We check out Whinlatter, the trail centre that’s the ‘yin’ to the ‘yang’ of the natural riding the Lake District is famous for
We check out the trail centre that’s the ‘yin’ to the ‘yang’ of the natural riding the Lakes are famous for
Looking over England’s most dramatic National Park, Whinlatter Forest has some serious scenery to go with its mountain biking. The panoramic eye candy is special whatever the weather, but focusing on the trails, rather than the mountains towering on top of each other, is essential, as speed can build really quickly on its purpose-built descents. The rooty, slippery climbs and twisty trails slinking through the trees require proper technique and good vision to clean their trickiest sections, too.
Just west of Keswick, Whinlatter has the most trail centre mileage in the Lakes, and also the best variety. It’s not super-technical, but has a better surface and drainage and more coherent layout than Grizedale, further south. The long, redgraded Altura loop is broken into two halves, one on each side of the Whinlatter Pass, which makes it easy to split with a food stop for less fit riders.
On the most logical way up and out, the 10km north loop breaks in and out of decades-old thick pine to peek out at the huge limestone slab of Skiddaw rising close to 1,000m, and then eventually over to the Grisedale Pike ridgeline and the beautiful Borrowdale valley beyond. The 9.5km southern part drags riders up a long climb onto the lower Pike slopes. Each side has a different flavour – with the north loop denser, root-riddled and more raw – but both follow the classic trail centre formula of a gradual climb with up and down sections, followed by a rollercoaster-style payoff.
The fun-to-play-on, continuous downhill section on the south side starts in the open, through scrubby vegetation, before cutting through tighter trees lower down. It ramps up in intensity towards the end with a series of fast dips, rises and berms through acres of pine. On both sides of the Altura trail, there’s an opportunity to short-cut to the final descents on fireroads if you’re only in it for the speed, but it’s a shame to miss a few cool little sections here and there, and it means you won’t absorb the atmosphere of this forest clinging to the side of a mountain.
Old-school fun
None of the official riding at Whinlatter is supergnarly or steep and, likely because the trail centre is a decade old this year, it’s fairly traditional in feel. We’re talking sinuous trails threading through trees, rather than the modern bermy, flicky and jumpy style of riding found at the likes of Windhill B1ke Park or BikePark Wales. That’s not to say it’s all easy, though. One glance in any direction reveals that the location is properly mountainous, and the often-wet surface with tons of roots and some rutted exposed bedrock demands a light touch and precision.
Some of the best-flowing sections are after the middle of the north loop, once you’ve climbed up to a hefty 550m above sea level. ‘Happy Days’ spits you out at a fair old lick on top of the hill and rapidly gains speed through a series of fast,
rough turns before eventually diving back into the trees. It’s a good suspension test and feels really organic for a manmade trail. Shortly after, the final switchbacks of ‘Big Dipper’ and ‘Grand National’ deliver the highest speeds in the forest, and had our three lads chasing and racing up each other’s back wheels, spraying up clouds of dust and roost, and having some pretty funny close calls.
Getting creative
What’s neat at Whinlatter is how, wrapped inside the lengthy up-and-down red loop, there’s also a blue-graded trail, ‘Quercus’, which stays nearer the valley floor but still delivers the goods. It’s a great introductory ride for the less fit or less skilful, but also a fun pedally blast for riders of any level. There’s good flow in places, it rides fast, and there are loads of little hits and turns to attack. It rides a lot better than many blue trails, which have a bad habit of feeling like a box-ticking bolt-on.
Both major descents on the red loop are on armoured, rock-hard gravel and rock, with chunky berms and shoulders that hold you in the track pretty well. So, how hard you attack is simply a question of how lairy you’re feeling that day. Decent speeds can be clocked up, and our lads had a proper old-school giggle as they hit the pump bumps and rollers littering the track flat out, turning them into serious booters and doubles. (Check out Adam Brayton’s brilliant RAWHB.160 video on YouTube if you want to see just how fast a World Cup DH contender can hit Whinlatter).
Yin and yang
In the darker months, there’s an ancient feel to Whinlatter, as you weave round trees and occasionally peep out onto huge grey mountains, with freewheels whirring and tyres splashing through dense emerald moss and pine needles. When we visited in May, though, we were blessed with one of the longest continuous dry spells in the Lakes that locals could remember, which transformed the experience into more of a big
country day out, with views for miles and a real sense of privilege at being in such a beautiful part of the world. It also meant there was enough dust to roost the hell out of this feature and get all three riders pushing harder in a bit of a sun-crazed, ‘mad dogs and Englishmen’ atmosphere.
Whether it’s wet or dry, Whinlatter just works. It doesn’t offer the flashiest riding around and there are no big jumps or cool features to bonk off or hip out of, but it makes perfect sense of its elevation, delivers killer views and is a better laugh than most older trail centres. The combination of the location, how easy it is to add in some spectacular natural riding nearby and the fact that going fast never gets old makes it a winner. Most locals won’t want to ride here all the time, but as the yin to the Lakes’ ‘real mountains’ yang (where you often have to spend two hours with your bike on your shoulder to get to the top of a decent descent), it’s a wicked alternative that manages to transcend the ‘weaving through trees’ trail centre formula it’s based on.