Best biking places to live in the England?

toasty

Just curious what everyone thinks on this one. Preferably not Scotland or Wales, as great as they are for biking they're a bit far out for everything else. Is there anywhere around you that offers everything, lots of local biking, decent priced housing, low crime rate etc?

Sheffield is about the only place on my list at the mo, seems nice and modern, lots going on. Nice bit of biking culture up there and houses seem really well priced too.

We're in Leamington atm, expensive houses, no biking, retired old lady culture, err, low crime rate on the plus side. :?

supersonic

I'd have to agree with you! I am very fortunate to live where I do, great trails right out of my door, close to the rest of the peaks, derbys and the Dales.

As you say, the city really is on the move with a lot of money pored into it. SOme areas (like most places) are a bit rough, but also some are listed as the most affluent places in the country after London (ie Hallam).

welshkev

i live in cwmbran in wales, it's only 1 hour 20 from birmingham, 2 hours to london and an easy hop on the plane to edinburgh...what's your criteria for where you live?

elPedro666

Manchester - Lakes, Peaks, Dales and North Wales all nearby and the best city in the UK, easy! Right in the centre though, away from the scum

toasty

welshkev wrote:

i live in cwmbran in wales, it's only 1 hour 20 from birmingham, 2 hours to london and an easy hop on the plane to edinburgh...what's your criteria for where you live?

Yeah, truth be known there wasn't really any criteria, I should have kept it open It's unlikely finding anything along the lines of what we do out there though.

Beardface

I live nice and close to the North & South Downs, and the Surrey Hills.. also close to an old train route that leads from Guildford all the way to Shoreham (which includes the most amazing farm shop near Grinstead/Horsham)

Does me fine.. Plus, its close to Aiports etc, Londons close enough.. etc etc..

Edit: Just saw you mentioned decent house pricing.. Most of Surrey is out then.. its a joke. Thats why I moved to Hampshire.. just 'round the corner', and a sight cheaper too..

(I'm not looking to get into any arguments about the above statement either, I know that some places in Hampshire are ridiculously priced, and some places in Surrey are cheaper than usual.. its just a generalisation.. :P )

zero303

Bristol! (If you ignore the bike crime, but I think that's a bi-product of it being such a great biking city)

45min CwmCarn
1 hr 30 Afan
1 hr Quantocks
30 mins Mendips
5 mins Ashton Court/Leigh Woods (Yes actual singletrack riding in the city centre!)
1.5 hrs Swinley
2 hrs Exmoor
2.5 hours Brechfa.

The best thing really is the getting home from work in the summer, getting your riding gear on and being on the trails that are literally on your doorstep.

welshkev

+1 for bristol actually if you still want to live in england

a lot of my friends live there actyally and it's a cool city 8)

toasty

I've heard that about Bristol before, didn't it get mentioned in a magazine a bit ago as being a top biking city? Unfortuantely a quick google image search for "bristol" revealed the city is unfortunately on the back of a giant dinosaur:



Is this just something you accept and get used to?

Fully

I'd probably have to agree with one of the cities around the Peak District really. The North of England is a bit of an all round mtb playground really isn't it? Not a million miles from the lakes/dales/moors/peaks and also withon reach of Wales and Scotland.

If i had to choose somewhere down South it would probably be Bristol - next door to S.Wales. With Dartmoor, Exmoor and the Quantocks not too far. I feel that these 3 places are greatly underestimated in riding terms just because they aren't close to any big population centres.

Personally (And maybe with a bit of bias too ) i think that the West Mids area isn't too bad. for access to the Peaks and Wales and my personal favourite of ride spots the South Shropshire hills.

So, err to sum up, anywhere apart from East Anglia and Kent . Everyone who mtb's in the UK is lucky imo. It might not have the altitude of other countries, but the purpose built trail culture is awesome, and the network of older natural trails is also very good.

Try living in Germany, hills and forests everywhere, but hardly any purpose built trails

paul.skibum

I'm looking at a move to the Peaks - one of the smaller towns or villages in the national park itself to truely have trails from my door.

Not bothered about the night life and what not - just want peace and quiet, great riding and an outdoors life. Had it with cities and people. But I can at least commute to either Manchester or Sheffield for work if I need to.

Failing that somewhere like Barnstaple appeals - Exmoor and Croyde Bay near by, Dartmoor and Quantocks not too far and a couple of hours to wales.

Father Faff

I live by Ilkley Moor having moved here from London. We were climbers at the time so Sheffield was top of our list but in the end we thought the Yorkshire Dales had the right balance of Hard Grit and employment opportunities in Leeds/Bradford (half an hour by train). As it happens when I gave up climbing the mountain biking was great too. I can ride out of my door straight onto a lane up to t'moor - there's a choice of gritstone moor (softer) and limestone moor (rockier), plenty of playparks like Stainburn and Dalby and now Gisburn not far away, if you want a change there's the Peak, the Lakes and North York Moors all about an hours blast away. Even the 7 Stanes in Scotland are within reasonable distance. Housing can be cheap closer to Leeds/Bradford but in Ilkley it isn't quite so cheap but it made a great change from Tottenham.!

gaz047

i live in poynton, cheshire and mainly ride from my front door
lyme park -20min ride away
bollington/pot shrigley - 25 mile ride away
marple - 30min ride away
hayfield /macclesfield - 45 min ride away

feel very fortunate to have good riding so close, low crime rate , fairly reasonable house prices.
and the council has recently built a concrete bowl for bikers, boarders, and rollerbladers :shock: , there is also a small bmx track to hurt myself on

XxxBFGxxX

hampshire.

