Trail Cycling in hamsterly or beamish?

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octopuss gardner

octopuss gardner

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Hi wondered if any of the smb have tried either hamsterly or beamish for the bike trails? Travelling from sunderland to either I am under the impression hamsterly is good but not aware if beamish trails are any good. Also factoring in wether worthwhile the two of us cutting the journey in half and going to beamish.
 


Not my thing but Hamsterley looks good , well set out with man made downhill sections etc , graded for difficulty .
 
Not aware there were any at Beamish - Hamsterly are decent and you have 3 different option. Don't do what I did and cycle there - @Patch had to give me a lift home in the car :lol:
 
Hamsterley is great imo, loads of trails and rides to do, really enjoyed it, never done Beamish.

Have you thought about Chopwell, that's not too far either, not as good as Hamsterley though imo.
 
As said earlier Hamsters is good. Varying trail grades and lengths. Presuming you are after xc trails/loops. The downhill stuff yiu will need a dh rig and suitable protection to ride iirc.

Mate of mine goes to chopwell but mainly Hamsters as getting into dh more.
 
I've had plenty of enjoyable rides at Chopwell.But been told there are many more at beamish than Chopwell,by a friend who is a good standard mtb'er.
 
ivanthereasonable said:
I've had plenty of enjoyable rides at Chopwell.But been told there are many more at beamish than Chopwell,by a friend who is a good standard mtb'er.
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Do you have links that might help me find out more about the beamish trails ?

Never heard about beamish before and it's just up the road from me :lol:
 
TiredEyes said:
Do you have links that might help me find out more about the beamish trails ?

Never heard about beamish before and it's just up the road from me :lol:
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beamish isn't an official track as such but I know a few lads who've ridden from Sunderland/Washington through past beamish and its a decent mtb ride
 
I was told for beamish trails it is very difficult to find you're best parking at a pub called shepherd and shepherdess and asking in there as it's all country roads that split off into the forest from there.

Decided to do the red trail at hamsterly 12.5 mile/2 hoursish.

Was told by same person that Glentress on the Scottish Borders is phenomenal so will hopefully do that one day. Anyone been?
 
bennett83 said:
beamish isn't an official track as such but I know a few lads who've ridden from Sunderland/Washington through past beamish and its a decent mtb ride
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Up through the C2C route?


I have done that, way up past the beautiful views from the Hownsgill Viaduct.

I understood that somewhere around the Beamish area there are MTB trails like the ones at Hamsterely/Chopwell.
 
I go to Hamsterley pretty much every Saturday morning (havent been today because i was out on the piss last night) normally do a mix of the black, red and unofficial runs that tie into a nice loop and can be extended depending on how my legs are feeling...haven't done Beamish as they reckon the trails are hard to find.

I'm going to Whinlatter next weekend for the first time so looking forward to that.
 
octopuss gardner said:
I was told for beamish trails it is very difficult to find you're best parking at a pub called shepherd and shepherdess and asking in there as it's all country roads that split off into the forest from there.

Decided to do the red trail at hamsterly 12.5 mile/2 hoursish.

Was told by same person that Glentress on the Scottish Borders is phenomenal so will hopefully do that one day. Anyone been?
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I've only ridden the red trail at Glentress and it's awesome. You need big balls and a degree of skill to ride it at speed though. It's canny technical.

Luckily I was following my freeriding mate round, or else I would probably have bottled some of the sections. We met a girl near the end who said she wasn't very technical and and had fallen off numerous times.

 
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TiredEyes said:
Up through the C2C route?


I have done that, way up past the beautiful views from the Hownsgill Viaduct.

I understood that somewhere around the Beamish area there are MTB trails like the ones at Hamsterely/Chopwell.
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not sure but along some disused railway lines apparently. might look into this as its probably half the distance

krisread said:
I go to Hamsterley pretty much every Saturday morning (havent been today because i was out on the piss last night) normally do a mix of the black, red and unofficial runs that tie into a nice loop and can be extended depending on how my legs are feeling...haven't done Beamish as they reckon the trails are hard to find.

I'm going to Whinlatter next weekend for the first time so looking forward to that.
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first time I went to Hamsterley was with someone who knew the route and we done the full red but the other week I went with another newbie and we got lost and kept doing the red black red black little loop over and over again
 
There's hellhole woods just off the c2c up from beamish. . was running through it last week, looked like it would take bikes. not very big like
 
Beamish is very good, but as stated above, you need to know where they are. Look on the Beamish Oddsox website. They are an informal club and will happily show you around.

Chopwell is very good and I was recently shown even more 'hidden' stuff down past the bomb hole.

Hamsters is well sign posted and the man made stuff is easy to find.

I have yet to ride anything better (man made) than G.T. although the trails could do with some tlc, the braking bumps take so much flow from what was brilliant only a few years ago.
 
Beamish woods is a canny laugh to ride around but not really testing, still Broke me ribs in there about 20 years ago . Just go up and have a rake round it's not very big . Probably the best place to start is at the top of the " fodges" . Drive straight up from ravensworth to the T junction , look at 10 o'clock and there is a cut into the woods . This goes down to beamish hall . There are cuts off it if you want to poke about more .
There is also another 'downhill' which goes back down the old rail line the other way towards birtley and then a climb out up towards eighton banks .
 
bennett83 said:
not sure but along some disused railway lines apparently. might look into this as its probably half the distance


first time I went to Hamsterley was with someone who knew the route and we done the full red but the other week I went with another newbie and we got lost and kept doing the red black red black little loop over and over again
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Once you know your way round there's a few ways to cover most trails, this is a route I do regularly

Pikes teeth
Rocky Road
Hidden Gem
Beehives
Route 666
Teeth grinder
Transmission
Accelerator
Nitrous

Then if your legs are still feeling good hit the cabin climb for

Section 13
Boneshaker
Special K
Brian Freeze

or you can swap the last two bits round and go up the cabin climb before Transmission which is a little kinder on the legs
 
Skandhaless said:
Beamish woods is a canny laugh to ride around but not really testing, still Broke me ribs in there about 20 years ago . Just go up and have a rake round it's not very big . Probably the best place to start is at the top of the " fodges" . Drive straight up from ravensworth to the T junction , look at 10 o'clock and there is a cut into the woods . This goes down to beamish hall . There are cuts off it if you want to poke about more .
There is also another 'downhill' which goes back down the old rail line the other way towards birtley and then a climb out up towards eighton banks .
Click to expand...


That climb to Eighton banks was closed not so long ago after the really heavy rain washed parts of it away , about four foot deep in places.

It's probably all been sorted now
 
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