2005 - Trail hitlist

[jon]

The scope for trips is steadily expanding, and it's no longer the case that we make 3-4 trips to CyB and leave it at that.

If there's somewhere you think we should be visiting next year, discuss it in here.

here are a few places to get the conversational juices flowing:

home
coed-y-brenin (http://www.mbwales.com/coed_y_brenin/index.htm)
afan argoed (http://www.mbwales.com/afan_forest/index.htm)
lake district (http://www.mountain-bike-cumbria.co.uk)
7 stanes (http://www.7stanes.gov.uk) (several options)

abroad
spain
swis alps

[stevie]

I have been thinking for a while about Morzine and Les Gets in the Portes du Soleil area of the French Alps. The whole region is supposed to be MTB heaven. You can see a map of the Portes du Soleil area here:

http://www.alpactive.com/summer2004/map.html

Les Gets is home to three downhill courses, and has been used for 5 World Cups. It is also home to the 2004 World Championships in September. The World Championships DH run is about 2km long and descends almost 500 metres. You can see information on this year's MTB World Championship routes here: http://www.lesgets2004.com/indexnew.htm.

There is also a huge amount of XC singletrack and plenty of ski lifts to take you to the top!

There are a number of companies that do organised bike holidays such as AlpActive: http://www.alpactive.com/summer2004/biking.html. However, it should also be possible to get relatively cheap chalet accommodation in the Summer. It's also very warm in the summer. It may be worth seeing whether Tim knows anything, since he was mountain biking in Val d'Isere a few years back.

[jon]

personally, i like the sound of the 7 stanes. loads of trails in the area, and stevie had mentioned some log cabins that were available in the area so we can get back to cheap and social accommodation :D

[stevie]

Absolutely! Take a look at http://www.7stanes.gov.uk/ for more details of the various sites. There are four built so far.

For pure evil trailbuilding (2.5km of North Shore style raised woodwork), take a look at "The Dark Side" at Mabie: http://www.7stanes.gov.uk/website/oldsite.nsf/ByUnique/INFD-5XTKCV.

btw ... The holiday park I mentioned is near Mabie and Dalbeattie. I'll get the details and post them up shortly.

[ceri]

7stanes - looks really good. There are some forest names there that bring back mixed memories of orienteering in the area. Think I'd rather be cycling than running through them on the whole! Tweed Valley sounds to offer the most options?

The Portes du Soleil is indeed great for biking in the summer. I had a day's cycling from Chatel using the ski lifts to link across quite a large area last summer. Really good fun although some of the loose rocky descents scared the hell out of me!

[stevie]

I seem to have misplaced my MBR with the 7 Stanes reviews. Could someone else who has it check out the accomodation bit at the end and pop the details into the site? I'm particularly keen to get the details for the holiday park near Mabie, since it sounded much like the place we tend to stay at CyB and could take up to 8 people in the cabins. It would be a good centre for a number of trails in the South West.

The Glentress Hotel is also in an ideal spot for riding there. It's right at the main entrance to the trails, so you don't need to drive anywhere unless you fancy getting food in Innerleithen or Peebles. However, I do have their website address: http://www.glentresshotel.co.uk/.

[jon]

were either of these the one steve?

mr link (http://www.visit-dumfries-and-galloway.co.uk/wheretostay/accommodation/?view=Search+detail&accomType=4&establishment=3129 162)

mrs link (http://www.visit-dumfries-and-galloway.co.uk/wheretostay/accommodation/?view=Search+detail&accomType=4&establishment=5095 56)