Trails

Sherwood Pines Forest Park mustn’t be confused with Sherwood Forest – there’s much more riding at the former. Fast woodland singletrack is the order of the day, with a couple of purpose-built XC loops, over 45km of unmarked trails (keep your eyes peeled!), a skills area and a bike park complete with a set of dirt jumps. The centre sits right on National Cycle Network Route 6 so it’s easy to get to by bike.

Just over the border from Wales, Gloucestershire's Forest of Dean is a popular place to ride. It's full of great trails and there's a buzzing atmosphere at the trailhead too. There's a mix of wide forest tracks, marked XC routes and plenty of DH trails to test your mettle on. A new skills area and pump track were added last year. The downhill trails are easily accessed via the uplift service or a fireroad push-up, and the regular mini DH and enduro events are a great way to cut your teeth racing. What's more, the forest is full of great off-piste singletrack too, if you know where to look...

Mabie offers green, blue and red routes as well as a skills area with a 300m freeride line. ‘The Dark Side’, a trail composed of technical North Shore woodwork, is now permanently closed, but there’s still plenty of magnificent singletrack to sample in this scenic forest.

Situated just a few miles east of Glentress, Innerleithen is the preserve of the more experienced rider. There are awesome DH trails littering the hill, a challenging XC route and, if you look carefully, some of the best off-piste trails you’ll ever be lucky enough to ride, some of which are now world-renowned Enduro World Series tracks. There’s a new shuttle service provided by Adrenalin Uplift.

Glentress is hugely popular, and with good reason. Situated just an hour outside of Edinburgh, in the Tweed Valley, it’s home to 73km of waymarked trails, with something to suit every ability. Further adding to Glentress’s appeal is the fact it can be combined with a visit to Innerleithen, its 7Stanes sister centre just down the road.

Cannock Chase is home to two waymarked mountain bike trails that are free to ride and open all year round. Situated in the middle of England, Cannock is easy to get to and very popular, so the two red XC routes, Follow the Dog, and The Monkey Trail can get very busy at weekends. You can ride Follow the Dog on its own or combine it with The Monkey Trail to form a longer figure-of-eight route. The trails are maintained by Chase Trails, a volunteer group who work with the Forestry Commission.

With the trailhead situated at the square in the centre of the village, Newcastleton is a great place to head to for a day out. None of the trails are overly difficult, but they have a real ‘out in the wilds’ feel.

Just a stone’s throw from London, and a lesson in balancing leisure interests (there’s a Go Ape! ropes course here too, as well as plenty of walkers), Swinley Forest is evolving as a trail centre. Green, blue and red XC routes totalling 24.2km have been built thanks to investment from The Crown Estate, and some skills progression sections are being added this year. Why not check out the trails on one of the group rides organised by Swinley Forest Hub, after which you can enjoy one of their infamous BBQs?

Coed Llandegla covers a massive 650 hectares and has a good selection of fast and flowing trails, from a mellow green route right up to a challenging black, plus a skills and freeride area. There are also a number of optional loops, such as ‘Parallel Universe’ and ‘B Line’, which are steeper and more-downhill orientated, and should keep more experienced riders happy.

Nant yr Arian isn’t too far from Aberystwyth and offers riding in the mountains and woodland just inland. The centre’s renowned for great singletrack and you have plenty of chance to enjoy it on the black route, Syfydrin, which is a long one at 35km. It’s rugged, remote riding out here, so make sure you’re prepared for every possibility of weather or mechanicals.

Coed y Brenin was the first forest to be developed for mountain biking back in 1997 and it’s still one of Britain’s best trail centres. It has an ever-increasing network of all-weather singletrack trails, from a short green to the 38km Beast of Brenin, and they’ve just been awarded funding to extend the blue-graded Minortaur. Six of the eight trails are graded red or black, so there’s plenty for more experienced riders to get their teeth into. There’s a well-stocked bike shop on site and a big cafe too.

Hadleigh Park in Essex carries the London 2012 legacy on its shoulders – ride here and feel like an Olympic athlete! After the Games, the XC racetrack was adapted for the public and split into blue, red and black-graded sections, meaning there’s something for everyone. As you’d expect, the trails are well planned and built, and ridable in all weather. It’s an easily-accessible location with great facilities, but don’t come here expecting airtime or long descents. This is purebred XC territory, so bike up accordingly and you’ll have a great time.

Half an hour from the Severn Bridge, Cwmcarn is easily accessible from the M4 and one of the best trail centres in South Wales. There are two red XC trails to choose from, and the Cwmdown uplift service gives access to the Y Mynydd DH track. There are plans afoot to extend the Twrch trail too, and potentially reopen the old Dragon DH track as well. Watch this space...

