Gisburn Forest Bike Trails

Gisburn Forest Bike Trails

Gisburn Forest sits in the Forest of Bowland near Clitheroe, Lancashire, and is one of the North West's best-known trail centres: a red trail with black options, a blue trail, a progressive skills loop, an Advanced Skills Area and the Orange-graded Hope Line Down descent, backed up by a network of off-piste wild trails. An active volunteer trail-building community keeps the network growing, and it's a past UK and England Trail of the Year winner. The wider forest adds a cafe, picnic areas and a Dark Sky Discovery site to a day out.

The Trails

The 8 (Red, with Black options)

• An 18km figure-of-eight red route overlooking Stocks Reservoir, mixing forest road with red and blue-graded singletrack and optional black-graded technical sections. Notable parts include the volunteer-built Home Baked, the rocky Whelp Stone Crag climb, and the Hully Gully roller coaster as an optional black finish.
• Long Way Down is a red alternative descent to the black Hully Gully, giving riders a choice and easing winter erosion on the gully.

Bottoms Beck (Blue)

• A shorter 9.5km route for families and beginners, with green sections along an old railway line beside Bottoms Beck before flowing singletrack through Park Wood and a descent off Cocklet Hill. Forestry England has recently upgraded sections of this trail with Velosolutions UK to improve flow and widen access for adaptive bikes.

Hope Line Down (Orange)

• A downhill trail starting with rollers and kickers before a run of berms, tabletops and drops, finishing on a pump-track-style section.

Skills Loop

• Three interconnected mini loops of progressively harder riding, based by the stone wall circle at Gisburn Forest Hub.

Advanced Skills Area

• A progressive set-up of tabletops, a jump line, berms and rollers built on the site of the former Leap of Faith trail. Forestry England's current trail page notes the top section is closed for rebuilding works, so check locally before riding it.

Off-Piste

• An informal, unsanctioned network of wild trails including Stickman, Old School Yorkie and Chunk Norris. These aren't waymarked or maintained by Forestry England, so download a route or use GPS navigation before you set off.

Beyond the Trails

Gisburn Forest and Stocks is a working Forestry England site with more than riding on offer. The Hungry Pine Cafe serves the Hub on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, there are picnic areas including one at the old vicarage garden, and the forest is an accredited Dark Sky Discovery Site for stargazing after dark. Stephen Park, a restored Grade II listed building within the forest, offers 38-bed group accommodation for clubs, schools and retreats. Walking trails including the family-friendly Room on the Broom route round out a visit.

Local Organisation

• The Pennine Mountain Bike Association (PMBA) supports trail development at Gisburn alongside Rossendale and the West Pennine Moors.
• Gisburn Forest Trail Builders, a volunteer group drawn from across the region, has hand-built over 1,500 metres of trail and continues to run regular volunteer trail days with Forestry England.

Getting Here

• Main car park: Gisburn Forest Hub, Stephen Park, Slaidburn, BB7 4TS. Pay and display, with the first 20 minutes free.
• Alternative car parks: Cocklet Hill, and Stocks Reservoir for the walking trails.
• Many riders also start from Tosside (postcode BD23 4SQ), where the Dog and Partridge pub offers food, real ale and bike washing facilities, and the Ebike Hire Centre offers bike hire and sales close to the trailhead.

Share

• If you have ridden the mountain bike trails here at Gisburn Forest then why not share your experiences and write a short review below and/or add some photos or videos to the listing.