and check out Micheldever Wood.. am I right in thinking it's probably not even worth thinking about at the moment with all the rain we've had?
IMO don't bother. The tree cover and type of soil means it doesn't dry out quickly...
In summer it's great though! I'd wait for *at least* a dry seven days before considering it.
poppa - Member
IMO don't bother. The tree cover and type of soil means it doesn't dry out quickly...In summer it's great though! I'd wait for *at least* a dry seven days before considering it.
Cheers, I figured as much.. the Harroway is bad enough in these conditions and that's pretty open so I guessed it wouldn't be great!
c-g, I don't think there's anything to stop the forestry submitting a new planning application for anything they like, but one would hope by now, after several rejected applications and a lot of wasted money, that they realise it isn't worth pursuing.
The riding in Black Wood - and elsewhere - may just be OK, if there is a good cover of fresh leaves. I was walking thru some woods yesterday, on a thick carpet of sweet chestnut leaves over a base of liquid mud, and my shoes didn't get muddy! It was a bit slippery though. I might take my bike in for a play. Not expecting much traction, but at least it shouldn't be too sticky.
[img]C:\Users\Owner\Pictures\email28052010[/img]
Found this thread googling the black woods and cycling. The route through black woods is cut twice a year by the enduro motorbikers (no, i know it hurts but we owe them one)
[url= http://www.enduronews.com/events10.htm ]enduro news events look at april 25[/url]
I have spent a lot of time mapping out the route, which takes in 14 pits, but dont think it has made it onto the post. it is pretty accurate, and shows the full 12 mile loop (best done clockwise from the car park on the A33), but a shorter, better biking loop of 8 miles. i go there regularly, and although it is pretty miserable at the moment, if the ground hardens up a bit again should be great. i'm not brilliant on the mtb, but ok, and happy to sho people around the route if like to meet up. Also there are 3-4 decent sized pits in micheldever, which we have cleared out, one of which is incredible. Again happy to meet up for a spin - was out there this mornig: saw 25-30 deer in a herd: amazing.
I dont think i am going to be able to get the map on - anyone know how please
I definitely cont get the route on, but happy to email
ianrodd@aol.com
Hi,
I am interested in the map, as have been unable to get the bing map links (on page 2) to work.
Have emailed you.
Cheers
sorry about the late reply - will email. will also send stuff about micheldever - cracking route a mate and i have workede out
I am a local that had not considered Black Wood until seeing this thread in the summer (via a friend) - I thought it was too small. But I rode there a lot in the summer and eventually worked out the route (or most of it - and one I liked - anyway!). About 90 mins riding when reasonably fit, and incredibly good riding for this area.
I went there yesterday and the path is really hard to follow now - we need to ride there more and keep it clear!!
Now that I've figured out how to post links here properly, the bing maps again 🙂
[url= http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=51.17017215671135~-1.2581191653671908&lvl=11&cid=507C42E2FB8E0467!113 ]Black Wood 2010[/url]
[url= http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=51.15843863412685~-1.2164054507675814&lvl=12&cid=507C42E2FB8E0467!117 ]Black Wook 2009[/url]
Looks like the motorbikes are pencilled in for March 20th 2011.
I was thinking of heading over to black wood this coming weekend. Does anyone have an update on the mud?
Rode Black Wood for the first time on Boxing Day.
Even with a gps route (GPX courtesy of Roddi - thanks), I found it incredibly hard to find the trail. But then again it was under full snow coverage.
Was amazed how incredibly hard going it was. The beech leaves were really sapping.
But fun all the same and the effort required soon warmed me up in the sub zero conditions.
Rode the loop with Jehosophat (Hi James) from up there on 3rd Jan. Agree with what he and FieldMarshall are saying re the track/path being difficult to follow.
Surface still not too bad, but I reckon it will be very wet now.
Rode down the edge of Micheldever wood on Monday evening and it was very slidy.
Roddi - interested to know where abouts in Micheldever Wood you are talking about. We walk in there quite frequently and ride occasionally, but never seen any significant pits - unless you mean the old burrial mound in the north west?
