Wharncliffe disgrace

noj121

who else isn't happy with how run down most of the trails at Wharncliffe are?

especially the cross country course as most of it you are not allowed to ride on no more

cexton

I went a few weeks ago, the cross country route is a waste of time.

noj121

i also sent an email to the forestry commission asking... well maybe complaining about the fact that some of the downhill trails (of which there are a lot) are having new sections put in and the xc trail and all the rest are just being left.

hoping to hear a response from them soon

cexton

There is section of trail which you cross over a small bridge to get too which has been completely destroyed.

noj121

which is due to the forestry cutting down trees

The Northern Monkey

noj121 wrote:

which is due to the forestry cutting down trees

Which they are entitled to do....

ifindoubtflatout

There is no legit building going on in Wharncliffe,the forrestry pulled the plug on it a long time ago.As for the xc trail being blocked by cut down trees, well there is more felling to be done and they're not really intrested in the trail damage. Your not really missing much anyway,the xc trail was not upto much.

welshkev

i don't mean to be rude and tell me if i'm out of line. but instead of complaining about it couldn't you form a trail building group and contact the F.C and do something about the trails instead of just moaning about them?

that's what they did in bristol:

http://www.bristoltrailsgroup.com/

i don't mean to be rude by this, it just might be a solution?

sniper68

The old black XC Trail has been shut/run down for years. Parts of the new red XC route had a little funding about 4 years ago and was built by the wharncliffe riders collective and singletraction. The trouble is funding and it's ALL volunteers and always has been. I'm 10 mins ride away and rarely go these days as it's a mess but there is some good stuff if you know where to find it.
It's woodland and unless managed and funded it will be a mess It's all "unofficial" it's not a trail centre.
Dunno if they're still active but these are the volunteer group
http://www.wharncliffe.info/

woodnut

I can't agree, there's still plenty of good riding in Wharnecliffe if you look for it. It isn't signposted and trail marked, but then again you can find that elsewhere.
For those who may not know theres also plenty of good singletrack in Greno Wood (across the road from the main car park).
The only thing that is a real disgrace is the amount of litter (especially bloody energy drink cans) left by (some) mountain bikers. :evil:

sniper68

woodnut wrote:

For those who may not know theres also plenty of good singletrack in Greno Wood (across the road from the main car park).

SSSHHHHHHHHHH

singlespeedexplosif

there's still plenty of good riding in Wharnecliffe if you look for it. It isn't signposted and trail marked, but then again you can find that elsewhere.
this +1. There's some fantastic stuff off the beaten track. I just hope that it doesn't get spoiled too..

woodnut

ibbo68 wrote:

woodnut wrote:

For those who may not know theres also plenty of good singletrack in Greno Wood (across the road from the main car park).

SSSHHHHHHHHHH

Damn, you're right

noj121

i know about most of the riding in greno but im just disappointed in how little if any work goes into the trails. and the wharncliffe.info website was last updated over 2 years ago

B.A.Nana

Up until a few years ago SingletrAction were involved in trail building at Wharncliffe. Up to that point there had been big plans afoot and a whole new trail had been mapped out for building by volunteers under SingletrAction with full FC approval. At some point 2-3years ago, FC seem to get cold feet and decide they didn't want anymore trail building at Wharncliffe, after years of pussyfooting around with FC the people involved finally got thoroughly fed up with all the politics of FC and threw in the towel, so the XC trails side of it has all basically ended now, not sure about the DH.

noj121

well from what i've heard/ seen there is work on the downhill with whole new sections being put in on fasttrack

ricardo_smooth

I'm 5 mins ride from Wharncliffe and only go on rare occasion now due to the state of it all, FC are entitled to cut trees down ect but they aren't good at putting up warning signs until you are right on top of it with nowhere to go.

The XC route is so run down it's untrue. yes it's all well and good saying there is good riding there if you know where to find it but most tracks are from logging vehicles and lead to nowhere so you end up pussing back up tot he fire troad to try another one! Not a good days ride if you ask me.

I'd rather go to ladybower as a local ride or go further afield either to a trail centre or a moors ride for the enjoyment factor.

Oh an BTW Greno woods dosn't exist. It's a vicious rumour being spread on this forum

B.A.Nana

Yep noj121, the DH builds are a different group and always had many more volunteers prepared to turn up, I've no idea what their agreement is with FC, if any. There seems to be a stronger ethos amongst DHers, that you build what you ride. most Xcers want to turn up and have it all laid out for them. The XC volunteer stuff never had much interest from users, so your own worst enemy really. XC riders turned up, went away disappointed, moaned on MTB forums, but never turned up to dig and build the trails. On top of that lack of interest from XC riders to dig their own trails (unlike the DHers) I think FC saw long XC trails as much more difficult to manage, do H&S checks on and more potential conflict with walkers and Horses, so the FC weren't exactly supportive (or became less so). I don't know all the details, just that the XC Head of Trail Design at wharncliffe (Simon Mander) pretty much gave it all up out of fustration about 18 months ago.
This isn't a dig at you, I'm just trying to give you a better idea of how it all works. Other places where it's all happening, like Gisburn Forest, have had money from the lottery and/or have enthusiastic people involved who are kept enthusiastic with big support from local FC people. This didn't happen at Wharncliffe despite Simons best efforts.

sniper68

B.A.Nana wrote:

I think FC saw long XC trails as much more difficult to manage, do H&S checks on and more potential conflict with walkers and Horses, so the FC weren't exactly supportive (or became less so).

It doesn't help that most of the DH run-outs are straight onto the Trans-Pennine Trail fire-road.There's been conflict with walkers and horse-riders over this as far back as i can remember :roll:
There is still some good XC stuff in wharny.The crag-top run and "killer trees" are generally OK but take you to the opposite end of the woods to the trail-head CP.You can also still link up with some of the old Black XC trails(signs have gone now)if you know where they are and although over-grown some bit's fair a bit better than the new red XC stuff as they get less traffic.Still best left for a dry spell though.
Wharny could have an outstanding XC trail if it got the funding that Gisburn/Dalby etc have had.

woodnut

I know I'm probably being a bit selfish but, much as I like Gisburn I'm quite happy for Wharncliffe not to get that developed. As Ibbo says the best bits are well away from the car park and can be very rewarding. And as there's no waymarking it's generally a lot quieter than trail centre type places. Which means I can fall off and generally ride badly without making a massive tit of myself.

B.A.Nana

It doesn't help that most of the DH run-outs are straight onto the Trans-Pennine Trail fire-road.There's been conflict with walkers and horse-riders over this as far back as i can remember

Yes FC decisions seem to be contradictory, which is why I'm not sure that the current DH building is now necessarily with FC approval, could be just people still building without FC approval, but I don't know that for sure. DH at Wharncliffe has a long history and maybe they are supporting it, but if they are, I suspect it will probably be reluctantly.
FC in Yorkshire seem to be focusing all their efforts and time on Dalby (they also appear to be keen to support new building at Guisborough). Other locations like Wharncliffe, they have put the stoppers on or are really limiting what people would like to do. Even at Dalby, they don't seem overly keen to support the local volunteers, I think they see them as a bit of a loose canon, prefering to build their own sanitised easy to ride contractor built stuff. Alot of the old SingletrAction/Pace Cycles/volunteer built stuff has been dumbed down or by-passed now.