Forest of Dean or Sherwood Forest?

ElliesDad

Thinking of renting a Forest Holidays cabin in half term, the missus isn't into cycling but I intend to get a few cheeky laps in on the trails. We've narrowed it down to Forest of Dean or Sherwood Forest but which would give the better experience for someone who is reasonably competent (but still learning the ropes) on red trails. I've only ever done Follow the Dog up at Cannock which I am getting more confident with, have to roll everything though so need to avoid anything with unavoidable jumps!

The missus would prefer Forest of Dean but I understand the red route (Freeminers) here is only about 3 miles long, the Sherwood red (Kithcheners) is longer but I've heard its quite easy and more akin to a blue!

Has anyone got any coments on both trails/centres?

Thanks

rockmonkeysc

Forest of Dean is very good. The marked trails are very good, certainly much better than Follow the Dog. There is also miles of un-official single track trails at FoD and all the DH trails are rideable on an xc bike if you take it steady.

welshkev

the blue route at forest of dean is better than the red anyway...way more fun, jumps and loads of berms..leaves you with a huge smile on your face - i live on the doorstep of cwmcarn and still drive to ride FoD

the blue route is 11km i think, so tag on the red aswell and you have 16/17km of fun trail with some nice DH tracks aswell

waby1234

The FOD Forest Holidays cabins are awesome too - went last feb and thought they were great.

ElliesDad

Thanks for the advice, sounds like a good idea to combine both blue and red!

Only other thing is what's bike security like at Forest Holidays?

ilovedirt

Never been to FOD, but sherwood pines is awful, not worth the trip at all.

the_moodster

Fod blue is great fun, not tried the red yet. Defo worth the trip.

cycle monster

Ha, the "Red" at Sherwood is far easier than the red at Cannock in my view and the blue at FOD is far tougher than the two combined. Sherwood Pines is great for families. The blue graded Verderer's trail at the FOD is IMHO more challenging than everything at Thetford, the red route at Bedgebury, Sherwood Pines, Follow The Dog at Cannock but just shy of the Black Monkey Trail at Cannock. I love all of the above for different reasons though.

waby1234

Bike security is ok at the Forest cabins. I just stuck my bike in the cabin when not riding it.

Personally wouldn't leave it outside as its very very dark and not secure.

lm_trek

The blue at the FOD is awesome piece of trail, ive taken a few mates in the last few weeks and at the end they all say the same where did all that downhill come from, we didn't climb that much, the 3 mile red is a bit meh when compared, but you can see loads of cheeky stuff from these trails.

R0B75

I went to FOD for the first time last weekend. It was fantastic. The blue Verderers trails is brilliant so we did it twice. The final descent is EPIC, see my vid below. We did the red Freeminers Trail once but its not very good. The facilities are good aswell. Shop, cafe, showers etc.

Sherwood Pines is very poor in comparison, I went once and would never go again. Nothing more than a family trail and certainly not red graded IMO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPEE9W_IlbQ

SteveLG

I spent last weekend at the Forest of dean, Forest holiday cabins and spent the day at fodmtb.com.

Cabins are fantastic, We had one with a hot tub (as the less expensive ones were sold out) and it was brilliant after a days riding.

Really enjoyed Forest of dean. Im pretty new to the mountain biking thing so dont have a huge amount to compare it to. Neither the Red or the Blue were technically challenging in any way. The Red is a short blast and quite good fun (even my wife who has only been on her bike 5 times rode it without problem) The Blue (with red options which I recomend) is brilliant, The climb up was gradual and didn't seem too bad even when your fitness isn't as good as it could be like mine. The shorter down hill sections are a little rougher and a lot of fun, The long final desent is fast and flowing, Everyone you see at the bottom has a huge grin on their face. Highly recomended.

There are also 2 (basically the same from what I can see) Enduro trails which are not way marked. You can download the GPX files from the fodmtb.com web site, But be warned, I did this on to my phone, when we got there I had no signal and the route is obviously stored on a server not on the phone, DOH!!!!! So we had no route and ended up doing multiple laps of the blue and red instead. If you want to do the Enduro make sure your GPS stores the routes.

Despite the car parc and facilities being packed with people the trails didn't seem crowded, Just the odd bike to pass or passes you.

Cafe and facilitys are also spot on. Only issue may be parking if you dont get there early.

Both Forest holidays and forest of dean trail ctr come highly recomended from me.

Theres also Cwm carn which shouldn't be too much of a road trip from FOD. Some of the guys I know rate it but I have not been yet, Hope to make it soon.

Cheers.
Steve.

welshkev

SteveLG wrote:

Really enjoyed Forest of dean. Im pretty new to the mountain biking thing so dont have a huge amount to compare it to. Neither the Red or the Blue were technically challenging in any way. The Red is a short blast and quite good fun (even my wife who has only been on her bike 5 times rode it without problem)

Very true, but watch out for the roots in the wet. and also i have knocked myself out at FoD so don't get too complacent

Despite the car parc and facilities being packed with people the trails didn't seem crowded, Just the odd bike to pass or passes you.

because a lot of people ride the family trail that is on the otherside of the road

.

ElliesDad

Thanks for all the replies, looks like its going to be the Forest of Dean after all the positive replies. Just need to get the wife to get her work to sign off her leave for half term!