Rode Black Wood yesterday. The ground was very firm, mostly frozen, but it looks like it would be OK when thawed too, with the covering of leaves. It looks to be fairly dry. I lost the track on many occasions: it has completely disappeared in places under the leaves. Even with the GPS, at times I could not be sure exactly where it was. At least with the leaves down, it let the sun stream in. I thought I knew my way around there by now, but obviously not. Even when I was on the track, there were sections I completely did not recognise. It was slow going too, with the leaves, constant GPS stops, and never knowing exactly where to go. I clocked two and a half hours cycling, but car-car was three hours fourty 🙁 On the plus side, at least my bike did not need cleaning!
Hi - havent visited the site recently so missed the posts. Micheldever is a bit of a mess at the moment - lots of tree cutting and deep tyre tracks. the best pit is still ridable, but access is poor secondary to the above. the route was as per http://connect.garmin.com/activity/60170467
the best pit is 9:18 mins in, but you have to walk the bike round to the far side, drop in and out and then walk back to the path. there is another pit just north of that one i cleared out last weekend. the pit to the lest of the track 14mins into the route is small but good fun. the one at 17:17 is currently not worth trying as access so bad with tree cutting
agree with allk comments about black wood, but if you find the pits (there are 16) some of them are awesome - was out there 2 weekends ago.
have fun
Ian
Oh shame as presumably with a few dry days, it could be fun there! Hadn't realised there were so many pits though. 😯
Asking a silly question but have any new tracks been cut for the MX'ers?
Breaking news re black woods:
1) I spoke with 2 guys out there today who will be spending the next couple of weeks prepping the single track for the motor cycle endure on 20th
http://forums.mxtrax.co.uk/showthread.php?t=295314
– no leaves on the line: oh happy day. The surface is really nice underfoot, and I think minus the leaves should be brilliant.
2) The forestry guys are reapplying for the planning permission for the chalet for the 3rd time – 60 this time not 98, but still will be a major change to the woods. I haven’t been to the site to have a look at the plans, but we shall have to see. The parish council will object again, but 3rd time lucky?
Dont know what the new route will look like, but the route that dom and I did a while ago which is the more interesxting 8 miles of the 12 mile full circuit
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/54825148
have fun while it lasts
For the 1st time this year, I was out in Black Wood this morning. I noticed the 60 chalet planning notice as I went in. Fingers crossed it gets refused.
The southern section of the trail was okay and it was easy to find and follow. Most of the other sections are still covered in leaves and I would often loose the trail. The leaves just seem to sap your energy so quickly.
Once the enduro motorbikes have been through there later this month, that will make the trails easier to find again. We just need to get more people to ride there more often (myself included), so that the trails stay visable!
Black Wood is 5 miles from my front door, so I should make more effort to go there, rather than always going to Swinley or Caesers Camp!
Latest planning application
http://planningapplications.winchester.gov.uk/PlanningWeb/Results.aspx?ID=10/03109/FUL&tab=0
That's bad news about the planning app. I think we can assume the planning department will recommend approval, as they did before; and that the parish council will request the decision to go to committee again. So it will probably come down to why the councillors rejected it before. According to the new (third) application:
This development will still dramatically change the nature of the wood. It will also still dissect the MX route into pieces, and render the enduro unfeasible. We've see lately how quickly the trails vanish, so it would be hard to keep anything at all going in Black Wood if this goes ahead.The first reason given for the refusal of the second application was the scale and concentration of development and its impact on the landscape setting and tranquillity of the wood.
Send your objections! If you objected before, be sure to write again incase they think you now approve.
There are a lot of objections already raised (more than last time I think!) and let's hope the councillors are desperate for votes to get re-elected.
I decided to ride at Black Wood this morning and the 12 mile trail loop is now clearly visible thanks to the motorbikes that were there last weekend. The trail is easy to follow, as you just have to follow the motorbike tracks and it is mostly singletrack with a couple of fireroad sections. The ground is a bit draggy in places, as the soil is loose from the where the motorbikes have turned it over but overall the trail is nice to ride.
[img] http://tinyurl.com/5rkjabw [/img]
[img] http://tinyurl.com/66ahjbn [/img]
[img] http://tinyurl.com/6y7aeg6 [/img]
[img] http://tinyurl.com/6fw2xpc [/img]
nice pics, i found it hard to follow the trails last time i went and was hard work..
is there an updated gps for this or is it the same route?
also does anyone have a route for Micheldever Wood? i was thinking of going for a run in there as well as a ride. are the bluebells out yet?