Gisburn lies in the Forest of Bowland, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, so you're guaranteed some amazing scenery as you enjoy the trails. There's an easy blue route and slightly harder and longer red XC route, neither of which will leave you feeling disappointed. Both start from the Gisburn Forest Hub car park, where you'll also find a cafe and skills loop. Further into the forest there are two DH trails with berms, jumps and drop-offs. If you fancy challenging yourself, why not take on the Forestry Commission's Super 6 challenge? This involves riding the six most northerly English trail centres - Kielder, Chopwell, Whinlatter, Hamsterley, Griezdale and Gisburn.

Dalby Forest is one of the bigger trail centres in England. It's got everything from green family trails to black-graded XC loops and a bike park area. The 34.3km red trail is a big undertaking, but it can be split into three distinct sections that can be ridden on their own, with green and blue options to take you back to the start point if you don't fancy the whole thing. It also gives you the option to hit the awesome blue-graded descent. If you fancy a weekend trip to the area, then also try out Sutton Bank trail centre, which is just 26 miles away.

Named after the nearby main road, Gloucestershire's 417 Bike Park is a veritable MTB playground. The rolling fields of this Cotswolds farm are filled with surfaced flow trails, rugged rock gardens and jumps, all of which are uplift-accessed. Besides the main trails, there's no shortage of airtime opportunities with 4X and dual slalom tracks, a field of dirt jumps and barns housing more dirt jumps and a tarmac pump track. This all makes the 417 Bike Park an ideal place to hone your skills.

The Lake District is a mountain biking hotspot, with some of the best natural trails the UK has to offer. Grizedale is slap bang in the middle between two beautiful lakes, Coniston Water and Lake Windermere. It's got serious elevation, which gives panoramic views over Helvellyn and beyond. Grizedale is famous for its outdoor sculptures, many of which can be viewed from the tamer trails. The red-graded North Face loop is perfect for intermediate riders who want an enjoyable but not overly technical singletrack ride. There's also a short black trail full of jumps, berms and steep descents, with a double-black-diamond option that's not for the faint-hearted. Grizedale is part of the Super Six (See Gisburn).

Rostrevor is located on the scenic banks of Carlingford Loch, in the Kilbroney Forest Park. There’s a great mix of trails here, albeit with nothing suitable for beginner mountain bikers. If you want to make a whole weekend of riding you can also visit the Castlewellan, Davagh Forest and Three Rock trailcentres, which are all within a couple of hours’ drive.

Fort William’s Nevis Range is famed as a World Cup venue and all three race courses (DH, XC and 4X) are open to the public to ride. There are also skills loops, XC trails and green and blue descents accessed from the forest road. If you really want to test your skills, you can jump on the gondola to ride The Red Giant, a singletrack descent packed with 543m of gravity-fed fun, or take on the ultimate challenge – the World Cup downhill track!

Ae Forest is a legendary downhill race venue and there are two DH tracks – one natural and tech, and the other more jumpy and flowing. It also has three XC loops – a green, a blue and a red, the latter of which is a challenging one, at 24km. With such a varied blend of trails for both beginners and more experienced riders, along with a new uplift service, Ae has something for everyone.

Afan boasts over 130km of well-maintained trails, with everything from flowing singletrack to rock gardens. It’s more suited to experienced riders but there are a couple of short, easy trails too. There are two centres at Afan, giving you a choice of trailheads to begin at. Glyncorrwg is the main one and is the start point for White’s Level and Blade. The Afan Visitor Centre is home to Blue Scar, Penhydd and The Wall. W2 can be ridden from either centre. There’s a bike park situated part way round The Wall, which can also be accessed by car.

Home to ‘McMoab’, a huge granite outcrop reached by traversing slabs and boulder causeways, Kirroughtree has some fantastic natural features that make for a unique ride. A new blue/red trail section has been added this year – ‘Kirri Crossover’, 500m of sheer delight that twists up above the Bruntis Loch and drops down through a series of berms to link back to the original trail.

The beautiful Brechfa Forest is home to some great natural-feeling trails. Two of them, a green with a blue extension and a black, start at the Byrgwm car park and the third, a red, begins at Abergorlech. To fuel your ride, there are plenty of local pubs – The Forest Arms is now open in Brechfa village or there’s The Black Lion in Abergorlech, both of which offer excellent grub. There’s another red trail, Cwm Rhaeadr, about 20 miles north of Brechfa, which has a fantastic long singletrack descent.

BikePark Wales is the UK’s first full-scale mountain bike park, with 32 gravity-fed trails that you don’t need a DH bike to enjoy. The runs vary from green to black and have been built in sections down the hillside, so you can link them together in various combos. If you want to pedal up via the singletrack or fireroad, entry costs £8, or for £32.50 (midweek, £38 at weekends)* you can get driven to the top all day. The new Root Manoeuvres trail is their longest and most technical red (2.5km), combining gnarly rock sections with black split lines and rooty off-camber sections, plus some bar-dragging berms.