I had heard of Grizedale Forest Park from some people at work and it has been one of the local places that I wanted to see. This weekend was supposed to be a washout but to my surprise when I woke up it was warm and sunny. So, I made a quick decision to head up to Grizedale with my mountain bike and see what it was all about. The road to get there is rather narrow and it took longer then the GPS had determined it would but after about 25min I made it to the car park.
The park consists of a multitude of hiking and and off road biking trails that span all ability levels and distances ranging from 2miles to 15 miles in length. There is a brand new welcome center that has a bike shop, a play area and a restaurant. One of the other cool things that they have there is an attraction called GoApe. This is a ropes and zip line coarse and I intend on heading back up to check it out.
After getting the lay of the land I went to the bike shop and bought a water bottle and a trail map. I filled the bottle with water and took a look at the map and I decided to take the Moore Top Trail. To get to the trail I had to ride down the road for about .5 miles. Once there the trail started out as a wide gravel road and from the start it was a hill. After a bit the Moore Top Trail split off and became a challenging single track. I have to admit that it has been quite a few years since I have ridden so some of the steeps and rocky parts did give me some trouble. The views from the trail were absolutely beautiful.
My Bike
View from the trail
And another.
Another interesting part of the trails at Grizedale are that there are sculptures all along them. On the Moore Top Trail there was a couple interesting pieces.
This one moved with the wind.
The two men here were made out of small pieces of sheet metal that was riveted together.
After I finished the Moore Top Trail I headed back to the visitor center and had a quick snack (cheddar and onion kettle chips and a water) and then decided that I wanted to take another ride. This time I choose the North Face Trail.
North Face Trail
This trail was purpose built so it was a nice ride. It was challenging but you could tell that the obstacles were placed in such a way as to add to the ride. the other trail was more natural so the obstacles seemed a lot tougher. This was a really fun trail. There was a lot of single track with nice hills and rocks to ride over. There were also wooden walkways over long stretches of wetlands that were less then a yard wide and were a little nerve racking. After about an hour of riding and one small crash (i think I bent my rear rim) I realized that I no longer had my mobile phone or my money in my zip pocket. Guess that is what happens when you don’t zip it . So, after an hour back track I luckily found them.
My phone and 10 pound note, how lucky was I?
Once I had back tracked almost all the way to the beginning of the trail and realizing that it was 5:30 I decided to call it quits for the day.
All in all it turned out to be a great day. Now that I have been there and realize what great riding they have I will definitely be heading over more often. When Amanda, her mom and Don come in September I think that we will be making a trip over.
Look here for a few more pictures.
