Sutton Bank and Boltby Scar
A super stunning all year round mountain bike route, with some of the best views in Yorkshire. Natural trails are mixed with man made tracks, to bring you a fantastic ride.
A super stunning all year round mountain bike route, with some of the best views in Yorkshire. Natural trails are mixed with man made tracks, to bring you a fantastic ride.
Twisting trails in the trees
Paltinis is a superb mountain resort, close to Sibiu in Transylvania. There are hotel and mountain lodge accommodation options, and the forests here have endless cross country mountain biking trails to explore.
Route Information
Stats: 37km and 1400 metres climbing (Medium Route)
Refreshments & Where to Stay: Paltinis is a small mountain resort with good but limited facilities. Nearby Sibiu is a superb base for the mountains, and has all options for accommodation and places to eat and relax.
Character
This area is wild and beautiful, with natural rugged single and double track trails in the forests. The route is a short journey onto the forest, mixing technical rocky and rooty trails with the wide forest tracks, providing you with some great trail riding.
Route
1. This is a route into mountain forests, so you really do need to follow the gps file to stay safe. There are some technical sections and you need stay on course.
2. Set off into the forest on the trail heading eastwards, riding along the easy to follow trail for 3.2km, where a track on the right should be taken into the trees.
3. The track descends to the 5.6km point, passing and ignoring a track junction on the left at 6.1km, as the trails swings right. It eventually meets old buildings in a clearing at a high point – 9.4km, near Varful Oncesti (on maps).
4. A sharp swing around left (hairpin style) at 10km, leads to a T-junction of tracks at 11.4km – turn left onto the wide track marked Trancindrel, staying on this track until 13.6km, then taking the right forking trail, until 16.6km where a track descends and swings around the hillside back towards the Trans Cindrel at 19.6 (go left).
5. At 21.9km take the rising track that swings left, staying on the Trans Cindrel, which passes by our earlier tracks from the ride out and start to descend after 24km.
6. At 33.7km a track off to the right in the trees, climbs back up to Paltinis and the finish.
Click below to download GPX file
A super stunning all year round mountain bike route, with some of the best views in Yorkshire. Natural trails are mixed with man made tracks, to bring you a fantastic ride.
Twisting trails in the trees
Paltinis is a superb mountain resort, close to Sibiu in Transylvania. There are hotel and mountain lodge accommodation options, and the forests here have endless cross country mountain biking trails to explore.
Route Information
Stats: 37km and 1400 metres climbing (Medium Route)
Refreshments & Where to Stay: Paltinis is a small mountain resort with good but limited facilities. Nearby Sibiu is a superb base for the mountains, and has all options for accommodation and places to eat and relax.
Character
This area is wild and beautiful, with natural rugged single and double track trails in the forests. The route is a short journey onto the forest, mixing technical rocky and rooty trails with the wide forest tracks, providing you with some great trail riding.
Route
1. This is a route into mountain forests, so you really do need to follow the gps file to stay safe. There are some technical sections and you need stay on course.
2. Set off into the forest on the trail heading eastwards, riding along the easy to follow trail for 3.2km, where a track on the right should be taken into the trees.
3. The track descends to the 5.6km point, passing and ignoring a track junction on the left at 6.1km, as the trails swings right. It eventually meets old buildings in a clearing at a high point – 9.4km, near Varful Oncesti (on maps).
4. A sharp swing around left (hairpin style) at 10km, leads to a T-junction of tracks at 11.4km – turn left onto the wide track marked Trancindrel, staying on this track until 13.6km, then taking the right forking trail, until 16.6km where a track descends and swings around the hillside back towards the Trans Cindrel at 19.6 (go left).
5. At 21.9km take the rising track that swings left, staying on the Trans Cindrel, which passes by our earlier tracks from the ride out and start to descend after 24km.
6. At 33.7km a track off to the right in the trees, climbs back up to Paltinis and the finish.
Click below to download GPX file
Route Information
Stats: 28.6km and 995 metres climbing (Medium Route)
Refreshments & Where to Stay: Brasov is excellent for all of your needs, and you can book a great place to stay and enjoy the superb trails nearby. It’s a great short mountain bike route, taking in local hills, and you’re never far from villages.
Character
This area is wild and beautiful, with natural rugged single and double track trails in the forests. The route is a short journey onto the hills around Brasov, with some good twisting fun trail riding.
Route
1. This is a route into mountain forests, so you really do need to follow the gps file to stay safe. There are some technical sections and you need stay on course.
2. Climb out of Brasov, taking trails to the right of the DN1E road, towards the equestrian (riding) centre at Spiritul Calor. Then take the trail beneath Braniste as it skirts the edge of the trees.
