Bike Park Wales or Cannock?

[John D9395]

Hi

Myself and a few mates visit on a regular basis various bike parks in the South, in the main, Forrest of Dean, Swinley, Affan and Bike Park Wales.

Often we go for a weekend and book local B & B, so we like bike parks that have a large variety of rides so you don't have to keep repeating the same routes on both days, this weekend for example we are off to Affan, loads to do there!

One of our gang for some reason isn't keen on Bike Park Wales (I personally love it!), and has suggested we spend a weekend at Cannock. The feeling that some of us have, is that it gets good reviews, but only enough routes for a days riding, ie if you go for 2 days, you do the same routes on both days?

Does anyone have experience of both BPW and Cannock to comment / advise?

Thanks in advance

[Mr Gearchange]

BPW all day long. Cannock is ok for a couple of hours of fairly dull XC but isn't a patch on BPW for flow, variability, excitement or adrenaline - unless pedalling round on unchallenging trails is your thing.

Only IMO of course - but I've ridden both a lot

[Ian_sUK]

Cannock is my local and I'll be at BPW for the 5th time at the weekend. You would have to do the same route at cannock twice but I wouldn't call the black options easy! I wouldn't want to do 2 days in a row at BPW either.

We have our weekends away at coed-y-Benin.

[James Drake]

Agree with the above - they're very different experiences. Bike Park Wales is good for a more social day if you're on the uplift. Cannock is good for an XC loop and the black bits are all good fun too, but I wouldn't base a weekend around it.

How about doing a day at BPW and then go to Cwmcarn on the Sunday?

JD

[anonymous-user]

I live near Cannock chase, the dog and monkey are a couple of hours depending on fitness. There are lots of fire trials leading to some good tracks etc, but would take a bit on finding if you don't know the area. This is from the 'fishbowl' near Milford, the other side of the dog.

There is also the downhill section which I have done on a HT with helmet which is a lot of fun and pretty tough going based at Stile cop.

I don't know BPW but I think you could do a weekend at Cannock. You could base as Cannock and take a trip to Sherwood pines about an 1.2 hours away.

Edited by The Spruce goose on Wednesday 20th April 14:22

[rhinochopig]

Coed-y-brenin as an alternative. In my top 5 for the uk

[FD3Si]

Depends what sort of riding you are in to.
I went to Cannock Chase for the first time at the weekend and did the short one (follow the dog?) with a mate before he flaked out - half of it was a bit dull, other half was a bit fun. But I'm from a bashing down the hill sort of background. It's not great on your mate's old hardtail with a siezed fork either. I gather the other bit is more of the same?

I went to Stile Cop a couple of months ago and it's great, a fair few runs with different levels of difficulty. I'd strongly advise a full face there though, it's pretty fast in places and the ground is unforgiving. I had a nasty smash and the resulting injuries to me(which would have been prevented with a full face) and my bike are going to take a long time and a chunk of money to sort. The braking bumps before some of the berms are brutal and it's a bit gnarly in places.

[Mr Gearchange]

The Monkey is better than Follow the Dog - more elevation, more technical, faster and generally more involving.

But as above - you could do both in around 2hrs if of average fitness.

[The_Jackal]

As above, the Dog is pretty boring, the best bit is the run from Tackeroo (Chainslapper) back to Birches Valley car park.
The Monkey trail is completely different, 3 times the climbing and steeper bits at that. Also, there are more runs throughout the loop where it breaks up the climbing with drops and rocks. As you learn the route you can play more on it, going faster and moving the bike around etc.