Whinlatter Forest Park Mountain Bike Trail Centre

Description

Whinlatter Forest Park Mountain bike trail centre near Keswick in Cumbria in the Lake District has two purpose-built mountain bike trails: the red Altura trail and the blue Quercus trail. It also has a waymarked forest road graded trail

Whinlatter Forest Park rises to 790 metres above sea level and is England's only mountain forest so the views of the Lake District and into Scotland as you ride are spectacular. 

The Altura Trail

• The Altura Trail is graded red and is 19 kilometres long (including 15 kilometres of new singletrack).  The trail has been built for experienced riders with good off-road skills and a reasonable level of fitness.
• It has challenging singletrack sections and popular features like berms, jumps, rock gardens, skinnies, corkscrews and tabletops. There are also great views of Derwentwater, Bassenthwaite and the surrounding fells.
• It is split into a North Loop and a South Loop and part of the benefit of Whinlatter is that you can conveniently mix and match sections e.g. do the blue Quercus then the Altura South Loop for variety. 

The Quercus Trail

• The blue Quercus trail has a 7.5km option and a shorter 3.5 km option. It consists of flowing single track with gentle berms, rolling jumps and wide gradual climbs with technical features. The trail starts downhill with sweeping intricate bends, then climbs up and bends and twists its way until riders come face to face with the Big Wall, a double-banked bend within the forest. After climbing up through oak woodland, the trail crosses a bridge and into the darker conifer forest. The trail finishes with the hollow sound of a raised boardwalk over a bog and through the forest.

Gorse Cycle Trail

• A 10km forest road graded route, along well-surfaced forest roads. Long gradual climbs and descents through fantastic scenery.

History

• The trails were built by trail builders Clixbys with funding support from the North West Regional Development Agency who not only helped fund the trail but also the redevelopment of the car park at the Visitor Centre.  
• The Altura is the longest purpose-built mountain bike trail in the Lake District and took nine months to build. It was constructed using material that had been sourced from the forest. 
• The Quercus Trail is named after the Latin for Oak (Quercus Petraea) because the furthest loop of the trail runs through the Masmill Oak Woodland.

Other Stuff

• Check out Cyclewise the bike shop on site.

Share

• If you have ridden the mountain bike trails at Whinlatter Forest then why not share your experience and add some pictures, videos or a brief review to the listing.