Monkey Trail

buddy_club

Hi, heading to Cannock again this weekend with my dad, he is quite an inexperienced rider and in the last couple of weeks we have been just doing Follow the Dog and then doing a loop of the blue trail to connect back to the last few sections of Follow the Dog (from the campsite onwards). I would like to introduce him to the Monkey Trail as obviously it is more technically challenging but i don't think he has the fitness to do both Follow the Dog and the Monkey Trail in one go. Is it possible to just do the Monkey Trail on its own? Where could we park the car? I have done the Monkey before but only as an extension of Follow the Dog.

Cheers

UH DH

I don't know if you're allowed to, but it would make most sense to park in that area across the road from the railway, just before Lung Buster. The Monkey Trail comes back to it near the end, so if there's somewhere to park in that area, that would work nicely. You'd miss out Devil's Staircase at the start and Kitbag Hill at the end, but thats no biggie.

.blitz

buddy_club wrote:

Is it possible to just do the Monkey Trail on its own?

As above park over the road from the railway bridge near the pumping station and start from there. Or park on Marquis Drive and ride down Kit Bag Hill to the railway bridge. Or park on one of the laybys on the A460 & ride (uphill) on any one of the fireroads to Monkey.

Alternatively take the Dog-Monkey link section, cross the railway bridge & road and instead of turning right to start Monkey carry on up the fireroad and join the Monkey at the start of Lower Cliff or continue along the fireroad and join it at the start of Upper Cliff. You'll see the trails on the hillside on your left

The trails are kind of wet at the moment as you might imagine the craters are full of water but there's not too much in the way of actual clag unless you venture off-piste.

buddy_club

Ok cheers,

.blitz wrote:

The trails are kind of wet at the moment as you might imagine the craters are full of water but there's not too much in the way of actual clag unless you venture off-piste.

Aha yeah it is pretty soggy, been down there every sunday for about a month or two know as my dads just got a new bike. I don't really mind the water, adds to the fun if im honest, although i do have fond memories of hot dusty trails in the summer......

.blitz

buddy_club wrote:

although i do have fond memories of hot dusty trails in the summer......

Yup distant memories now although IIRC it was mostly dry a couple of Sundays ago. Looks like this Sunday is going to be the best day of the weekend http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/ ... ather.html

Have a good one anyway

kammybear

A decent introduction might be this route I use when I trick/introduce people to MTB.

1. Start the do as normal and join the monkey and do the devil's staircase.
2. Cross the railway. Instead of entering lung buster to the right, go straight on.
3. Cycle past the end of the lowercliff and keep going straight.
4. At the fork, bear right and go right to the top. You'll know you're going the right way as you go past the start of lowercliff on your left, and then uppercliff.
5. Top of the path is the start of uppercliff climb.

This way your dad gets to experience the best parts. 2 tough climbs and 2 awesome descents from the Monkey, then you can just rejoin the dog and finish as normal.

buddy_club

.blitz wrote:

buddy_club wrote:

although i do have fond memories of hot dusty trails in the summer......

Yup distant memories now although IIRC it was mostly dry a couple of Sundays ago. Looks like this Sunday is going to be the best day of the weekend http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/ ... ather.html

Have a good one anyway

Cheers will do

kammybear wrote:

A decent introduction might be this route I use when I trick/introduce people to MTB.

1. Start the do as normal and join the monkey and do the devil's staircase.
2. Cross the railway. Instead of entering lung buster to the right, go straight on.
3. Cycle past the end of the lowercliff and keep going straight.
4. At the fork, bear right and go right to the top. You'll know you're going the right way as you go past the start of lowercliff on your left, and then uppercliff.
5. Top of the path is the start of uppercliff climb.

This way your dad gets to experience the best parts. 2 tough climbs and 2 awesome descents from the Monkey, then you can just rejoin the dog and finish as normal.

Cheers! Sounds like a good route, I'll let you know it goes

papertech202

Keep a check on the 'chase trails' website as all trails are closed at the moment due to trees down.

buddy_club

Yep just saw, looks like it'll be a trip to 'degla instead

Lowride

I went today (sunday) parked opposite the train crossing and did the everything on that side of the road. Had to get off and carry the bike over two trees that were down but the dudes with chainsaws were out in force and seem to be pretty much on top of most of it

I was amazed how dry some sections were and it was'nt that muddy either

buddy_club

So thy opened later in the day? Llandegla had a few tree's down but weren't to bad, the thing with trail centres is that they ten to drain pretty well and the surface is mostly hard.

UH DH

Lowride wrote:

I was amazed how dry some sections were and it was'nt that muddy either

Yeah, when I went it had been a wet few days, and I think over the whole Chase trails I found a single puddle. Someone did a good job.