Jonathan M
New Member
- Location
- Merseyside
I visited Gisburn Forest trail centre today for the first time, in the company of a mate.
We parked at the pub in Tosside (yes, it really is called that), which is an extremely bike friendly place, with spangly Hope parts decorating the cafe, and a nice selection of flapjacks, plus a free bike wash.
Starting here meant that we entered the forest from the east, just by following the obvious fire track for about 1/2 mile until we found a route marker and other bikers en route.
The trails here ride a lot differently than the other man made forest based routes, with a rougher feel and a more natural base to some of the tracks in the northern section, sadly some of these routes had suffered badly due to the massive amounts of rain in recent weeks. A nice change over many of the usual trail centres was the presence of nicely testing singletrack climbs, switching backwards & forward through the forest - a nice change to gaining height on flat boring forest roads and only singletrack descents. Don't worry though, the singletrack downs are there, and again some are different in how they ride, making use of the local stone (either sandstone or gritstone, not sure which) for drop offs and off camber sections.
The southern section is slightly different, this rides smoother than the north and is more enclosed in parts in the forest. We ended up at the forestry commission car park (tea van here if you need sustenance) after enjoying the many sections of singletrack, some are fast & swoopy, some are more technical, and through the forest there are sections of "north shore" bridging interupting the man made or natural surfaces usually to carry the route over a wet & otherwise impassable area - in short, exactly what raised wooden sections are meant for.
Due to time and dusk it meant a quick road ride from the FC car park back up the hill to the pub, where we sampled the coffee & flapjacks (again) and left with reasonably clean bikes.
All in all it was a nice change from the established trail centres, and speaking to one of the guys responsible at the cafe/pub there is a lot more to come. He described the whole concept as wanting to create a natural feel vs other centres. I'd describe the northern loop as similar to the original bridleway routes in Grizedale Forest (never ridden the NF route so can't comment) and the southern route as slightly more manicured, but maybe they just need some time to bed in more.
We parked at the pub in Tosside (yes, it really is called that), which is an extremely bike friendly place, with spangly Hope parts decorating the cafe, and a nice selection of flapjacks, plus a free bike wash.
Starting here meant that we entered the forest from the east, just by following the obvious fire track for about 1/2 mile until we found a route marker and other bikers en route.
The trails here ride a lot differently than the other man made forest based routes, with a rougher feel and a more natural base to some of the tracks in the northern section, sadly some of these routes had suffered badly due to the massive amounts of rain in recent weeks. A nice change over many of the usual trail centres was the presence of nicely testing singletrack climbs, switching backwards & forward through the forest - a nice change to gaining height on flat boring forest roads and only singletrack descents. Don't worry though, the singletrack downs are there, and again some are different in how they ride, making use of the local stone (either sandstone or gritstone, not sure which) for drop offs and off camber sections.
The southern section is slightly different, this rides smoother than the north and is more enclosed in parts in the forest. We ended up at the forestry commission car park (tea van here if you need sustenance) after enjoying the many sections of singletrack, some are fast & swoopy, some are more technical, and through the forest there are sections of "north shore" bridging interupting the man made or natural surfaces usually to carry the route over a wet & otherwise impassable area - in short, exactly what raised wooden sections are meant for.
Due to time and dusk it meant a quick road ride from the FC car park back up the hill to the pub, where we sampled the coffee & flapjacks (again) and left with reasonably clean bikes.
All in all it was a nice change from the established trail centres, and speaking to one of the guys responsible at the cafe/pub there is a lot more to come. He described the whole concept as wanting to create a natural feel vs other centres. I'd describe the northern loop as similar to the original bridleway routes in Grizedale Forest (never ridden the NF route so can't comment) and the southern route as slightly more manicured, but maybe they just need some time to bed in more.