3. You reach a small group of houses/ lodges at 13km, where the trail then thens left and flows towards the gravel road Strada Vanatorului and continues to the DN1E again.
4. Turn right and after only 300metres take the track on the left into the forests – Drumul Vechi Poienii. This twists and turns as it descends to the 19.4km point, eases off for a short distance, then climbing again steeply to the 22km point just below Stechil summit.
5. Turn down left here and descend all the back to Brasov for 5.5km. Time now for cake and coffee.
Click below to download GPX file
Route Information
Stats: 30km and 1519 metres climbing (Medium Route)
Refreshments & Where to Stay: Brasov is excellent for all of your needs, and you can book a great place to stay and enjoy the superb trails nearby. It’s a great short mountain bike route, taking in local hills, and you’re never far from villages.
Character
This area is wild and beautiful, with natural rugged forest single track trails in the forests. The route takes in tracks that roll and climb with some technical sections, but lots of speed, close to historic Brasov.
Route
1. This is a route into mountain forests, so you really do need to follow the gps file to stay safe. There are some technical sections and you need stay on course.
2. Head out of Brasov on the road, before joining a track on the right after 3.6km. This climbs through trees to the village of Poiana Brasov, where you drop left onto Strada Poiana lui Stechil, taking the track at the end and on the right.
3. Stay on this track until the high point at 11.9km, before descending into the trees in the direction back towards Brasov, passing by some exceptional viewpoints along the way.
4. At the 16km point, the track swings left and continues to descent through tress along the ridgeline, twisting its way downwards.
5. At 18km, just below the summit of Stechil, the tracks twists and descends more steeply for just over 3km, taking you to the edge of the city. You can now either ride into Brasov, or take a few extra kilimetres , riding to the high point of the wooded park just south of the city edges, before dropping down back into Brasov for cake and coffee.
Click below to download GPX file
Thieveley Pike, Lancashire
Route Information
Stats: 11 miles and 1250 feet of ascent
Todmorden and nearby Hebden Bridge would be our choices.
Character
This short excursion into the wild lands between Yorkshire and Lancashire includes two deliciously overstated place names. Anyone expecting Thieveley Pike to be a soaring pinnacle will be disappointed, just as a prior visitor to the Verdon will question whether the Cliviger valley really counts as a “gorge.” But context is all and it is certainly a dramatic cleft, in Pennine terms. The Pike is an unassuming swell of moor rendered dramatic by the crenelated edge overlooking the gorge.
Route
1. Ride south-east on the A646 to Cornholme.
2. Just as you enter the village, fork right into Carr Road. Climb for about 2 miles to a moorland plateau.
3. Double back to the right on Flower Scar Road. This climbs up the moor but we fork left onto a sketchy trail across the north-facing flank.
4. At places, there is just a series of short posts (in varied colours of blue, yellow and white) to guide you. Look out, too, for incongruous interpretation boards for the Todmorden Moor Geology Trail and some industrial history of the mining activity here. The distinctive buildings down on your left are part of an observatory.
5. Drop to the A681 Bacup road and climb briefly to the right.
6. When the road dinks left and drops, turn right towards the less-than-scenic landfill site.
7. Turn left near the power lines, towards a remote farmstead. Follow this line for a mile or so.
8. Climb up to the right to gain the trig point at Thieveley Pike. Follow the watershed to the A671 Burnley Road.
9. Follow the new bridleway alongside the road, ignoring the track flanking the moor on your right.
10. Instead, take the lower track towards the even-more-remote farm at Cow Side but bypass this on the left.
11. Drop on grass from the Mary Towneley memorial, noting the ingenious fencing to keep your front wheel out of the rabbit-hole traps.
12. Zig-zag down to the right, crossing the railway to Holme Chapel.
13. Turn right to regain the start point.
click below for gpx file
Salter Road, Lancashire
Route Information
Stats: 17 miles and 2100 feet of ascent
Nothing. Not so much as a baked bean. The raison d’etre of this route is to get away from all that commercial, Starbucked razzle-dazzle. Chances are you’ll not see anyone else on the whole ride, so make sure you’re kitted out.
Character
The Salter Road is a grand high-level crossing of the Bowland Fells. It can be done as part of a longer loop but it’s good value as an out-and-back as well. The route is described from the Roeburndale side but you could just as well come at it from the south. It makes an ideal outing for a summer’s evening, when the softly dipping moorland light washes away the day’s cares. Be careful in winter as you’ll be spending a long stretch above 1000′ with no escape routes and shouting “Help!” will summon nothing but slavering wolves.
image by Jon Sparks
Route
Once you’re on the road, it’s a piece of duff to follow. Stay straight as the Romans before you and don’t venture into the seas of heather to either side.
