Places to ride: Forest of Dean Cannop Valley

Only an hour from Swindon, the Cannop Valley in the Forest of Dean has a huge variety of riding and facilities for all abilities. As well as some great natural riding, there are graded marked trails for all abilities: Green, Blue, Red, a variety of downhill trails, including one for offroad wheelchairs.

The central point is the Pedalabikeaway centre in the Cannop Valley near Coleford, where a lot of way marked trails start from. There is plenty of parking (charged at £3.50 a day) and a great café and bike shop, with bike washes and showers for afterwards. You can even rent a variety of bikes there, as well as bike trailers for towing the kids. Flyupdownhill also operate their excellent uplift service for the downhill trails from the centre.

A former hub of coal mining, the surrounding area is littered with reminders that have found new life in cycling. Prime example are the former railway lines that connected the mines which now form the bulk of the Green graded family trail. 12 miles in length, the trail uses a lot of the old lines for a gentle gradient loop where you can see bits of the old stations and bridges along the way. This makes it a perfect for families, having the little ones ride along with you or towing them in trailers.

Back in the Pedalabikeaway car park and on the other side of the bridge over the road, there are two skills areas, which demonstrate the types of obstacles you will find on some of the other trails. They’re good for practicing and see what level you can cope with.

Next stage is the centre piece – the blue graded Verderers trail. Roughly 7 miles in length, this has a bit of everything, with some rewarding climbs, interspersed with nice downhill sections (some with a red option too) and a final decent that has made the trail legendary. Something for everyone, but everyone raves about that end downhill, which always leaves you grinning.

The rest of the trails are built by the Dean Trail Volunteers group. Longest of these is Freeminers, which is being constantly evolved and has now reached 12 miles in length. There are some very technical (steep!) climbs, large and small jumps, technical singletrack and some challenging rooty sections.

Finally, there are numerous Orange graded Downhill trails. The smoothest of these is the gravity downhill track Launchpad, which was designed for 4 wheeled bikes.

Other notable runs include Sheepskull, G.B.U. (the Good, the Bad & the Ugly), Bottleopener, Ski jump, Endo – ok you get the picture! The area also has loads of natural trails, should you prefer a bit of loam on the side. Flyupdownhill operate their excellent uplift for these trails, by the day or half day, or sometimes there is room to take pay as you go at £2 a ride. Failing that there is a push up track which doesn’t take too long.

 

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