Zoom with a view! Get your adrenaline fix while also soaking in the beauty of the British countryside on these waymarked trails with panoramic vistas
Get your adrenaline ix while also soaking in the beauty of the British countryside on these waymarked trails with panoramic vistas
WHINLATTER, CUMBRIA
Nestled on the northern edge of the Lake District, England’s most mountainous National Park, and sandwiched between the towering Grisedale Pike and Skiddaw massif, Whinlatter trail centre is in a prime spot for some exceptional views. Even in poor weather, you won’t be disappointed with the scenery. The riding here isn’t overly technical, but there are sections of root-infested forest and raw bedrock that need a light touch and concentration to make sure you don’t end up sampling some of the Lake District’s finest rocks – no easy feat when the views are so attention-grabbing. However, this makes it a great place for novice, and above, riders to take advantage of the trails and get themselves mountain biking in real mountains.
The blue loop, Quercus, is a 7.5km trail that stays closer to the valley floor. Its flowing nature is ideal for less experienced riders as it blends swooping descents and gradual climbs into a rollercoaster introduction to Whinlatter. The Altura red route is 19km. It’s a figure-of-eight split into north and south loops, allowing you to tackle it in one hit or return to the car or cafe for a pit stop. These trails traverse the mountain and offer greater technical challenges and take more effort to ride, but the rewards are better too, with fantastic views of Skiddaw’s limestone slabs, Grisedale’s ridgeline and across to Borrowdale valley beyond. The climbs mix double- and singletrack, while the descents can be rough and raw in places. There’s an old-school feel to these trails, where there aren’t loads of pump bumps, jumps and drops. It’s more natural riding in some of the UK’s best terrain.
LONG MYND, SHROPSHIRE
The Long Mynd (mynd is mountain in Welsh) is a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and it’s easy to see why. This moorland plateau near the Welsh Borders makes up part of the Shropshire Hills and rises to a not insubstantial 546m (1,791ft). From the Mynd’s many summits, looking west gives you a view across to Wales’s Cambrian mountains, and on a clear day you can even see Snowdonia.
However, you don’t have to look that far to enjoy the beautiful surroundings. The Mynd itself offers ample scenic eye candy that makes riding around here an absolute pleasure. While there’s no trail centre, the many bridleways and shared paths give plenty of options to explore, and deliver a taste of natural mountain biking that’s a refreshing change from the groomed and manmade trails we frequently ride. The tracks range from narrow rut lines across the moors and old singletrack paths, including the trails into Batch Valley, to full-on rock-fest bridleways that seem to eat tyres and wheels, such as the Carding Mill descent. While the steep-sided valleys mean you have to earn your turns, the exciting riding and extraordinary views are well worth the effort.
Some of the tracks are waymarked to help you navigate, but it probably helps if you plan a route before setting off. While the area isn’t vast, approximately 11km (7 miles) long by 5km (3 miles) wide, there’s more than enough good riding to easily entertain you for a full weekend. Minton Batch woods even have a few trails in them, which make a fun change from the predominantly open tracks that adorn the Long Mynd.
GLENCOE, SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS
Situated on the edge of Rannoch Moor, a dramatic if bleak part of the Scottish Highlands and another AONB, this is a truly spectacular location by anyone’s standards. Glencoe Mountain Resort is Scotland’s oldest ski area and rises up the northern slopes of Meall a’ Bhùiridh, which reaches 1,108m (3,635 ft) and affords breathtaking views to Buachaille Etive Mor. This is one wild place, and the trails echo that. Apart from the skiing, this venue is best known for its brutal downhill track and chairlift access, although there’s more to it than that.
The black DH run is one of the gnarliest in the UK, with its steep gradient, huge holes and even bigger rocks making it a ferocious challenge. There’s also a red descent, which offers a less technical way down the mountain, but is by no means a walk in the park. Rocks aplenty, tight turns and a loose surface make it very challenging. We suggest taking the time to admire the views from the chairlift as you’ll have little opportunity on the way down! We would say enjoy the scenery from the summit, but there’s a good chance the midges will bite if you stay put for long.
While the downhill tracks are Glencoe’s biggest attraction for MTBers, there’s a 1.5km blue XC loop with 4km red and 1km black extensions at the top of the chairlift. These aren’t your usual smooth trail-centre loops, though. They use the rough, natural mountainside as their surface, making them particularly rugged. However, what you may miss out on in terms of flow, you’ll make up for with the exceptional vistas.
THE STEEP SIDED VALLEYS MEAN YOU HAVE TO EARN YOUR TURNS, BUT THE LONG MY N D’ S EXCITING TRAILS AND EXTRAORDINARY VIEWS ARE WELL WORTH THE EFFORT
LAGGAN WOLFTRAX, SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS
Drive 35 miles north from Fort William, towards Inverness, and you’ll find Laggan Wolftrax. Tucked just inside the Cairngorms National Park’s western edge, this trail centre lies in the Monadhliath Mountains, a secondary massif flanking the Cairngorms. This mountain range differs somewhat from the Highlands as it’s an elevated moorland with few peaks and ridges, which means you get magnificent views, especially as the trails take in the Wolf’s Lair viewpoint with its panoramic vista.
The riding here is as impressive as the scenery, with two red trails, a black trail, a bike-park run and a green family loop. The latter has two options – a longer 4.5km loop or a short 3.5km one with a more entertaining hairpin climb. The other three trails follow the same 2.7km fireroad climb up the hill. Here, the lower red loop splits off for a 4.5km singletrack thrash back to the car park. The meandering trail is narrow, pretty technical and a whole lot of fun. It takes in the infamous Air’s Rock, a daunting slab (which has a chicken run), before spitting you out on the lower section of the bike park run, where you can increase your speed and flow.
Sharing the same singletrack climb to the Wolf’s Lair viewpoint, the 3.8km upper red and 3.7km black route then split. The red takes you on a more flowing descent that winds its way around the hillside, filled with fun features. As for the black, it deserves its reputation as one of the UK’s most technical trail-centre sections. This narrow, rock-filled route takes a lot of skill and confidence to clear smoothly, and there are plenty of places where it tries to trip you up. The orange-graded bike park run is a smooth flow trail with swooping berms, rollers and tabletops. Everything is rollable, so it’s great for all levels of rider.
NANT YR ARIAN, MID WALES
Nant Yr Arian is a winner before you even leave the car park. The visitor centre sits at the head of the Dyffryn Melindwr valley with views out to Cardigan Bay on the Welsh coast, and once on the trails things only get better as you happen upon remarkable views over the Cambrian mountains. This trail centre has a rugged and natural feel, with a blue trail, two red loops and a demanding black. The blue Melindwr is 5km, formed by two loops, one 2km and a 3km extension. It offers fantastic scenery and fun riding that’ll leave you grinning from ear to ear, especially as the final descent swoops through the centre’s red kite feeding station.
The red and black routes offer a staggered progression. Remaining close to the top of the hills, the 9km, red-graded Pendam trail weaves its way around the forested upper slopes. There’s nothing too technical on the loop and plenty of places to admire the views as the trees open up. The Summit trail follows Pendam but adds an extra loop to pump up the distance to 16km in total. This takes you further away from the centre and adds some fun, flowing descents blended with tight turns to keep you on your toes. However, with long downs come big climbs. The black-graded Syfydrin takes in the Summit route then heads out into open countryside, for a very remote ride. This extension makes the entire route 35km, so if you tackle this one make sure you’re ready for an all-day adventure – plenty of opportunity to soak in those views.