Bonus Start/Finish: From Claughton, you can climb up to the wind farm on Caton Moor, then take the big zigzag via Haylot Farm to get to Lower Salter. This adds 10 miles and another 1,000 feet of ascent.
click below for gpx file
Rivington Pike, Lancashire
Route Information
Stats: 7.3 miles and 1985 feet of ascent
Occasional ice-cream van at the car park at the furthest-north point.
Character
Lord Leverhulme bequeathed this rambling area of woodland, rhododendrons, quarries and follies to the good people of Bolton (and I’m given to understand there are a few) in Edwardian times. It is now a vast playground for picnicking families courting couples and, of course, anyone who still likes playing out on bikes. And that means you.
Route
Rivington’s particularly good for an evening ride to shake off the frustrations of the working day and watch the sun dip over the Fylde coast. The view from up here can be stunning – this panorama is from the slightly higher Winter Hill just over the moor. Or come on a crisp winter’s night with your lights blazing. All of the tracks are stone-based, making for all-weather fun. Of the descents shown, the short drop south off the Pike is a pleasant set of rocky drop-offs followed by a fast, rut-dodging rattle. The one from George’s Lane alongside Wilderswood is fast and swoopy. But the descent of Belmont Road (don’t be misled by the suburban-sounding name) from the Pigeon Tower is one of the great test-pieces anywhere – worthy of comparison with the Beast of Hope Cross. Don’t even contemplate going home without rattling your brains out down there…
In keeping with the feeling of the place and its density of bridleways and byways, we’ve shown a suggested itinerary but will omit a turn-by-turn description. Just stay off the footpaths, OK?
click below for gpx file
Longridge Slopes MTB, Lancashire
Route Information
Stats: 17 miles and 1300 feet of ascent
Refreshments
There’s the Newdrop Inn on Higher Road, then numerous swanky-looking pubs in Hurst Green and Ribchester.
Character
This is one of those rides for which the map offers little promise, yet proves a delight under the tyres. There’s huge variety, from silent forest to hidden dell to rolling riverbank. All of this is tucked away just five miles outside Preston yet feels deeply rural.
The ride is tilted on a great south-facing plane where the wooded slopes of Longridge Fell slide down to the meandering banks of the Ribble. There are a couple of sections where map-reading skills are called upon but most of it is straightforward.
One word of caution; the forest ride off the Fell can be an execrable squelchfest after any appreciable dosage of rain. This loop could be omitted and the ride would still preserve its charm, albeit docked of 3 miles and 460 feet in the all-important athletic metrics.
Route
1. Start by dropping through an incongruous development of holiday homes. There is a bridleway marker. As you look back over your left shoulder, you’ll see an even-more-incongruous crag overhanging the houses, and a fishing pond at the bottom. The bridleway soon turns into a beautiful, swoopy, sunken singletrack and that’s it – you’re transported from all the grot and grime of commerce into the countryside proper.
2. At the bottom, turn left (at a place called Written Stone) through Cottam House Farm and turn left alongside a small stream. This turn is signposted as a footpath but the good people of the Ordnance Survey (and the hoofprints underneath your tyres) should tell you you’re legit. Up to the right you should see a huge treehouse (April 2012).
3. Head up to the road on a short, grassy pull and turn right. Sharp-eyed map-readers will spot that you could get here a deal quicker by road but not as scenically.
4. The next section of tarmac, however, is unavoidable. Fortunately, the views to Pendle Hill, Darwen Tower and Winter Hill are more-than-adequate compensation and the lane is quiet. Go straight on at the Newdrop Inn and keep going until you see the forest access at Tilhill on your left.
5. Turn left and climb on forest road, zagging first left then right, contouring below the ridge. Look out for a forest ride heading down with a blue bridleway sign and take it when you see it. This ride can be distinctly moist if rain has fallen in living memory, but you’ll soon break out into open fields. Bear slightly left, heading towards Chilsey Green farmhouse, on the far side of the road.
6. Turn right at the road and ignore the left turn to Hurst Green as you’re going by a far more interesting route. Keep your eyes open for the bridleway on the left to Crowshaw House – the fingerpost is on the opposite side of the road.
7. Follow the lane down, curving round a small pond to a beautiful gorse-filled dell, with dense forest on your left. After Greengore, the main track veers right but go straight ahead for some lovely singletrack dropping into the wooded ravine of Dean Brook. This brings you out into the charming village of Hurst Green. Turn right, past the imposing almshouses and the Bayley Arms, to the main Preston-Whalley road (B6243). Turn right and then immediately left down Lambing Clough Lane along the side of the Shireburn Arms.
