Grizedale Forest

MIchael Cummings

Hi all,

me and a mate are thinking of going away for a couple of days to the lakes. After a bit of research, I cam up with Grizedale Forest. There seems to be a few trails there etc, good for camping too.

So has anybody got an opinion they'd be willing to share with me? Is it worth the 2 hours journey (I live in Halifax)???

Look forward to your replies..

The Northern Monkey

NFT is good, getting a bit weathered. If your camping then your well within driving distance of whinlatter aswell

Father Faff

The Lakes has some of the best natural trails in England so I wouldn't aim for the "bike parks". Grizedale is pretty disappointing generally and the North Face Trail is falling apart though I guess it's worth a spin. If I were you I'd be looking at some good natural trails of which there are loads. Hawkshead or Coniston or Ambleside are good places to be based and Bike Treks (?) in Ambleside will tell you what's good. You can always take in Grizedale as part of one of the classics.

sniper68

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^What he said.if you're just going for a half day/day out then a trail centre is just the ticket.if you're planning on staying a day or 2,do some of the natural(better) stuff 8)

whalley665

If you were planning to go to grizedale, i say you should drive an extra 15 minutes or so and go to whinlatter forest altura trail, it is so much better than grizedale.

pdid

whalley665 wrote:

If you were planning to go to grizedale, i say you should drive an extra 15 minutes or so and go to whinlatter forest altura trail, it is so much better than grizedale.

15 minutes? Maybe by helicopter In all fairness it's probably an extra half hour. If I were you I'd do Grizedale but extend it with some of the Natural stuff in the area, there are loads of bridleways in an around the NFT which makes it really easy to add bits on. The North Face itself has been tamed down recently too, they've removed the majority of the boardwalk sections on the first climb which, IMO, takes away some of the character of the trail.

Take a map and go exploring!!!

dave_hill

MIchael Cummings wrote:

So has anybody got an opinion they'd be willing to share with me? Is it worth the 2 hours journey (I live in Halifax)???

Yes and No.

Don't go just with the sole intention of riding the NFT - it will take you half a day or less and you'll be disappointed. It isn't the most challenging trail in the world.

But...

If you mix it up with the natural, you've got some of the best riding in the country, and more than enough to fill a couple of days!

If you'll PM me your e-mail address, I'll send you some route maps.

MIchael Cummings

Thanks for the maps Dave!! A great starting point.

passout

Do Walna Scar road - it's ace! Garbun is good too.

altern_8

passout wrote:

Do Walna Scar road - it's ace! Garbun is good too.

i was just about to say the same thing,ive been twice to lakes,stayed in torver and coniston,did walna scar from coniston on new years eve,got to top which took us 2-2 and half hours,but it was 30 mins of pure downhill back into torver,deff do it again,we went to grizedale as well,but only did a bit of it,we prefered walna scar mate.........

dave_hill

The thing is with Grizedale and the surrounding area is that there is so much more to it than the NFT. It really does pay to get a map and go exploring. The OS Explorer 1:25000 scale maps are definitely the best.

If you use Coniston Water as the Western boundary, the A592 as the Southern, Windermere as the Eastern and the River Brathay as the Northern, there's so much riding to be had in that area you could easily fill a long weekend. Expand Westwards towards the Duddon Valley and you've got a week's-worth.

I first went mountain biking properly in Grizedale in 1989 on a rented Mudy Fox Courier (the purple and white one, remember them?) and I've been back up there regularly ever since. It's fantastic country for riding, even in the depths of winter.

tightbarsteward

I don't live too far from Grizedale & in my opinion this route is by far the best if you dont know the place too well:

http://www.flattyresmtbroutes.com/Grize ... amoor.html

MIchael Cummings

tightbarsteward wrote:

I don't live too far from Grizedale & in my opinion this route is by far the best if you dont know the place too well:

http://www.flattyresmtbroutes.com/Grize ... amoor.html

Looks ace that, cheers

cubby@cartorque

Hi Michael, i'm new to this mountain biking and have been thinking of going up to Grizedale as i know the area fro mvarious car rallys up there ....

I'm pretty close to you in Elland ..... let us know when your planning a trip

elPedro666

There's a definate theme here - I've just got back from an amazing few days in the Lakes, including a loop over Garburn Pass which was awesome. Make sure you approach the pass from Troutbeck side to give yourself a more manageable (sort of) climb.

I parked in Kentmere & went South to High Borans, then picked up the climb past Dubb's Reservoir - it should be obvious on the map - and would thoroughly recommend it. Only about 10miles & two hours (the wind stopped me hanging around too much!) but a real sense of history & scale, not to mention the descent...

You can add another loop to the East of Kentmere if you have the time, making it a figure of 8 with the car in the middle, handy!

Do be prepared for the weather up there though, I saw glorious blazing sunshine & driving hail so sharp I had to hide behind rocks while it passed - within 5minutes of each other. Ridiculous!

Did Walna Scar last year too - there's a campsite at the bottom on the East side, right on the shore of Coniston, that you can ride straight from.

You'll have a fantastic weekend anyway, the Lakes are stunning - huge & imposing but beautiful on the smallest scales too.

Oh dear, I appear to have waffled AND gushed...
Oops! Sorry!

pdid

elPedro666 wrote:

There's a definate theme here - I've just got back from an amazing few days in the Lakes, including a loop over Garburn Pass which was awesome. Make sure you approach the pass from Troutbeck side to give yourself a more manageable (sort of) climb.

IMHO Garburn Pass is better dropping down to Troutbeck, the drop into Kentmere is good but it`s much shorter and much more technical which means you can`t get as much speed up. Okay so it will be a case of "hike a bike" going up from Kentmere but the drop down to Troutbeck is fantastic.

actsolutions

pdid wrote:

elPedro666 wrote:

There's a definate theme here - I've just got back from an amazing few days in the Lakes, including a loop over Garburn Pass which was awesome. Make sure you approach the pass from Troutbeck side to give yourself a more manageable (sort of) climb.

IMHO Garburn Pass is better dropping down to Troutbeck, the drop into Kentmere is good but it`s much shorter and much more technical which means you can`t get as much speed up. Okay so it will be a case of "hike a bike" going up from Kentmere but the drop down to Troutbeck is fantastic.

I have to agree I would rather walk up and enjoy the long run down, more fun for me.
Now the good weather is back I'll be going to do this run again very soon.
Ride on!

gavin66

MIchael Cummings wrote:

Hi all,

me and a mate are thinking of going away for a couple of days to the lakes. After a bit of research, I cam up with Grizedale Forest. There seems to be a few trails there etc, good for camping too.

So has anybody got an opinion they'd be willing to share with me? Is it worth the 2 hours journey (I live in Halifax)???

Look forward to your replies..

I was up there last weekend with my 9 year old daughter so i had to choose the easier routes,i didn't get much of an adrenaline rush out of it but enjoyed it none the less and so did my daughter.i do like it there though,theres a buzz about the place,especially if you like people/bike watching and if you get time a session swinging through the trees on GO APE is worth a try.Decent routes in the lakes,Claife heights near Sawrey is a short but enjoyable ride,Garburn pass is longer and a bit more technical,Walner scar road is a good route with a killer(if you're unfit like me)uphill on tarmac.Further north there's 'high street',again a hard ascent but the downhill run makes all the hard work worth it,avoid this route in busy periods,ie.bank hols as the ramblers ruin the return leg alongside the lake.Last but not least and not exactly in the lakes there's the howgills near Sedbergh,again some steep climbs rewarded with some fast downhills.That's just some of my favourites and i'm sure there's plenty more gooduns.Wherever you go,have a good time.