Words: Elliot Goodall
Images: Elliot Goodall & Alex Lane (@trail_head_mtb)
Length: 28km
Climb: 1,100m
Time: 3 - 4 hrs
Grade: Red (with black options). Natural technical features and trail, optional jumps
Rating: 4/5
A proper, old school, natural tech fest with climbs and descents to satisfy any persuasion and views to die for.
The Malvern Hills lie on the border between Worcestershire and Herefordshire and mark the point at which the flat, never ending lands of the Worcestershire side become the rolling lumpy landscape that it Herefordshire. The hills are orientated north to south and have a full length of some 8 miles.
The Malvern Hills are a genuinely classic location of the mountain biking community, synonymous with the Malvern’s Classic from the late 80’s/early 90’s? It’s also the home of DH superstar Tracy Mosely. It also has a classic ride in the form of a there and back route along the ridge line, taking in the main peaks of North Hill, Worcestershire Beacon, Pinnacle Hill, Herefordshire Beacon (complete with British Camp) and Midsummer Hill. That in itself would normally be enough but don’t be fooled, there are several other peaks in between these, less significant but equally necessary, that subtly raises the elevation, and suffering somewhat.
Starting off at the extreme north, parking at the North Malvern Road public car park, we headed straight up on to North Hill, by-passing this initial summit. Instead, using the Lady Howard De Walden Drive, we made our way to the ridge line and headed south past Sugarloaf Hill on to Worcestershire Beacon.
The ridge line itself, particularly the well trodden elements, are wide and open. Quite exposed actually.
On the particular day we rode it, the conditions were quite windy. So much so that I was genuinely contemplating writing the opening paragraph of this blog in the form of public health warning. Being nearly 400m tall at their highest points (and averaging no lower than 250m), the Malvern Hills can be very windy. The upper echelons are very exposed and the prevailing westerly winds can really whip up over the north - south oriented ridge line with gusto.
The irony being that I succumbed to the very conditions I was considering warning against. Manualling off a small outcrop on the south side of Worcestershire Beacon the wind caught my front wheel whilst in mid air and took me out.
Initially I thought I had briefly dislocated my shoulder as the burning pain was quite acute. I was later diagnosed with a torn Rotator Cuff which I found, once I had cooled down back at the car, was actually quite painful. I was unable to lift my arm beyond 30ยบ and getting changed out of my mud caked kit was quite a laugh.
Anyway, I got up and dusted myself off. For about 5 minutes, I sat clutching my, now withered, arm contemplating whether to call it quits. However, conscious of having sacked off my mate a few weeks earlier for inclement weather, I sorta wanted to carry on.
Anyway, those 5 minutes passed. After which, I manned up a little, checked to see whether I could actually ride at all and, discovering I could hold my weight, I decided to carry on; powered by Adrenalin and ignorance. I’m not really sure if I was brave or stupid completing the ride but I’d got this far and didn’t really want to go home just yet.
My intention being that if I could get to Midsummer Hill (our original plan) without too much fuss, I would have no choice but to ride back or face a long walk. Onward then. Past Summer Hill follows a really fast, singletrack descent that runs parallel with but off the main ridge on it eastern side, so very few walkers and sheltered. Some very nice technical outcrops towards the bottom before you emerge at the Beacon Road car park. We stopped for some static camera fun before moving onward.
Following the ridge line past the summits of Jubilee and Pinnacle Hill and two other unnamed crests we eventually come out at the British Camp car park and A449 crossing. Being such a prominent natural feature in the Worcestershire landscape, the Malvern’s are very popular with walkers and this is no more apparent than at British Camp.
It is necessary to take care for the next kilometer or so and be a little patient with the walkers who do take priority, thankfully our route bypasses the British Camp site itself so we are not heading in quite the same direction as most of the tourist hoard.
Having passed Herefordshire Beacon we thread between the summits of Millennium and Hangman’s Hill and taking a long descent down to Chase End Road, locally known as Warp Speed. This is a fast, wide stone track that looses all but a few metres of your hard earned elevation. It’s not particularly technical and there are other routes down.
There is an alternative route taking the summit of Swinyard Hill from which there are several descents dropping either side of Gullet Quarry but we chose the former as it gave us the opportunity of completing the technical climb up past Gullet Quarry before we made our way over to our most southern point, Midsummer Hill.
We had made it. Now for a really good, technical descent; natural in form but shod with plenty of made features including some big jumps towards the bottom. This descent weaved its way through the north east side of Midsummer Hill, spitting us out back at the head of Chase End Road, from which we doubled back up Warp Speed (not so fast this time), to re-summit the ridge line. We retraced our earlier route back to British Camp.
From here one could simply re-trace their steps all the way back to North Hill using the ridge line but my shoulder was properly playing up by this point and we were both knackered so we bailed off, heading down the A449/Wells Road in to Malvern with just a light spin through Great Malvern to the cars.
The Ridgeline is the classic route over the Malvern’s. However these hills are littered with other interesting snippets. I rode here earlier in 2017 and we had a blast sampling the descents of Swinyard Hill. Much of this additional off-piste riding is local knowledge based and not really legit like the Bridleway designated ridge line. This is what we stuck, mostly, to for this trip.
