Essex/Suffolk MTB Trails

Gaz1957

Hi everyone
I'm a new member and a new Mountain Biker, just bought a Boardman on my firms cycle2work scheme and am really looking forward to taking it off road, bearing in mind my inexperience and age ( just breached the 50mark ) i was wondering if anyone here could give me some info/guidance on some good ridesin the Essex/ Suffolk areas.
Thanks in anticipation

Gav888

Just bought another mountain bike yesterday and plan to go to Thetford Forest tomorrow to test it out. There are 4 different routes there for all skill levels, beginner right up to experienced. Great place to go and cannot wait to ride there again tomorrow.

Info here - http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/ourw ... nBikeRoute

The info is for the black route which is for experienced people, but all the routes start in the same place and are well sign posted. If you also search 'East Anglia' on the forestry.gov website there are Tunstall Forest and Rendlesham Forest, not ridden them yet but good reviews so will check them out soon.

Only issue wth Thetford is parking which is £1.50 an hour I think, last time I was there 5 or 6 hours so works out a bit, but the routes are free, last time I completed the Black and Red routes... great fun

setspeed

Gav888 wrote:

Just bought another mountain bike yesterday and plan to go to Thetford Forest tomorrow to test it out. There are 4 different routes there for all skill levels, beginner right up to experienced. Great place to go and cannot wait to ride there again tomorrow.

Info here - http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/ourw ... nBikeRoute

The info is for the black route which is for experienced people, but all the routes start in the same place and are well sign posted. If you also search 'East Anglia' on the forestry.gov website there are Tunstall Forest and Rendlesham Forest, not ridden them yet but good reviews so will check them out soon.

Only issue wth Thetford is parking which is £1.50 an hour I think, last time I was there 5 or 6 hours so works out a bit, but the routes are free, last time I completed the Black and Red routes... great fun

I've just bought a new bike, returning to the sport after 17yrs(!) although in the last few weeks I've done a few little local rides on an old rigid MTB I managed to acquire.
What's the black route like? It says "experienced" only - I'm well used to hanging off the back of my bike for steep downhills, and can pull off small (6-9") bunnyhops, so I'm not a beginner, but would this level of skill count as experienced enough for the black route? I don't want to spend half my time getting off the bike cos I can't negotiaite massive rockgardens that require extreme trials skills!

coxy17

at thetford on sunday just looking at the parking is 1.60 a hour what a rip off
if u r going to use thetford a lot it would be better to get a season ticket for 44 pound right bargain as a whole day cost 9.60 witch is a right rip off

Gav888

setspeed wrote:

Gav888 wrote:

Just bought another mountain bike yesterday and plan to go to Thetford Forest tomorrow to test it out. There are 4 different routes there for all skill levels, beginner right up to experienced. Great place to go and cannot wait to ride there again tomorrow.

Info here - http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/ourw ... nBikeRoute

The info is for the black route which is for experienced people, but all the routes start in the same place and are well sign posted. If you also search 'East Anglia' on the forestry.gov website there are Tunstall Forest and Rendlesham Forest, not ridden them yet but good reviews so will check them out soon.

Only issue wth Thetford is parking which is £1.50 an hour I think, last time I was there 5 or 6 hours so works out a bit, but the routes are free, last time I completed the Black and Red routes... great fun

I've just bought a new bike, returning to the sport after 17yrs(!) although in the last few weeks I've done a few little local rides on an old rigid MTB I managed to acquire.
What's the black route like? It says "experienced" only - I'm well used to hanging off the back of my bike for steep downhills, and can pull off small (6-9") bunnyhops, so I'm not a beginner, but would this level of skill count as experienced enough for the black route? I don't want to spend half my time getting off the bike cos I can't negotiaite massive rockgardens that require extreme trials skills!

To be honest, although its called the black route and is for experienced people I did it ok and im not experienced!! its not problem for someone with some riding skills over bumps etc.

There are a few tricky bits towards the end, a fast-ish downhill section with big ups and downs, one bit is covered in flint so dont fall off!!! but generally its all ok. You can ride at your own pace although some sections are quite narrow and if there are fast riders behind you it could be a problem to get out of there way.

The red route is fast and good fun. Bit boring at first but once you get to the wooded section its great fun flying through the trees!!

setspeed

Thanks Gav, reckon I'll try n get up there in the next few days!