Black woods this morning - fantastic. the motor bikes have sut a route that i think is more fun than last year, and well worth a look
regarding micheldever, the route that we did a while ago is at this link. the little there and back bit at the north is a waste of time. the route is best done anticlockwise. as you go down the eastern side, there are 3 decent sized pits - one is at the little v off the side of the track. all three pits have pretty poor in and out, but i have made a track, but they are hard to find. i am sorry i dont have a gps, but as before happy to email from ianrodd@aol.com.
I rode the new motorbike trail yesterday afternoon. It was much wetter than I was expecting from the photos - I think maybe some rain came thru Saturday evening. I thought the ground was really heavy going: loose damp soil. 13 miles of pain!
The trail follows the same general route as last year, but there are several changes along the way, and some bombholes switched around. Managed to miss out a small section to the NNW of the meadow, after the looped back bombhole, should have crossed over the fire road somewhere instead of heading for the meadow. GPS is here [url= http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=51.16855136831145~-1.2311308971312052&lvl=13&dir=0&sty=c&cid=507C42E2FB8E0467!120&FORM=LMLTCC ]Black Wood 2011[/url]
Good fun, but it'll be nicer when it dries out...
Re. Micheldever woods, the gps posted on page 5 for BW 2010 also includes a bit of Micheldever woods. There's plenty more in there but I seem to remember some was closed off for forestry operations.
... BTW, the links don't seem to work properly with older browsers such as IE6. Firefox 3.16 is ok.
Might check Black Wood out this morning.. was hoping it would be sunny but not looking too promising!
Is [url= http://goo.gl/maps/pDZd ]this[/url] the entry that people use on the A33? It seems to match up with some of the GPS tracks people have posted, but seems a bit short on parking.. wouldn't want to block the track / gate - any other options?
Must get back there, should have done it last week!
frogstomp - either here or at the start of the bridleway is a little layby.
Thanks CG.. think we're due rain tomorrow so it could get sticky again..
Well, a mix of dry, quick stuff and cloggy, damp, rutted stuff, but a good ride - will be great dried out!
12.5 miles in a quite a small area.. the track just keeps on and on! Was sure I'd double-backed on a couple of occasions as it all looks quite similar..
So was it all easy to follow then? I can't decide whether those woods need a little rain to damp the loamy stuff down, I did find it quite hard going when it was dry!
It was relatively easy to follow.. there were a few bits with options / merges / splits but if you just follow the general direction of where you were going it seems to link up ok..
Not sure about whether rain would help.. the mud is quite [i]clay'y[/i] in places and clogged the tyre treads up, although not as bad as over the downs..
Went back for another ride today and parked in the short road with the couple of industrial units. Came back and had a polite note saying it was 'a private road so please don't park here again' - presumably from the house at the end as the businesses looked close.
Not sure if it actually [i]is[/i] all a private road (there are no signs at the end, only when you get down to near the businesses) but just to give people a heads-up and suggest it's probably best to park in the lay-by just up the road..
Oh, well at least the note was polite! Thanks for posting up. 🙂
How were the trails?
It was about the same as last week.. sticky in places, dry in others with some deepish ruts to catch out the unwary!
Last week I parked by the industrial units. To start with I pulled in outside the house, but then the owner came out and told me a less than credible story about the police investigating lorry thefts, and suggested I parked further up the road. I got the private road story too. I guessed he didn't want me parking outside his house. I think that road is OK to park if you go to the far end and don't cause an obstruction. How far up did you park, frogstomp? The layby (by the Black Wood sign board) is quite often full at weekends.
I intentionally parked further up the road away from the house - almost up to the "No Entry" signs for the industrial units.
The note also said about reporting the car to the police if I persisted.. a bit of a moot point anyway if it's a private road as it will be a civil matter (so the police won't be interested).
It's tempting to stick a note on my window encouraging them to report me if they want to.. but there's no point in stirring up bad feelings..
Was there this afternoon and had the place to myself apart from a couple with their dog. Trail in great condition
I rode Black Wood yesterday which, embarrassingly enough after my plea for people to ride it more often, was the first time since the current drought started. I love Black Wood - much more of a technical ride than most local rides and really gives the full suss a workout at both ends, usually a good travel test - I can't imagine it on a hardtail in the dry!