We rode the Malvern’s in February, which was perhaps not so wise (we had four seasons in one day, literally). It’s now October and my shoulder is finally better; Rotator Cuff injuries take such a long time to heal properly. Anyway, I’m thinking its now time to go arrange a return visit. I’ll just have to pay a bit more attention to the weather forecast and ride accordingly next time. Health and safety warning heeded!
Here's the Strava entry for the route: Malvern Hills
Altura Trail, Whinlatter
Length: 26km (including Blue trail)
Climb: 677m
Time 2-3hr
Grade: Red (Altura) + Blue
Rating: 3/5
As locations go, the Lake District is hard to beat. Big mountain riding is a lure for many and I am no different. The dramatic and rugged terrain and sheer scale and impressive scenery on offer creates a very different experience to that which I am more familiar with back in the midlands.
I live on the Gloucestershire/Worcestershire border and find my rides to be of the classic variety; stereotypically characteristic of England. Nice bits of deciduous woodland singletrack linked with open bridleways passing across farmland to open heathland and moorland. We have a few small hills here and there (250m tops) and, if I’m lucky, some rocky outcrops to challenge. All too often joined up with tarmac though.
When one spends much of their time riding this type of trail it can be important to taste something different every once in a while. Its partly why I set up the blog in the first place. A different technical challenge or something to really push the stamina.
The lake District offers a very different palette offering a range of challenging big mountain trails such as Borrowdale Bash, Sticks Pass and Walna Scar; their of remoteness equalled by their technical difficulty. Being up in the clouds can be very rewarding. Dipping a toe in these waters (so to speak) can do wonders to balance a troubled mind.
The ‘pureness’ of it seems to really invigorate the mind and soul and reignite a passion for mountain biking. I really get edited riding places like this. The Altura trail at Whinlatter was fun and yet, despite this, I came away feeling somewhat short changed.
Whilst the trail was fun to ride, and there are some genuinely fun sections - the south loop descent/jump line and north loop descent were highlights - i think the manicured trail surface and lack of natural technicality meant it fell short of my expectations for a Lakes trail. A hard tail would be quite sufficient.
In isolation, the Altura rolls well and was fun to ride. It has a good rhythm about it. It is split in to two loops; a north and south and there is also an interesting blue trail too. Combining the three trails made for a good day out despite some sketchy weather.
The trail is interesting from the off with a nice bit of weaving single track contouring around the hillside through the trees with a few false descents and sharp climbs thrown in. The trail then comes out from the tree line to begin the main climb.
Labelled the Slog, it suggests at a sustained upward journey but in all honesty any fit rider would find the climbs fairly straightforward. There are plenty of switchbacks to reduce the gradient and with the full trail split in to two halves, so is the elevation gained split fairly evenly.
This trail is located high up the hillside west of Keswick and the south loop, in particular, does verge on feeling remote at its southernmost tip. Rising up to the highest point along the north loop, views can be had looking north and eastwards across Bassenthwaite Lake towards Skiddaw whilst the southern loop provides views towards the equally bigger terrain of Eel Crag, giving the impression of being immersed in such big hills, whilst always remaining, just, within the safety net of the Beckstones and Hospital Plantations.
The main descent of the north loop is fast, flowing and superb fun. There’s no obvious ‘start’ but it rolls quickly, always working with camber to create a very flowing and roller-coster type affair with plenty of big berms. Its camberlitious. You can go as fast as you dare really, it was great fun.
A quick jump over the connecting link to the south loop leads to further climbing; again short and sharp with plenty of switchbacks to elevate you skywards. The trail is not particularly eventful, technically, in the middle, eventually arriving at the southernmost tip and the start of the south descent.
The south loop descent comes complete with ‘black’ grade jump line. It starts off by rolling a large rocky outcrop with quite a technical drop-in but speeds up quickly with a similar, gravelled, character to that of the north side. The line opens out on to a fire road crossing where the jumps, which are all rollable tabletops, begin. The jump run is particularly good fun and continues and otherwise enjoyable descent, again packed with berms galore. Worth the climb for this alone but the views were good too.
One could not characterise the Altura trail as being particularly natural, feeling very man-made throughout. Nevertheless, in isolation, it is a great trail and I would be quite happy if my local trail were it. Unfortunately it isn’t and, as I mentioned earlier, I did come away feeling a little.. …Meh!.
I think, being in the shadows of the more famous, natural trails such as Sticks pass and Borrowdale, trails that really do reach much higher echelons both literally and in the technical department, I left Whinlatter feeling a little underwhelmed. The Altura is simply not technical or long enough to fully justify a trip this far on its own. Nor is it really a big mountain (hills, we are in England after all) adventure.
Taken out of in context it is fine but if I were coming back, I wouldn’t go out of my way to have another go. That said, it would be a reasonable stocking filler for a longer biking trip to the Lakes. Providing a break from the more technical stuff - its a bit like trash telly, something you don’t really need to concentrate on.
I think for this place to truly compete with some of the more successful trail centres in Britain, it could really do with a black graded trail to compliment the existing network of Red and Blue trails; one that ventures further out in to the remote hillsides of Keswick with a greater degree of technicality and much longer. As it is, it is too much like my local trail centre to offer anything new and fresh.
Just looks like Forest of Dean
Here's a link to the Strava route: https://www.strava.com/activities/1030022857