BeardedDave

For those worrying about the black route, it really isn't that technical at all and would be fine for a beginner. The grading of red and black in no way compares to other red or black gradings around the UK. The only bit you may have issues with, as a beginner, is the section known as 'The Beast', on the black route. It's nowhere near as fearsome as the name suggests though and there are no drops or rock gardens or any reasons to get your wheels of the ground, if you don't want to. It is just tight, twisty fast singletrack, with a few ups and downs. The section is specifically signposted, so you do get a warning that it's coming up.

As for the parking issues, as pointed out, the parking at the Forestry Commission place, High Lodge, is seriously over priced. You will find that all the regular locals park at Brandon Country Park (run by the local council, not the FC), which is a couple of miles away and is free to park. From there it's easy to pick up the way marked trails, just cross the road you came in on, directly opposite the entrance to Brandon Country Park, and you'll pick up signs to follow the fireroads up to High Lodge, where you can start the waymarked trails.

Gav888

coxy17 wrote:

at thetford on sunday just looking at the parking is 1.60 a hour what a rip off
if u r going to use thetford a lot it would be better to get a season ticket for 44 pound right bargain as a whole day cost 9.60 witch is a right rip off

Have to agree that is alot of money for a day out... but the routes are really good run though. I noticed on the way in there is tons of space to park before you get to the ticket gate, maybe stop there for free and ride in!! LOL

Gav888

BeardedDave wrote:

For those worrying about the black route, it really isn't that technical at all and would be fine for a beginner. The grading of red and black in no way compares to other red or black gradings around the UK. The only bit you may have issues with, as a beginner, is the section known as 'The Beast', on the black route. It's nowhere near as fearsome as the name suggests though and there are no drops or rock gardens or any reasons to get your wheels of the ground, if you don't want to. It is just tight, twisty fast singletrack, with a few ups and downs. The section is specifically signposted, so you do get a warning that it's coming up.

As for the parking issues, as pointed out, the parking at the Forestry Commission place, High Lodge, is seriously over priced. You will find that all the regular locals park at Brandon Country Park (run by the local council, not the FC), which is a couple of miles away and is free to park. From there it's easy to pick up the way marked trails, just cross the road you came in on, directly opposite the entrance to Brandon Country Park, and you'll pick up signs to follow the fireroads up to High Lodge, where you can start the waymarked trails.

Thats it, THE BEAST... couldnt remember the name... good fun but be careful of the flint bit towards the end of the up / down section.

Thanks for the info regarding the parking, I will do that next time im there. Any chance of a google map of the area

nonnac85

Park in the country park to avoid the extortionate car parking charge and just cycle across to the trails.
More info HERE

Gav888

nonnac85 wrote:

Park in the country park to avoid the extortionate car parking charge and just cycle across to the trails.
More info HERE

Spot on, cheers for that

pte1643

BeardedDave wrote:

As for the parking issues, as pointed out, the parking at the Forestry Commission place, High Lodge, is seriously over priced. You will find that all the regular locals park at Brandon Country Park (run by the local council, not the FC), which is a couple of miles away and is free to park. From there it's easy to pick up the way marked trails, just cross the road you came in on, directly opposite the entrance to Brandon Country Park, and you'll pick up signs to follow the fireroads up to High Lodge, where you can start the waymarked trails.

I have a season ticket, which is Far, Far cheaper (in the long run). Obvoiusly this isn't really an option for those who are just visiting.

If you park in Brandon CP, then there's no real reason to ride up to High Lodge first (unless you want to)... Just start the trails from there an end in the same place.

The Black route is litterally just across the road, actually runs parallel to the road at that point.

Brandon CP is actually ON the Blue route (for those with families).

You WILL have to ride up to the Lodge for ther Red though, as it flows in the other direction.

VWsurfbum

Gaz1957 wrote:

Hi everyone
I'm a new member and a new Mountain Biker, just bought a Boardman on my firms cycle2work scheme and am really looking forward to taking it off road, bearing in mind my inexperience and age ( just breached the 50mark ) i was wondering if anyone here could give me some info/guidance on some good ridesin the Essex/ Suffolk areas.
Thanks in anticipation

Essex has lots of places to ride, try searching for danbury, hadleigh, warley or thorndon.
easiest place if your coming down the A12 would be danbury, plus they actually have hills not like thetford.

dirk_van_gently

nonnac85 wrote:

Park in the country park to avoid the extortionate car parking charge and just cycle across to the trails.
More info HERE

You can also park for free and for nothing in Santon Downham.

