Thetford Forest Routes

chr1s_mtb

Anyone know any good routes in or around Thetford Forest in Norfolk? I'm heading over there this weekend with some mates.

jibbber

The main place to park is High Lodge visitor center, which is fairly pricey. But from there you have the start of all the main marked routes in the forest.

Blue and Green routes are basically fire roads for familys, etc, nice scenery but nothing taxing. Then you have the two main single track routes, the Red and Black Route -

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/ourw ... CycleRoute

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/ourw ... nBikeRoute

These are much more fun and more demanding. Both are man made twisty, bumpy single track, with berms and bomb holes. The red route also has a nice litle technical bit with a low balance beam, etc. You should be able to do both the black and red routes back to back easily enough.

Don't expect any hills though, this is Norfolk after all!

tobh

I rode at Thetford at the weekend. We did the Red and the Black.

The red was in a worser state than the Black. Both are muddy, but the Red was really bad. The Black is occasionally more covered than the Red, so that may have something to do with it.

Since I last rode it in January the Beast section on the Black was a lot tamer; maybe some erosion.

Still a great day out though. Hard work, the mud and the sand make it quite a workout..

It's a great place; I just wish they could open up more of it with waymarked routes. Most of the regulars seems to avoid the mareker routes and hack off on their own secret routes..

T

www.strengthofstrings.blogspot.com

BeardedDave

No real surprise that it was muddy, it rained solidly all day Friday and Saturday.

jibbber

tobh wrote:

I rode at Thetford at the weekend. We did the Red and the Black.

The red was in a worser state than the Black. Both are muddy, but the Red was really bad. The Black is occasionally more covered than the Red, so that may have something to do with it.

Since I last rode it in January the Beast section on the Black was a lot tamer; maybe some erosion.

Still a great day out though. Hard work, the mud and the sand make it quite a workout..

It's a great place; I just wish they could open up more of it with waymarked routes. Most of the regulars seems to avoid the mareker routes and hack off on their own secret routes..

T

www.strengthofstrings.blogspot.com

Which day were you there? I was there on sunday and that is the muddiest I've ever been. My legs were plastered in so many layers it almost looked like I had black fur on them. Good laugh though.

tobh

I was there in Sunday.

It was muddy.. IN fact I cant imagine the Red Route could have been any muddier. Any worse than it was would have made it 'impossible to ride and still have fun..

I still enjoyed it. For us it was all about 'getting our heads down' and getting some miles in.

I like Thetford. But then I've only ever ridden at Thetford, Danbury and Epping. So I have nothing to compare it against really. Going to Coed in 3 weeks though..

T

www.strengthofstrings.blogspot.com

Wag$ter

I do the Black route 2 or 3 times a week as I'm only about half a mile away from the brandon country park, almost eveytime I go out on it i get absolutly coverd in mud! it is good fun tho some good bomb holes. just started finding diffrent trails plenty to explore.

jibbber

I think the local trail builder group are having problems with the Forestry Commission at the moment, so the trails have been left for a while. Shame as they have been doing an excellent job with the new bits on the red route.

Robothamster

Hey peeps.
I go to Thetford a dozen or so times a year and typically do the Black & Red routes or mix them up by using a Garmin and finding ways between them.
I've heard that there are many more singletrack trails on the Brandon side near the blue route, does anyone know of these hidden gems, and ideally does anyone have a GPX route that I could upload to try out when I visit at the weekend?

Cheers.