Wharncliffe red? And other options...
angrymeerkat
Posts: 134
So I'm looking into some trail centre-type routes for winter riding, and Wharncliffe falls just within my hour's drive limit.
Exactly what can I expect at Wharncliffe? How well signed, if at all, is the main red route? What kind of red is it - given that these things are never quite as clear cut as they should be?
The forestry website says there's pretty much nothing there. So, no shop, no bike wash, no loos, a bit rough-and-ready. If there's a regular on the board who might be able to say what kind of state the trail builds, referenced by the forestry commission, are at, that'd also be helpful. Don't want to get there and find the place mainly shut! Unfortunately the wharncliffe.info webby seems a bit outdated too.
As an addendum... it's a 200 mile round trip to Lee Quarry. Is it worth it? I'd venture a quarry trail would hold up better than poorly drained forest. And it looks epic fun.
Exactly what can I expect at Wharncliffe? How well signed, if at all, is the main red route? What kind of red is it - given that these things are never quite as clear cut as they should be?
The forestry website says there's pretty much nothing there. So, no shop, no bike wash, no loos, a bit rough-and-ready. If there's a regular on the board who might be able to say what kind of state the trail builds, referenced by the forestry commission, are at, that'd also be helpful. Don't want to get there and find the place mainly shut! Unfortunately the wharncliffe.info webby seems a bit outdated too.
As an addendum... it's a 200 mile round trip to Lee Quarry. Is it worth it? I'd venture a quarry trail would hold up better than poorly drained forest. And it looks epic fun.
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Comments
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Its a car park thats it.Then again its not a trailcentre.
The new redroute is very short,a couple of miles and at the moment is a mudbath.Its all built by local volunteers with next to no funding so its not like Wales/Dalby etc.Non of the DH runs are marked.The old black route is overgrown and all the signs have been pulled down.There's loads of singletrack but again its not waymarked.You could spend all day riding fireroads and riding past all the good stuff.
I live 10 mins away and avoid the redroute unless there's been a very long dryspell.Most of the DH runs are a bit too extreme for me.
Try to get a local rider to show you around or go on a Sunday and follow all the armour clad riders to the DHs.0 -
Doesn't sound inspiring... so where do you ride usually, further north? Cannock and Sherwood are within a sensible distance, but they're getting a bit stale. Will be heading to Thieves Wood soon, but after that I'm all out of ideas!ibbo68 wrote:Its a car park thats it.Then again its not a trailcentre.
The new redroute is very short,a couple of miles and at the moment is a mudbath.Its all built by local volunteers with next to no funding so its not like Wales/Dalby etc.Non of the DH runs are marked.The old black route is overgrown and all the signs have been pulled down.There's loads of singletrack but again its not waymarked.You could spend all day riding fireroads and riding past all the good stuff.
I live 10 mins away and avoid the redroute unless there's been a very long dryspell.Most of the DH runs are a bit too extreme for me.
Try to get a local rider to show you around or go on a Sunday and follow all the armour clad riders to the DHs.
I guess it'll probably come down to joining up bridleways from OpenStreetMap. I was hoping for somewhere slightly more, er, sanitised... given the weather will be rendering undrained mud into bog...0 -
We ride the natural stuff in the Peak District.We also do the Welsh trail centres every couple of months or so and often go up to Grizedale to do part of the NFT tied in with some natural stuff 8)
I rode thieves wood with the father in-law about 4 years ago...it was a bog
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Was going to try the red route at the weekend but might give it a miss next week. Recommend any loops in or around Wharncliffe, Grenoside etc that I can ride to or should I just hit the singletrack and see where I end up?
Angrymeerkat - I went to Gisburn on Monday and it was great. Not especially easy to get to but well recommended if you fancy making a day out of it0 -
Definitely steer clear of Wharncliffe if you're within 2 weeks of the last downpour, at the top of the hill the XC loop is a swamp at points and the DH tracks get very very greasy - tricky riding.
If you fancy a good loop, type Stanage Loop or Mam Tor Figure of 8 into google and see what comes out. Both routes hold up pretty well in the wet as the trails are sand/shale so you can keep riding without slipping all over the place. Both dead easy to get to from Nottingham. They're quite simple to follow but navigational skills are down to you!!0
