healy nab? new trails - where are they

spondonchris

hi can anyone tell me exactly where the new red and black trails are near rivington, lancashire. I regularly ride rivington and winter hill and have been told there isd a place called healy nab? with some new made trails to include a couple of red grades and a black.
please can someone tell me where they are

thanks

Whytepeak

The trails are near white coppice. Never ridden them myself But I too ride rivi quite often...

I'd be quite interested in a group rivi ride come to think of it...

topsey_turvey

The new trail is only 0.75 miles long. You have to ride further from the road to get to/from it than you do riding the trail. Not worth the trouble.

Whytepeak

Topsey Turvey

You make it sound rubbish. A lot of hard work went into the trails at healey nab - they weren't put there to be ignored. I'm sure they would be an excellent addition to any rivi ride.

topsey_turvey

Didn't say it was rubbish. Just said it's only 0.75 miles long and that you have to ride further to it than it lasts.

I think we all know what work went in, B&D never shut up about it for months on their forum. Now that it's finished they've nothing to talk about, and everyone seems to have lost interest.

It will be great if you've the attention span of a locust, but 0.75 miles isn't going to get them flocking from far and wide, however good it is.

Whytepeak

Was it only B&D Riders that bult it, plus I thought there were plans to extend it and make a loop (though I may be confused with somewhere else).

The Nab thread on the B&D forum says a lot, and it would appear that lots went into it.

Is it not supported by a larger body?

Sorry for all the Q's, but I feel more could be make of it, esp with Rivi so close by....

topsey_turvey

The B&D forum has many threads and many many posts. Do a search. IIRC the project has been fully/partly funded by LCC. There have been diggers and a course builder and one or two"experts" involved. From what I've read (and I've not read it all because it goes on sooooo much) there seems to have been the major design/groundworks carried out by the council, with a lot of the labouring done by volunteers, mainly organised by B&D.

I've been for a look, and what there seems OK. It's just that the area of The Nab is very small, so they are constrained as to what they can build. I believe that other stretches are in the pipeline. Every credit to them for giving it a go, but I cannot see it ever being more than an add on to another ride, unless you just want to keep riding the same bits time after time.

There is a problem with access to the area, not all the adjacent land is publicly owned, so making a "proper" trail centre may just not be feasible. There was (and still is) a problem with local downhillers building their own courses just where they feel is best. I understand that this trail was partly to stop that, and try to stop local bad feeling, but that doesn't seem to be working too well. But wherever a dedicated mtb trail is built round there, there will be objections from red socks, dog walkers etc. It's a very small, high usuage area with many competing interests to cater for.

spondonchris

hi guys, have read your posts and will go and see for myself if I can find it. Is there an obvious way to it?? and what is the B&D forum? and I am not expecting a full trail centre, just a few fun runs to add to an already fun ride around winter hill. normally at rivi on a sunday morning followed by bacon and egg barm at the bottom barn

Whytepeak

B&D is Blackburn and District moutain Bikers.

Forum here -

http://www.badforum.co.uk/

TT - thanks for the info, it's a shame it isn't more simple to get too, I understand there have been some problems with parking and the locals. Still, I'll go and check it out soon.

As for the enterance to the trail, I can't say for sure, but there will be info on the forum, hope you find it.

topsey_turvey

I've got tomorrow afternoon off, so I think I'll pootle along for a looksee. I know where the trails are, just hope that they have been waymarked so I don't get my reds and blacks mixed up. Only difficult bit is deciding what to do for the rest of the afternoon.

Note to MFC - first outing on my new P7!!!!!

dave_hill

SpondonChris

A touch off topic, but is your alias because you are from Spondon or because you ride one of Sweary Bob's finest lunatic machines?

spondonchris

one of the sweary bob brigade !!!!!

spondonchris

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dave_hill

Very pleasant. And the bike's not bad either!

Mancunianfightingcat

Topsey Turvey wrote:

Note to MFC - first outing on my new P7!!!!!

Nice! Let me know how it rides! Then we can get you booked in for your Orange tattoo!

topsey_turvey

Veni, Vidi, Vinci. As one of the Caesars once said.

So I’ve been and ridden Healey Nab. I rode from The Barn at Rivington, but the real experts park at the nearest road access point approx half a mile from the trail head. This upsets the locals on a narrow country road, largely because there are no real parking spots, so traffic has to wheedle its way past badly parked cars. There is another popular access point, but the only parking here is on a private driveway, with access to the hill across private land and footpaths. That never worries the full face brigade, so it’s no wonder we’re not the most popular folk round there.

