Gravel riding is not limited to long-distance routes. More than 90 UK listings on iBikeRide are tagged Gravel, including trail centres and natural trail areas with forest roads, byways and hardpack alongside their singletrack. Here is what a gravel bike is for, what the Gravel tag and the Gravel Riding section mean on a listing, and where to start.

What gravel riding is

Gravel riding is mostly not a separate set of places. A lot of it runs on the forest roads, byways and hardpack already sitting around the trail centres and natural trail areas listed on this site, which is why so many listings now carry a Gravel tag.

A gravel bike has the drop handlebars of a road bike but room for wider, knobblier tyres. It is built for unpaved riding that is not singletrack: forest roads, farm tracks, towpaths and byways. Gravel riding is simply riding those surfaces, whether that means a short loop from a car park or a full day out.

A mountain bike handles the same ground. Over long stretches of smooth forest road a gravel bike is the quicker tool, and once the surface turns rough a mountain bike is the more comfortable one.

Long-distance routes, single journeys from a start to a finish or right round a loop, are covered separately in UK bikepacking routes: what they are and where to ride them. This piece is about the rest of it, gravel riding within the trail areas listed on the site.

Why people gravel ride

If you already ride, the case for adding gravel depends on what you ride now.

Coming from mountain biking, it is range and season. Trail centre riding usually means driving somewhere, riding loops and driving home again. Gravel riding is more often done from the door, and it covers ground: the fire road you grind up to reach the singletrack is the whole ride for somebody else. It also works when singletrack does not. Hardpack and forest road hold up through the winter months, when soft trails are both miserable to ride and easily damaged, so it is a way of getting out without cutting ruts into someone's hand-built berms.

Coming from road riding, it is mostly traffic. You keep the long aerobic riding you already like and lose most of the cars, and the lanes, tracks and byways you can see on a map but cannot sensibly ride on 25mm tyres open up.

Either way, it is sociable in a way the other two are not reliably. On the road the fast rider drops the slow one, and on technical singletrack a gap in skills splits the group up. On a forest road a mixed bunch of bikes and abilities can ride along together, which is why a lot of gravel riding gets done with partners, friends and children who would not otherwise come out.

There is plenty on, too. Several of the venues in this piece host gravel events: the Dalby Devil at Dalby Forest, the Thetford Forest Trophy at High Lodge, which is part of the British Gravel Trophy series, and the Suffolk Gravel X events on the same Thetford network. The Surrey Hills listing notes organised gravel events in the area as well. The Dalby Devil runs at 50, 80, 130 and 160km, so entering one does not have to mean committing to a full day of it.

None of it has to replace what you already do. A gravel bike tends to earn its place by filling the gaps: winter, weekday evenings, riding from home, and riding with people who do not own a mountain bike.

Gravel on iBikeRide

Two things on a listing point to gravel riding, and they are not the same.

The first is the Gravel tag, set under Type of Riding, which is what the search filter uses. More than 90 UK listings carry it, and that number keeps climbing. Tags go on listing by listing as we work through the site, so treat the count as a floor rather than a full picture: somewhere with no Gravel tag yet is not necessarily somewhere with no gravel riding.

The second is a written Gravel Riding section, a block of text on the listing setting out where within that trail area suits a gravel bike. These are being written the same way, so some tagged listings have one and others do not yet. Where there is no section, a listing may still cover gravel elsewhere on the page. Hamsterley Forest, for instance, has Ants in Yer Pants, a 9 mile (14.6km) forest road route the listing calls a good introduction to gravel riding there, set out among its trails rather than under a heading of its own.

To find any of it, use the search page: filter by Type of Riding for Gravel, then narrow by country or region. We will keep this page updated as more listings are tagged or gain a written section.

Where to start

A selection of listings with a written Gravel Riding section. Lengths and details are as given on the listings.

Scotland

• Carron Valley (Stirling): A waymarked forest road loop runs right round Carron Valley Reservoir on firm gravel and hardpack, starting from the same car park as the red route. The listing describes it as a much gentler ride, suited to families and gravel bikes, with play features, picnic spots and views across the water, and it links out towards Meikle Bin at the western end for a longer ride.
• Dunkeld (Perth and Kinross): The listing points to Perthshire Gravel, a network of single and multi-day gravel routes through Dunkeld, Pitlochry, Blair Atholl and Aberfeldy, suited to riders of varying abilities. It also notes the River Tay Way, a long-distance linear route being developed by Perth and Kinross Countryside Trust, with separate designated cycling and walking routes along the Tay.
• Dunoon (Argyll): The listing says the wider Cowal area has over 160km of gravel riding. Highlights are the 167km Dunoon Gravel Century (red, 3,330m of ascent), the 40km Dunoon XC Gravel (red, 1,240m) and the 23.5km Corlarach Forest Loop (blue, 630m). Routes are available through Action Argyll and the Cowal Mountain Bike Club. The 13.5km of singletrack in Bishop's Glen is all graded black.
• Fort William and Lochaber (Highland): The gravel section points to the Great Glen Way, which starts in Fort William and follows the Caledonian Canal towpath past Neptune's Staircase before heading onto forest gravel tracks towards Gairlochy and on to Inverness, 120km away.
• Kinlochleven (Highland): The Old Military Road climbs out of Kinlochleven towards Fort William on a gravel and compacted-stone surface, gaining height steadily with views towards Ben Nevis before it meets tarmac further along. The listing calls it a genuine gravel-bike alternative to the singletrack routes, and says it can be linked into a longer loop around Loch Leven.
• Mabie (Dumfries and Galloway): The Big Views Green Loop is 8km, mostly on broad forest road with gentle gradients and open views over the Solway Firth, and the listing says it rides just as well on a gravel bike as an XC bike. The opening sections of the Woodhead and Viewpoint Blue loops also follow quiet forest road before dropping into singletrack, which gives extra distance for a longer gravel-friendly loop.