Free parking here

Couple of non waymarked routes here for you to try:
http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=14508

http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=14264

brett7

Dirk Van Gently wrote:

nonnac85 wrote:

Park in the country park to avoid the extortionate car parking charge and just cycle across to the trails.
More info HERE

You can also park for free and for nothing in Santon Downham.

Free parking here

Couple of non waymarked routes here for you to try:
http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=14508

http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=14264

Danbury common is great! As is High Beech near Epping....

jinnorfolk

Am I the only one who doesnt think Thetford is a rip off?

the trails are free and well kept, someone has to pay for the upkeep

VWsurfbum

jinnorfolk wrote:

Am I the only one who doesnt think Thetford is a rip off?

the trails are free and well kept, someone has to pay for the upkeep

yes

pte1643

jinnorfolk wrote:

Am I the only one who doesnt think Thetford is a rip off?

Not a rip-off as such, after all it is FC land, but a lot better value with a Season Ticket.

Like you say though, at least the trails are Free, and for the best part, are pretty well kept/maintained. But it's important to note the upkeep of the trails is performed by unpaid volunteers... NOT by the FC from the money paid into the Car Park.

jinnorfolk

I also have a season ticket,and I didnt know the trails were kept by unpaid volunteers!!

What do the FC do with the car park money then?

pte1643

jinnorfolk wrote:

I also have a season ticket,and I didnt know the trails were kept by unpaid volunteers!!

Yep... Volunteers... http://www.timbermtb.org/

jinnorfolk wrote:

What do the FC do with the car park money then?

Gawd knows... :?

Go Ape... Music Concerts... Cafe... Wages for the FC staff... Your guess is as good as any.

Gav888

nonnac85 wrote:

Park in the country park to avoid the extortionate car parking charge and just cycle across to the trails.
More info HERE

Was at Thetford on Sunday and used the info provided and must say its a nice place to park up and the trail is easy to find, and its only about a mile or 2 from the main lodge I used to park at.

All in all very happy.

Rawli

Interesting discussion - High Lodge doesn't charge for parking alone it's a site entry fee and this pays for services & facilities - Ie the 'Free' trails

Could I reccomend the following link for some answers to the concerns raised

Site entry cost is high - Site entry FAQ's http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/forestry.nsf/byunique/infd-7p5jb3

Also if you're interested in what we've been doing to improve the trails-
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-77fkcw

We put every penny we can back into facilities and we'd like to thank everyone who supports what we do by buying a season ticket - the new sections on the red route are a testament to your support.

We work very closely with TIMBER and many of their members are volunteering and helping us to improve and support the exisitng trail network. If anyone wishes to support the Forest Trails then we'd definately recommend getting involved with TIMBER.

Brandon Country Park is a great site run by great people but they do not provide the trails and are funded differently to High Lodge. We provide, maintain and where we can develop the trails and this has to be done within the income we can generate on site. So the more people who support us by buying a season ticket, the more we can offer in return.

It's fantastic to know so many people get enjoyment from what we provide... that's why we do it!

On behalf of the The High Lodge Team

BeardedDave

Rawli wrote:

Site entry cost is high - Site entry FAQ's http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/forestry.nsf/byunique/infd-7p5jb3

I've been to many Forestry Comission sites around the UK, in England, Scotland and Wales and not one of them charges as much as the amount that High Lodge does to access the site and I wouldn't say that High Lodge offers much more.

A good example would be the Birches Valley centre at Cannock Chase. £3 for a full day's parking gets you pretty much all the things listed in the 'what do I get for my money?' section in the link above. On top of this, from a cycling point of view, having ridden the trails at Cannock Chase and at Thetford Forest, considerably more work and more investment appears to have happened at Cannock Chase. Is there really any justification for charging three times the amount to park at High Lodge, to use comparable facilities?

Rawli

A very fair point and one that has been made on many occasions.

