Forest of Dean-camped and/or ridden there?
Discussion
Both as it happens! Haven't ridden there for quite a while and I gather they've got a newer trail which i've not been on.
When I did used to ride there you had two waymarked trails - the family trail and the mountain bike club trial. The family trail as suggested doesn't offer much by way of proper mountain biking, but it is a pleasant ~11 mile loop on forest roads. About half way round there's a disused quarry or some such that had pretty much become a skills area, good for 20 minutes or so of playing around. The mountain bike club trail was pretty short back then though I gather its been extended quite a bit. It was very technical, loads of big tree roots and some big drops offs, managed to go over the bars on one, that hurt a bit! I think it's been tamed somewhat and there is another route now. There is lots of other single track in the forest so you can make your own routes up.
As for camping I've stayed at Bracelands, it's okay but can be pretty busy / noisey at times and the facilities struggle. Despite this it's quite strictly run and you feel like you're being watched all the time with wardens driving about throughout the evening to make sure you're not having fires etc.
If you want something a little more chilled I'd highly recommend this place http://www.broadstonefisheries.com/ just don't tell anyone about it, don't want it getting too popular
Best bit is that they'll hire you a fire pit along with firelighters, kindling and fuel, can't beat a nice blaze at the end of the day whilst enjoying a few beers under the stars. Once you've paid the initial hire the fuel refills are quite cheap too. You can book a pitch on Pitchup https://www.pitchup.com/campsites/England/Central/...
When I did used to ride there you had two waymarked trails - the family trail and the mountain bike club trial. The family trail as suggested doesn't offer much by way of proper mountain biking, but it is a pleasant ~11 mile loop on forest roads. About half way round there's a disused quarry or some such that had pretty much become a skills area, good for 20 minutes or so of playing around. The mountain bike club trail was pretty short back then though I gather its been extended quite a bit. It was very technical, loads of big tree roots and some big drops offs, managed to go over the bars on one, that hurt a bit! I think it's been tamed somewhat and there is another route now. There is lots of other single track in the forest so you can make your own routes up.
As for camping I've stayed at Bracelands, it's okay but can be pretty busy / noisey at times and the facilities struggle. Despite this it's quite strictly run and you feel like you're being watched all the time with wardens driving about throughout the evening to make sure you're not having fires etc.
If you want something a little more chilled I'd highly recommend this place http://www.broadstonefisheries.com/ just don't tell anyone about it, don't want it getting too popular
Best bit is that they'll hire you a fire pit along with firelighters, kindling and fuel, can't beat a nice blaze at the end of the day whilst enjoying a few beers under the stars. Once you've paid the initial hire the fuel refills are quite cheap too. You can book a pitch on Pitchup https://www.pitchup.com/campsites/England/Central/...Lots.
At this point I should add the disclaimer that there's miles and miles and miles of non-waymarked trails in the FOD because if you don't a local will start moaning about it.
Anyway, the Trail Centre at Cannop has 2 main XC trails. Blue and Red, they have names but I forget them.
The Blue is quite short, but is mostly single track these days which is nice and has some lovely features, it's mostly hard pack so rides well in any weather. It's great for kids because the techy stuff can all be avoided or ridden wheels down with ease and because of it's location the climbs aren't very steep and neither are the descents, it's also great for older / more experienced riders because taken a full 'race pace' it's challenging enough to be fun.
The Red is longer and more technical (as it would be) it's less man made in places so can get slippery in the wet, it's steeper up and down, there's a LOT of roots in places, drops, rocks, etc. A lot of the technical stuff has obviously been built to be fun/challenging, there's also now a red extension, an optional 5km of trail that's been there a whilst but has now be formalised, it's less obviously man made than the core trail, difficultly ramps up a lot in the wet and unlike most purpose built trails there are obstacles around corners and something will cause you to crash if you get it wrong, but it's not impossible to ride by any means.
There's a lot of DH trails you can push or uplift, ranging from easy like Launch Pad (mind your speed) all the way up to slippery, rootfests complete with blind drops into turns and all that.
At this point I should add the disclaimer that there's miles and miles and miles of non-waymarked trails in the FOD because if you don't a local will start moaning about it.
Anyway, the Trail Centre at Cannop has 2 main XC trails. Blue and Red, they have names but I forget them.
The Blue is quite short, but is mostly single track these days which is nice and has some lovely features, it's mostly hard pack so rides well in any weather. It's great for kids because the techy stuff can all be avoided or ridden wheels down with ease and because of it's location the climbs aren't very steep and neither are the descents, it's also great for older / more experienced riders because taken a full 'race pace' it's challenging enough to be fun.
The Red is longer and more technical (as it would be) it's less man made in places so can get slippery in the wet, it's steeper up and down, there's a LOT of roots in places, drops, rocks, etc. A lot of the technical stuff has obviously been built to be fun/challenging, there's also now a red extension, an optional 5km of trail that's been there a whilst but has now be formalised, it's less obviously man made than the core trail, difficultly ramps up a lot in the wet and unlike most purpose built trails there are obstacles around corners and something will cause you to crash if you get it wrong, but it's not impossible to ride by any means.
There's a lot of DH trails you can push or uplift, ranging from easy like Launch Pad (mind your speed) all the way up to slippery, rootfests complete with blind drops into turns and all that.
P-Jay said:
Lots.
