Castlewellan Forest Park

[SteveSpesh]

Thinking of heading here with the lovely lady for a bit of a day trip. Its gonna be two hours driving to get here so why not.
She rides a Specialized Myka and doesnt like lots of climbing or descents that you have to be stone mad to try but finds fire roads boring so shes a singletrack fan. I on the other hand am up for most things so dont want anything too boring. We both ride at Davagh and its kinda XC trail so was wondering if this place would suit for a run or two?

[marko]

Some of the xc at Castlewellan is very good , however there are climbs as the forest isn't flat at all. It has been along time since i was there so have no idea of the trail condition.

[Steveb]

As Marko says, Castlewellan is anything but flat. The climbs are not as long as Tollymore for instance, but considerably steeper. And the FS have recently put down a new covering of stone on a lot of the paths so grip is non-existant in places (if you want to use the paths to climb up).

There is a fair amount of singletrack in the place, but as with most forests in this area they're pretty short and technical, and steep in places. There used to be a good XC loop, but that's gone now due to tree fall, the new XC loop is nice but not as big (I don't think). The loop is still marked out with arrows so it's pretty easy to find, I'd just advise you to ride it backwards, as for some reason it' been arrowed in such a way as you ride up the technical singletrack sections and down the paths. Which is an odd way to do things!

Overall though, not sure it's worth a 2 hour drive.

[barry_kellett99]

I'd just advise you to ride it backwards, as for some reason it' been arrowed in such a way as you ride up the technical singletrack sections and down the paths. Which is an odd way to do things!


Thats XC racing for you.

[Steveb]

Racing or just riding, it's daft. I'm all for riding up the hills, and even making the climbs a challenge, but not at the expense of some nice singletrack descents!

[SteveSpesh]

Yeah some of the local XC guys at Davagh do the runs the wrong way and thats fine if your into that but when you meet them on a blind section at about 20mph its kinda dodgy.

Castlewellan sounds like a place I would like but its maybe not her thing. Anything too steep going up or down is too much.

I would like her to get to Tollymore but the trails Ive done there are defo far too technical for her. Eventually she will get better at it but for now I would like her to learn somewhere without steep technical trails. Its a confidence thing for her.

Anyone got any good XC trail places we could head to spend a day out and build up her confidence?

BTW been to Gortin, she loved the novice trails.

[barry_kellett99]

Yeah some of the local XC guys at Davagh do the runs the wrong way and thats fine if your into that but when you meet them on a blind section at about 20mph its kinda dodgy.

Castlewellan sounds like a place I would like but its maybe not her thing. Anything too steep going up or down is too much.

I would like her to get to Tollymore but the trails Ive done there are defo far too technical for her. Eventually she will get better at it but for now I would like her to learn somewhere without steep technical trails. Its a confidence thing for her.

Anyone got any good XC trail places we could head to spend a day out and build up her confidence?

BTW been to Gortin, she loved the novice trails.

There is a decent mix of trails at tollymore suitable for most. You just need to know where and how to link them up. But I dont think there would be enough to warrant a 2 hour drive again unless you are going to do laps of the wee loop my missus would have done in the past


Where are you based? If you are prepared to drive 2 hours to tolly or castlewellan, drive 2 hours and take her to ballinastoe for a couple of laps.

[SteveSpesh]

Aye I dont mind the drive to Tolly, yeah doing laps of a loop where she is happy is fine like but if we were going I would like to be able to find the trails pretty quickly. Not sure about this now, I really want her to enjoy the trails too. Its proving really hard to find a place that suits her fitness, skill and confidence levels.

When I head to Tolly for the day Im usually alone so I wouldnt mind taking a couple of hours some day when im finished at Tolly and heading over and scoping the place out.

I reckon three and half hours would take us to Ballinastoe and the only reason we never went there together before is that I understood it to be red grade i.e. difficult/severe. If I thought it was suitable Id head down no sweat.

[aaron-bangor]

Gonna be controversal here but if you want easy with a tiny bit of technical stuff the runs near Bangor are a great day out. I reckon a half hour drive would be too long for them but Bangor is a day out for some people!

There are loads (well a fair bit) of technical and steep stuff there as well but you dont have to do it - or she could do an easy run and you could meet her at the bottom.

[SteveSpesh]

Well Im in Portglenone, Bangor is probably the guts of an hour, but its a day out. Right?

Plus I can dump her off at her cousins house in Belfast so I can sneak an hour in at Cavehill after.

Where can I find these trails? To be honest dont think Ive ever been in Bangor for more than an hour so I dont really know it at all.

[jacks2ts]

I'll be out on my sunday Jolly this sunday if you want to meet up , will headout around 9.30ish From the pitstop cafe on the Balloo road could make it later if it suit's Can keep it flatish

[barry_kellett99]

Ballinastoe is red grade yes, and its great craic. The wife cleaned it all no bother. There is nothing really technical about it, its just not a smoothed tarmac style singletrack affair like some trail centres.

[OllyMac]

Why not try Banagher 15 mins north of Davagh

Real spot for nice XC.

Big loop is 27KM (including (Altbritten)

2 nice single tracks, lake, Dam, fords,water fall, but rope bridge removed years back ( was fun at the time!)

5 mins outside Moneyneey

Or Glenlark (private forest)

Nice XC loop, Can be done from Davagh 20min cycle form Davagh Road car park.

[SteveSpesh]

I would love to take you up on that offer jacks2ts, but maybe another Sunday. I think Im gonna try and give myself alcohol poisoning on Saturday night. lol. Ill be in touch maybe next week.

I have been threatening to go to Ballinastoe for a while now but Ill defo be heading soon if I thought it was suitable for the missus. Is it possible to find it without a Satnav? I know the area its in having worked near there for a while but I also know its easy to get lost in that neck of the woods.

Been to Banagher, lovely place, I really didnt know there was singletrack there. How much is there? Is it hard to find? It certainly would be a nice change to take her up there.

Where is Glenlark from Davagh, been googling flat out but cant find it. Whats it like?

[jacks2ts]

No worries , as my missus is working now most saturdays , sunday is my day , so give us a pm anytime

[SteveSpesh]

Thats dead on mate thanks

[OllyMac]

Glenlark

North of Davagh heading towards Greeencastle,have a look at the sperrins OS (i think is the discovery sheet 13) shows the loop clearly.

Enjoy.