The start of the “forest” is sometimes described as the start of the Blue run. This is actually easier than the most regularly used ungraded approach track. There are no signs showing that there are trails in the area, so the first time visitor will be confused. At the end of the Blue run you have to dive into the heart of the forest, down a little, easily missed track. At the end of this is quite a good sign showing what’s on offer. Read it well, it’s the only one. This sign indicates that the “blue” run you’ve just ridden is now part of the Red run. Really?

Anyway to the Red run. (0.3 miles from the signboard to the bottom: 0.47 miles if you include the Blue bit) The start is signposted, and initially it has quite a few techy bits. There’s a mini wall feature in between two trees that looks harder on the approach than it actually is, but enough to make you think. The whole run is easier to ride than first appearances would have you believe. About half way down the techy bits just seem to stop, and there is just swooping singletrack to the end. This is followed by:-

THE BIG PUSH. Yep, the only way back to the start is an uphill push. This could be quite “interesting” as there is no obvious difference between the push up, and large parts of the Black run coming down. Good job it was quiet.

Then followed the Black run (0.285 miles). I got the impression that the trail builders knew they only had a very short track to work with, so tried to cram in every conceivable feature right from the start. Very hard to keep momentum up, and if you lose your speed it’s hard to get going again. The number of gouges to the rock features, trees and berms would indicate that many have trouble negotiating the track. I’m not complaining – I picked up a red LED rear light and a water bottle, both nearly new that must have been knocked off other bikes. As with the Red run, by halfway down it appears that funds/ideas/enthusiasm had run out and the end is just routine singletrack. Once again the end of the run is followed by:-

THE BIG PUSH. Yep back up through the trees to the start.
I then had another go at the Red, and if I’d ridden it half a dozen times I’m convinced I’d have learned it off by heart. This was followed by:-

THE BIG PUSH. Yep, the push back up through the trees. This was getting pretty boring, so I passed the chance for another descent, and left. The trouble is there’s nowhere to go to. Healey Nab is a bit out on a limb and isn’t really near anywhere else. It’s difficult to make the trails part of any normal route, especially with the push at the end.

Don’t get me wrong, what has been done is quite good, but it just gives the impression of some politicians/beaurocrats somewhere having a bit of money to spare and deciding to be bike friendly.

It appears the regular trail centre users like toilets, car parks, bike wash facilities, shop, cafe, baby changing rooms and live Man U matches on plasma screens throughout the forest, but this just won’t happen anywhere near here. There simply isn’t the room to build such facilities, unless land and finance appear from nowhere.

There are signs that more trail will be built, and there is evidence that work has started. But, there were no obvious signs that work is ongoing, and I understand that funding is now the problem. As we know Gordon has sh@gged the economy, so where the County Council is going to get the money from anytime in the next 5 years is very debatable, and mtbers won’t be putting their hands in their pockets, will they?

I’m left with the impression that somebody somewhere had a good idea, but that it has been poorly executed. The whole Rivington area has great social and leisure pressures, and to fit decent mtb trails in is obviously very hard. But, rather than try and make a silk purse out of the sows ear that is Healey Nab, they might have been better looking at the wider moors, where there are already many tracks used by us, most of which are cheeky, and most of which are on land controlled by United Utilities. Obviously some negotiation would be needed, but with UU’s threat to enforce car parking fees all over the area, there is obviously a potential source of income for them.

If anyone wants a GPS track of the routes I have them, but you don’t need them. All you really need is to know where to dive into the forest off the Blue(?) bit, which is at approx. GR SD 60700 18050.

I await the flailing that will undoubtedly follow.

Mancunianfightingcat

Quality review TT!

When are we going then, it sounds awesome, much more interesting than that last slog over the moors and down into Belmont that you took me on!

topsey_turvey

I did the slog that we did after I'd done the trails. Only thing I missed were the two stairways, which I thought would be a bit much on the hardtail. I took the chicken run down George's Lane that you used, but thought that reasonable. I even rode over the arch in Liverpool Castle without dabbing, but unfortunately there was no-one there to take my piccie!

FWIW both SWMBO and myself were born at the foot of Healey Nab. It has always been seen as a bit of an odd feature, not really a hill, but just too hard of access for any real use. (Lost my virginity on it though!)