Mountain biking in the Forest of Dean

We took a trip to the Forest of Dean on Sunday to do the new blue trail from the trail centre there.

We took a trip to the Forest of Dean on Sunday to do the new blue trail from the trail centre there.

It was rather busy when we got there and parking was a bit of a nightmare, but we eventually found a spot to park, and got the bikes ready.

Unfortunately the blue trail (nor any of the other trails) isn’t clearly signposted from the trail centre.  There are maps showing all the trails, the family trail, the verderers trail,the freeminer trail and the downhill sections, however the signposts say cycle trail in one direction and singletrack in the other.  We chose the cycle trail which takes you across the road.

We did find the family skills section (blue), but apart from signposts to different locations in the forest of dean, there were no further signs for any of the cycle loops that were shown on the maps at the centre.

What we ended up doing was a portion of the family loop, plus what we though was red singletrack, but on further investigation when we got back seems to be a footpath.

In hindsight it was probably good that we didn’t end up on the blue trail, as the last bit of the downhill section is now classified as red.  So before returning we need to make sure that there is a blue route back to the trail centre, as I don’t think I’m up to doing a red yet.