Deadwater Trails - Kielder

[Nevin]

Went round the red route at Kielder yesterday and have to say I was pretty impressed with the whole thing. The technical turns of Three Dog Climb keep it interesting enough so that you never feel you are having a massive slog uphill and all the downhill sections were great. Went with a friend who hasn't seen many constructed trails before and he loved it.

However, given Kielder is somewhere which is meant to be one of the best outdoor centres/areas in the north, I can't believe how wrong they have got it on the tourism side of things. The signposting is terrible when arriving by car, the cafe in Kielder Castle is dreadful and the Anglers Arms looks like the sort of pub you'd be scared to go into without your hardest mates. The on site maps as well seem to have been made by some modern artist obsessed with parallelograms and give you no idea where the things on them actually are.

Admittedly we weren't there for much other than the cycling, but as a tourist centre it seemed sadly lacking.