8. Swoop down, forking very slightly right to avoid imposing at the homestead of Lambing Clough itself. At the bottom, go through the farmyard at Trough House (and turn right where you see the WAA parking sign). The Ribble Way goes slightly left over a stile here, but cyclists are obliged to head off, following a field boundary parallel to the river.
9. Cross Starling Brook on a tiny footbridge and keep to tussocky fields, rising slightly to the right-hand of two houses (Hey Hurst). Turn right up the lane.
10. This is the tricky bit. After 400m of lane, there’s a field opening on the left with neither signage nor evidence on the ground. But, trust me, this is a bridleway. Set off boldly south-west, passing under a line of small electricity poles and heading for a tiny hidden bridge and gate over a stream. Once you’ve found these, you’re OK because there’s now a line of distinctive white arrows pointing the way as far as Dewhurst House.
11. Head downriver to the elegant bridge at Little Town and ride into the ancient Roman settlement of Ribchester. Bear left down Greenside and past the antiquities, picking up signs for the Ribble Way. This is mostly on farm track but includes a short section of rooty singletrack around a wooded meander.
12. Turn right just after the impressive edifice of Hothersall Hall, up a lane made of parallel concrete tracks. This turns to grass where it levels out, trending right under National Grid pylons to Ox Hey.
13. Follow an easy lane, then roads, towards Longridge but turn right at the end of the double reservoir to pick up the bridleway back to the start.
click below for gpx file
Holcombe Moor, Lancashire
Route Information
Stats: 12 miles and 1200 feet of ascent
Refreshments
Try the Shoulder of Mutton. It’s claim to fame is as one of the first targets of aerial bombardment in history. On 25th September 1916, regulars took shelter in the cellar while a passing Zepellin dropped bombs. It is not known to Pedal North exactly what the pub had done to upset the Kaiser.
Character
Be not afear’d; contrary to appearances, we’ve not abandoned our northern focus to invade the sunken lanes of Devon. Although the name Holcombe conjures images of cream teas and beers inexplicably lacking a head, the village is as northern as a bath full of coal, perched high above Ramsbottom with views stretching across Greater Manchester to the Peak District and Clwydian hills beyond. The going is generally level but elevated, making it an ideal excursion for a sticky summer’s evening when you want to catch an upland breeze but don’t fancy a big haul to get there. Be aware of potential restrictions at the army ranges – riding past a red flag could end with your head getting blown off as cycling helmets are rarely certified AK47-proof.
Route
The bridleway skirts the eastern and southwestern flanks of the broadly elliptical moor, with its distinctive tower dedicated to Bury’s pioneer policeman, Sir Robert Peel. You could turn our route into a loop but why insert an artificial tarmac section that wouldn’t be as good as simple retracing? The going is generally level and easy apart from a couple of steppy sections at the double crossing of Holcombe Brook. That caveat observed, it makes a suitable ride for youngsters.
Take your pick as to which leg you do first. Both leave the B6214 opposite the pub. The route-finding is straightforward, taking a broadly contouring line.
click below for gpx file
Hameldon, Lancashire
Route Information
Stats: 10 miles and 1530 feet of ascent
Refreshments
Once on the ride, you’ll see more Bronte sisters than catering establishments.
Character
It’s wild and lonesome up on them thar moors. There are several Hameldons overlooking the top end of the M65, including, Great Hameldon, Black Hameldon and Hameldon Hill. Our route traverses plain old Hameldon, straddling the boundary between Lancashire and Yorkshire. And, if ambiguous hill names confuse you, a curiosity of these moors is that they drain to East and West into two different Calder rivers.
Start point: Hurstwood car park SD882313
Route
1. Take the track leading up the charming avenue heading East to gain the Eastern shore of Hurstwood Reservoir.
2. Keep going up the valley until you reach the Gorple Road, turning right at the Pennine Bridleway signpost.
3. Turn left shortly after, signed PBW north. Follow a gorgeous twisty singletrack zigzagging to Swinden Water and climbing back out to Extwistle Moor. Keep going, dropping down more zigzags to the road junction above Thursden.
4. Turn right and climb on tarmac to the county boundary. With Emley Moor transmitter in the distance, swoop down to Widdop Reservoir.
5. Turn right to cross the dam and turn right at the end to take the good track up Black Moor.
6. Drop back down into Lancashire on the Pennine Bridleway, rejoining the path alongside Hurstwood Reservior to return home.
Please avoid using the nearby footpaths across the moor; however enticing the singletrack may seem. Respect the nature and legality of the path and in doing so, support better access.
click below for gpx file