England

• Dalby Forest (North Yorkshire): The listing says the fire road network and Dalby Forest Drive support proper gravel riding, not just links between singletrack. The forest hosts the annual Dalby Devil gravel sportive, with 50, 80, 130 and 160km options, and the Forest Drive, a maintained track running the length of the forest, is free to cyclists even though it is a toll road for vehicles.
• Quantocks (Somerset): The listing says the fire roads, byways and bridleways make for good mixed-terrain riding away from the singletrack, and that the area features on longer gravel and bikepacking routes linking through to Exmoor.
• Rivington Pike (Lancashire): Rivington Country Park and the surrounding Anglezarke estate carry an extensive network of stone tracks, reservoir-side paths and old lanes that the listing says suit gravel bikes as well as mountain bikes, with loops ranging from easy family-friendly distances up to 30km-plus routes taking in Rivington Pike itself.
• Surrey Hills (Surrey): Away from the singletrack, the Hurtwood and the wider Surrey Hills carry a network of fire roads, bridleways and byways connecting Peaslake, Holmbury Hill, Pitch Hill and Leith Hill. The listing describes wide compacted climbs and descents heading out from Peaslake, popular with gravel and road riders as well as mountain bikers, and notes the area is used for organised gravel events.
• Thetford Forest (High Lodge, on the Norfolk-Suffolk border): The listing describes flat, sandy forest roads with a genuine gravel scene beyond the singletrack. The annual Thetford Forest Trophy, part of the British Gravel Trophy series, runs from High Lodge on repeated forest-road and hardpack loops totalling around 55 to 60km, and the Suffolk Gravel X events use the same network. Even the green Shepherd Trail is substantially fire road and hardpack in character.

Wales

• Coed y Brenin (Gwynedd): Waymarked gravel and adventure routes, funded from parking income and opened in May 2024, start from the same car park as the MTB network. They run from 9.5km (Coblynnau) to 36km (Y Wrach Wen, with some singletrack sections), and Gwyllgi at 24.9km includes river crossings. Between them the listing says they add well over 100km of forest-road and hardpack riding suited to gravel and hybrid bikes.
• Nant yr Arian (Ceredigion): The Arian Trail is a 7.9km forest road loop with no singletrack and only 160m of climbing, out to Blaenmelindwr lake with a short section on public road, described as well suited to gravel bikes or families wanting an easier ride alongside the graded singletrack. The waymarked Mynydd March bridleway, 10.7km on a mix of forest and public road surfaces, adds extra distance for those wanting more.

Before your first gravel ride

• You may not need a different bike. The Thetford listing describes its green Shepherd Trail as flat, wide, mostly gravel forest roads and tracks, appropriate for most bikes. Coed y Brenin's gravel routes are described as suited to gravel and hybrid bikes, and the Mabie listing says its Big Views loop rides as well on a gravel bike as an XC bike.
• Tyres are the main difference. A gravel bike clears wider, knobblier tyres than a road bike. More width and tread help on loose, wet or broken ground, at some cost in speed on smooth hardpack.
• Start short. The Arian Trail at Nant yr Arian is 7.9km with no singletrack, the Big Views loop at Mabie is 8km, and the shortest of the Coed y Brenin gravel routes is 9.5km.
• Where it works. Forest roads, hardpack, reservoir loops and byways, as at Carron Valley, Mabie, Thetford, Dalby, Rivington Pike and the Quantocks. Season matters: the Thetford listing describes flat, sandy forest roads, while the Quantocks listing notes the grassier tracks and the bottoms of the combes can get muddy in winter.
• Where it does not. The singletrack at these venues is graded and described for mountain bikes. Dunoon's Bishop's Glen trails are all graded black, and the Kinlochleven listing describes the Ciaran Path as a rocky, technical singletrack descent over loose cobbles and steep bedrock, pointing gravel bikes to the Old Military Road instead.
• Some of it is waymarked and some is not. The Coed y Brenin and Nant yr Arian routes and the Carron Valley reservoir loop are waymarked. The Surrey Hills listing says little of its network is, and advises downloading a route or using GPS navigation before setting off.
• Stick to legal rights of way. The Quantocks listing advises using rights of way, bridleways and byways, rather than footpaths.
• Check before you travel. The Mabie and Carron Valley listings both note periodic closures and diversions for forestry operations, and point to the Forestry and Land Scotland pages for current alerts. Thetford's Shepherd Trail has had its start point moved, so on-site signage is worth a look. Venue and managing body pages and socials are the place to check before setting off.

Over to you

Have you ridden gravel at any of these places? Pick one from the list above, open its listing, and add your reviews, photos and videos.

The Gravel Riding sections are still new and we will keep them updated, so rider knowledge is what will make them better. If something on the ground does not match what is written, a closure, a diversion, a route that has changed, tell us and we will get it corrected. And if you know somewhere that should be tagged Gravel, tell us that too.

Photo by Maxime on Unsplash