Droughts are great for mountain bikers - the ground there is bone dry and rock hard, I could get up and out of almost all the pits on the route and the faster sections were amazing.
The motorbikes have made much less of a path than last year, presumably it was not as wet. The path is slightly different and in most places better and more suited to pedal power than last year. The weird thing is that there are white arrows on the trees that seemed to be with me for the first half of the route then against me for the second! But I like the way around I ride it - I start at the main entrance, in up the main drag, and left over the pile of logs mentioned above. This means I start with the section that goes past the spooky house in the middle and essentially ride it anti-clockwise. Link here:
[url= http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/9686912 ]Link to Endomondo workout[/url]
And as plain text for misbehaving browsers:
http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/9686912
The place where it is most difficult to work out what to do is when you end up back near the field in the middle - on the NE edge (near "9" on my track).
I was surprised how quickly last year's track had become near-invisible. In a few places I went to follow what I was used to, but looked for the freshest trail markings and least leaves on the ground to try and follow the new track.
Jehosophat, You might want to ask the mods to delete your link. The other workouts seem to give the exact location of where you live. Might not be the best idea to give that info out on an open forum.
I don't mind - there is always someone here and my bikes, while not cheap, are mostly made up of old bits bought on Ebay - for example I still use 8 speed XTR on them. If I had brand new expensive bikes, then maybe I'd worry, but it's a pretty decent area - I left my car keys on my car roof one night and it was still there in the morning!!
Jehosophat can you get a .GPX file for the route you did from the Endomondo website?
Apparently yes - I just track my rides on a phone but I just looked and it lets me export in two formats, one of them .gpx
Black wood is such that you would still seriously need your wits about you and to ride it in daylight to stay on the path most of the time, even with a GPS with the route in it (which is what I assume a .gpx file does)
I work for a satnav company, I ought to know this sort of thing, but we only do things for cars/trucks and I work in commercial vehicle tracking - I've never used a bike satnav.
Does anyone know the outcome of the planning committee meeting on 21st April?
Very dry and fast rolling at the moment.. but that may change if we get the forecast rain overnight. Also quite a lot of trees down since I last went there..
Brilliant cycling at the moment, but enjoy it while it lasts. I gather planning was approved, so this will probably be our last summer in there inhindered.
Typical UK planning exercise then - just resubmit until passed! If the riding will be wrecked then it's a massive shame - especially as I can't see why anyone would pay to go on holiday in a tiny wood between the M3 and A303! Hopefully in the current financial climate no-one will be silly enough to pay for the holiday village.
Maybe - maybe - the route can be kept going or adapted to suit, most of it goes around the very edge of the wood, but there would be a lot more people bimbling about on the tracks.
Anyway, rode the new route yesterday and managed a good lap with no errors - trace here:
http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/11137308
If you go to the hybrid map, zoom in, and hide the graphs it shows up pretty well.
I rode the eastern half of Black Wood yesterday evening, clockwise. The trail is really dry but is now getting buried under leaves and beachmast. It's extremely hard to find some of the less major sections, even with the GPS to follow. Going in the reverse direction from what I'm used to did not help. It got dark towards the end, which just made matters even worse! There are a few trees down across the trails.
Signs by the Grainfarmers entrance advise of a section of the western half of the woods being closed off weekdays for forestry operations. Supposedly this is for tree thinning to benefit the ecology and nothing to do with the cabin development. I saw no signs that any development work had started. Hopefully the economic gloom has taken its toll on the holiday park idea.
Get out and ride it while it's dry!
Apparently KDMCC held 'shorter' motorbike event in Black Wood yesterday (6 Nov) so there's a chance there are some new tracks to follow. Better be quick before those leaves blow over.
Just started a new topic should have done a search first.
Anybody been there recently, as in last couple of weeks.
Just wondered if the trails were visible.
faint - I was wondering the same. anyone fancy an afterwork ride there soon?
Apparently most of the trail is really hard to find & follow now. KDMCC have relocated their mx enduro this year, presumably they've been given the flick by the Forestry Commision - doesn't sound like they've done much work building the holiday resort yet, hopefully it will be a victim of the recession! Good luck if you're up there & let us know how it goes!