The Blue is quite short, but is mostly single track these days which is nice and has some lovely features, it's mostly hard pack so rides well in any weather. It's great for kids because the techy stuff can all be avoided or ridden wheels down with ease and because of it's location the climbs aren't very steep and neither are the descents, it's also great for older / more experienced riders because taken a full 'race pace' it's challenging enough to be fun.
I found it quite steep to be honest, lots of switchbacks, but as a total novice rider I've managed to go down it 5 or 6 times now without issue.The Blue is quite short, but is mostly single track these days which is nice and has some lovely features, it's mostly hard pack so rides well in any weather. It's great for kids because the techy stuff can all be avoided or ridden wheels down with ease and because of it's location the climbs aren't very steep and neither are the descents, it's also great for older / more experienced riders because taken a full 'race pace' it's challenging enough to be fun.
Should be going again next week with a mate as I'm on holiday not too far from there.
Good place for off road riding, the blue trail is 7 miles and is the trail with the switch-backs to ascend, I do it on my single speed MTB and don't have to engage pushing gear lol. The family trail is 11 miles and is signed in both directions, just watch out if you do it in reverse, like my mate and I did, as you end up hooning around a corner to find an entire family filling the track!! The red trail is the shortest, there are skills areas for a bit of fun all over the site.
The cycle centre provides food, bike shop, toilets and bike wash. Parking is £2 for 4 hours from memory, best plan is to go straight on as you enter the site to go to the overflow car park.
https://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/englandglouce...
We usually ride the blue trail, have a cuppa and slab of cake at the cafe then thrash round the family trail.
If you see this bike on the trails it's me!!!
The cycle centre provides food, bike shop, toilets and bike wash. Parking is £2 for 4 hours from memory, best plan is to go straight on as you enter the site to go to the overflow car park.
https://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/englandglouce...
We usually ride the blue trail, have a cuppa and slab of cake at the cafe then thrash round the family trail.
If you see this bike on the trails it's me!!!
Mr Ted said:
. Parking is £2 for 4 hours from memory
Not anymore it's not!Whoever runs the trail centre put out an eSurvey asking a few different questions, but parking fees were on it - the people filling it in must have been feeling generous because they got a lot of data to say the fees were good VFM.
They raised it to £7 a day, which is a lot of change in an increasingly cashless world, so now you can pay in the cafe with a card, but there can be a bit of a queue.
I'm not tight (okay I am) but that seems a lot compared to every other venue I go to (aside from BPW but that's a whole other thing) haven't been since, but when I do I'll be parking 300m up the road and riding in.
P-Jay said:
Mr Ted said:
. Parking is £2 for 4 hours from memory
Not anymore it's not!Whoever runs the trail centre put out an eSurvey asking a few different questions, but parking fees were on it - the people filling it in must have been feeling generous because they got a lot of data to say the fees were good VFM.
They raised it to £7 a day, which is a lot of change in an increasingly cashless world, so now you can pay in the cafe with a card, but there can be a bit of a queue.
I'm not tight (okay I am) but that seems a lot compared to every other venue I go to (aside from BPW but that's a whole other thing) haven't been since, but when I do I'll be parking 300m up the road and riding in.
..Not to mention YT's demo bikes being stolen in May, and the bike shop hire bikes being stolen in previous years.
P-Jay said:
Mr Ted said:
. Parking is £2 for 4 hours from memory
Not anymore it's not!Whoever runs the trail centre put out an eSurvey asking a few different questions, but parking fees were on it - the people filling it in must have been feeling generous because they got a lot of data to say the fees were good VFM.
They raised it to £7 a day, which is a lot of change in an increasingly cashless world, so now you can pay in the cafe with a card, but there can be a bit of a queue.
I'm not tight (okay I am) but that seems a lot compared to every other venue I go to (aside from BPW but that's a whole other thing) haven't been since, but when I do I'll be parking 300m up the road and riding in.
I was going to go this weekend but might head down to Clifton Downs, I park on the Downs (free), ride over the Clifton suspension bridge to Ashton Court, do the trails there, have the obligatory cuppa and cake then head 1 mile down the road to Leigh Woods and do the trails there (and there is usually a good coffee wagon on site!)
Mr Ted said:
Blimey that's a hell of an increase! Do you know if parking in the Beechenhurst Picnic Area is as dear? Its just down the road on the Speech House Road.
I was going to go this weekend but might head down to Clifton Downs, I park on the Downs (free), ride over the Clifton suspension bridge to Ashton Court, do the trails there, have the obligatory cuppa and cake then head 1 mile down the road to Leigh Woods and do the trails there (and there is usually a good coffee wagon on site!)
I'm not sure, a couple of more local riders have mentioned a couple of places that are either free or cheaper and how they rarely ride from the offical start anymore. There's a couple of places you can park, drop in mid-trail.I was going to go this weekend but might head down to Clifton Downs, I park on the Downs (free), ride over the Clifton suspension bridge to Ashton Court, do the trails there, have the obligatory cuppa and cake then head 1 mile down the road to Leigh Woods and do the trails there (and there is usually a good coffee wagon on site!)
I guess it's still good value for a couple of hours of entertainment for a car load of people, but it's slightly jarring how much its gone up.
Still, last time I was there a lap of the blue cost me £100 or so after I rented a bike for the Mrs and bought us all lunch afterwards, drop in the ocean parking!
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