It always comes down to cash available - either FC money or external funding. It's pretty common knowledge that well designed sustainable trails that people want to ride cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to create. Beyond this the cost of maintain the trails to an acceptable standard is also very expensive. This money has to be found somehow.

Other FC sites (that have been mentioned) have been very successful in raising external funding to invest in new trails. Finding funding to maintain these facilities is always much harder.

To this point we have not been able to raise any significant funding to invest in new trails and a new national standard (some may have heard of OGB37) means that the majority of our staff and cash resource will be directed to meeting this standard for quite some time.

Clearly we don't deal with the funding at other sites such as Birches Valley but the £3.00 payment for a day will not be covering the costs of the facilities provided. At this time we have to cover the costs of running High Lodge through the income we generate and currently we can break even on an operational basis but this does not provide significant investment in facilities.

However.... We have a huge Forest which is a great destination for all cyclists around the region and we want to develop the trails and facilities that customers demand. So we've set up a development team to work on this. If you want to follow progress check out this link http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-7jlkr5

If anyone want's to support this effort then we'd recommend joining TIMBER and if possible buy a season ticket to High Lodge, as we invest whatever money we can into facilities. Currently if we had money available we'd spend it on developing a design concept for a completely new exciting trail network that we could use to secure some funding to get it built!

Thanks for the feedback.

The High Lodge Team.

DC01

If the place i visit has good trails, facilities, cafe ,maybe a bike wash. I dont mind what i spend on a car park within reason if i have a good day and enjoyable riding.

Gav888

Incase the OP is still looking for trails in Suffolk, ive just come across TROG - http://www.trogmtb.com/ and there are some good trails in Rendlesham forest and Tunstall forest, esp Tunstall. The daft thing is, I moved to Rendlesham 5 months ago and only just found out about them!! LOL

2wheelsuffolk

after a bit of googling i've found that there aren't many pages that offer information on places to ride in suffolk, which is why ive started a blog that will hopefully be a good place for us to all share good rides in our area.
The plan is to go explore or plan a route then upload gpx files for anyone to download. If you're interested check out the blog here;

2wheelsuffolk.tumblr.com

Feel free to tweet any comments to me and add routes of your own.

BTW i know im dragging up an old post,

2wheelsuffolk

also park at brandon visitor center and only pay £2-£3 a day compared to high lodges £10

cameroncjgc

I'd love to see more trails in suffolk open, there really isn't much apart from thetford and brandon (which i shall visit)

cameroncjgc

Gav888 wrote:

Just bought another mountain bike yesterday and plan to go to Thetford Forest tomorrow to test it out. There are 4 different routes there for all skill levels, beginner right up to experienced. Great place to go and cannot wait to ride there again tomorrow.

Info here - http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/ourw ... nBikeRoute

The info is for the black route which is for experienced people, but all the routes start in the same place and are well sign posted. If you also search 'East Anglia' on the forestry.gov website there are Tunstall Forest and Rendlesham Forest, not ridden them yet but good reviews so will check them out soon.

Only issue wth Thetford is parking which is £1.50 an hour I think, last time I was there 5 or 6 hours so works out a bit, but the routes are free, last time I completed the Black and Red routes... great fun

"The trails are now worn down and not enough attention is being put into them because it is a family centre not a mountain biking specific centre"

cameroncjgc

[/quote]

Gav888 wrote:

Just bought another mountain bike yesterday and plan to go to Thetford Forest tomorrow to test it out. There are 4 different routes there for all skill levels, beginner right up to experienced. Great place to go and cannot wait to ride there again tomorrow.

Info here - http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/ourw ... nBikeRoute

The info is for the black route which is for experienced people, but all the routes start in the same place and are well sign posted. If you also search 'East Anglia' on the forestry.gov website there are Tunstall Forest and Rendlesham Forest, not ridden them yet but good reviews so will check them out soon.

Only issue wth Thetford is parking which is £1.50 an hour I think, last time I was there 5 or 6 hours so works out a bit, but the routes are free, last time I completed the Black and Red routes... great fun

the thetford trails are way over rated. I still like riding them but they lack up-keep. Health and safety have banned them doing so much because they advertise themselves as a family centre so they are not allowed to make runs dangerous. Also the black would be a red or a blue if you went to the lake district, Scotland, Wales