30 min drive to QE park 15 min ride to royal vivky park.

and the best of all the new forest 15 min ride from my front door. aint explored it all yet its a dam big place.

Mickey Eye

Why limit yourself to Britain, Oslo is surrounded by fantastic natural hilly trails. Some of the best start 30 minutes ride from my door.

Father Faff

Hey Mickey, know anything about Bergen for MTBing? Can you recommend any guides/maps showing good all-mountain trails? I have a firend there and fancy visiting with t'Meta.

seataltea

Father Faff wrote:

I live by Ilkley Moor having moved here from London. We were climbers at the time so Sheffield was top of our list but in the end we thought the Yorkshire Dales had the right balance of Hard Grit and employment opportunities in Leeds/Bradford (half an hour by train). As it happens when I gave up climbing the mountain biking was great too. I can ride out of my door straight onto a lane up to t'moor - there's a choice of gritstone moor (softer) and limestone moor (rockier), plenty of playparks like Stainburn and Dalby and now Gisburn not far away, if you want a change there's the Peak, the Lakes and North York Moors all about an hours blast away. Even the 7 Stanes in Scotland are within reasonable distance. Housing can be cheap closer to Leeds/Bradford but in Ilkley it isn't quite so cheap but it made a great change from Tottenham.!

+1

Yorkshire..... the Flying Spaghetti Monsters own country.

Father Faff

How on earth can Hampshire or the Surrey "hills" be the best place in Britain for Mountain Biking? The clue is in the name - MOUNTAIN biking!

stumpyjon

Try Rossendale / Calderdale, 20 miles from Manchester, riding from the door, Peaks / North Wales, Dales, Lakes within easy distance, cheapish housing. Ideal 8)

toasty

Seem to be a few mentions of the Manchester area, hadn't really considered it. I'll have to have a look. Ta

craker

well, Wye Valley gets my vote. It's very bumpy, reasonably priced has all the same thumbs up as Bristol except that it's not Bristol, it's the countryside

elPedro666

Pop up for a ride Toasty then we'll take you on the beers after - you'll soon be convinced! 8)

projectsome

+1 for bristol.

it's close to the countryside as well the coast, just in case you feel like getting off the bike :roll:

There are trail like features all over bristol. I'm still looking...

projectsome

zero303 wrote:

Bristol! (If you ignore the bike crime, but I think that's a bi-product of it being such a great biking city)

45min CwmCarn
1 hr 30 Afan
1 hr Quantocks
30 mins Mendips
5 mins Ashton Court/Leigh Woods (Yes actual singletrack riding in the city centre!)
1.5 hrs Swinley
2 hrs Exmoor
2.5 hours Brechfa.

The best thing really is the getting home from work in the summer, getting your riding gear on and being on the trails that are literally on your doorstep.

you forgot 50 acre woods, although you could say that's part of ashton court

also with ashton court you're at one of the highest parts in bristol and it's quite a view.

Uncle Peter

I live Just outside Dudley in the West Midlands, about an hour from Cannock Chase, Malvern, The Long Mynd. Kinver Edge and Clent Hills are around 20-40 minutes trail ride away. You can get to most of the trail centres in Wales in around 2 hours. Crime isn't too bad where I live and the housing is pretty reasonably priced too.

It's not a bad place to live really if you can put up with Black Country Chavs and Brummies that is.

projectsome

zero have you been down near santas's grotto in leigh woods? quite nice down there.

toasty

Uncle Peter wrote:

I live Just outside Dudley in the West Midlands, about an hour from Cannock Chase, Malvern, The Long Mynd. Kinver Edge and Clent Hills are around 20-40 minutes trail ride away. You can get to most of the trail centres in Wales in around 2 hours. Crime isn't too bad where I live and the housing is pretty reasonably priced too.

It's not a bad place to live really if you can put up with Black Country Chavs and Brummies that is.

We don't live too far from there, similar setup though. It's about 80 mins to Cannock Chase, 2 hours Afan/Llandegla, 90 mins to Long Mynd etc. It's not great, going for a ride always has to be a big weekend event, I really want somewhere where I can drop out of my door into exciting trails on an evening after work The missus is equally keen as well fortunately so it'd definitely be a big deciding factor.

Generally go jogging or cycling every night, in preparation of the weekend, mash the trails both days then back to work for another dull week. Usually both days up at the Chase, same deal this weekend (with digging on Sunday!). We were pondering moving else where in the country so I thought it'd be interesting to see where was possible. Sheffield is still my #1, with Wharncliffe woods on the end, lots of bikey culture, the Peaks down the road, North Yorks Moors and Dalby up the road, it's also handily inbetween my family and the missuseseses.

I'm going to do some hard Googling on Bristol and Manchester though I think

supersonic

I'm trying to tempt Toasty by PMing pics of various riding spots and hills lol.

supersonic

Mmmm, Jacobs Ladder...

projectsome

supersonic wrote:

I'm trying to tempt Toasty by PMing pics of various riding spots and hills lol.

that's cheating!!

projectsome

trails either side of the bridge and under it.




if you're feeling adventurous a bit of skinny dipping after! (please do not try this, you'll most likely anger the locals)