Whinlatter Forest
TRAVEL GUIDE
Welcome to ENGLANDS MOUNTAIN FOREST
Whinlatter Forest is claimed as England’s only true mountain forest. Sounds good for a mountain bike trail centre, right?
We checked out the trails at Whinlatter and were pleasantly surprised. An incredible backdrop to ride your mountain bike.
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Essential info
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Each trail has its own characteristics. We even saw a rider on the North Loop on a downhill bike and others on hardtails so really there’s nothing stopping you from getting out there. We can’t say we’d recommend a downhill bike though.
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On site there’s so many great facilities as you would expect from Forestry England. Once parked you pay on exit so there no second guessing how long you’ll be out on the trails for or have to pay. With Cyclewise at the trailhead of the North Loop and blue it’s convenient for dropping in for those last minute spares. If you need a bike they have a huge hire fleet and an increasing number of ebikes. It’s great to see more people being able to access the trails but as we found out trail degradation is increasing with more ebikes. The money from parking is used to maintain the ever increasing maintenance costs and from discussions with Adrien Jones these aren’t small. Do your bit and ensure you park and pay.
If you’re looking for a family day out then after a bit of riding there’s GoApe and the ever popular Gruffalo trail. You could easily spend the day or weekend here while keeping well fueled by the cafe on site. Coffee went down a treat during what was a cold, crisp and sunny day during our visit.
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While there’s none on site there’s an abundance of accommodation options in the Lakes. We stayed on the South side of the lakes and while the hours drive there wasn’t convenient it made for a scenic wind down. The scenery is always mind blowing.
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Car - The centre is just a short drive from Keswick in the Lake District. Make sure you look behind you as you drive up to the start of the trails (passengers mainly). What a spectacular view on a clear day. Sat Nav Postcode: CA12 5TW
Parking - there’s loads of parking available on site and your parking really helps to maintain the trails.
Bus - A summer bus service runs from Kewsick to Whinlatter. For more information head to forestryengland.uk/whinlatter.
Grid Ref: NY209245
GPS Coordinates: 54.609214, -3.228763
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The Trails
As trail centres go this place is a great introduction to mountain biking. While it’s true that there’s trail centres out there with more trails the three loops are pretty unique. They all start at the forestry centre and Cyclewise shop and fan out in a clover leaf style returning back before you take on another. This works perfectly for breaking the day up into manageable chunks. Ride, Coffee, Ride, Lunch, Ride...beer?
Blue Trails
Quercus Trail
The blue Quercus trail is a great warm up and even for those experienced riders out there you’ll have some fun. If you’re like any of us at The Contour Collective then we love the flow and amount of playing you can have on lower graded trails. Just starting to get into mountain biking? This ones for you. It provides a really nice journey through different woodlands and the trail changes with it. You can also make this trail longer should you want to take in the full 5 miles.
Red Trails
The Altura Trail North Loop
The two red loops, aptly named North and South loop, are longer trails and take you high into the forest leaving you in awe looking out over the Lakes. On a clear day you can see quite a few of the peaks in the lakes with the closest being Skiddaw.
The North Loop, deemed to be the better by many, winds through incredible forest and offers riders a final descent with flowing berms and stunning views.
The Altura Trail South Loop
The Whinlatter South Loop is the more wild but shorter trail (just) and provides you with a remote experience close to the trail centre.
The South Loop starts off with a rocky and undulating section before dropping into a fast and flowy bottom. There’s some jumps on this trail but nothing too big. This trails is tighter in places to the Red Loop and probably has a higher puncture rate.
You really feel like you’re in the mountains on this loop and you’ll want to ride this over and over again.
BLACK Trails
Whinlatter has some black options but no dedicated black route.
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Is it worth the trip?
While the GoApe at Whinaller Forest and running trails were tempting it was the North Loop Red that stood out for us. This loop which can be ridden out in about an hour and a half is a delight to ride and was the best trail in our opinion. Red graded (Forestry England grading system) it’s got a little bit of everything and left a huge grin by the time we finished the descent. The views as well, well you’ll just have to check these out for yourself. I’m not sure there’s a bad view in the Lake District.
What the locals say
COMING SOON - If you’re local and want to be featured here then get in touch. We want to share local insights to make everyones trip that little bit easier.
In Summary
We wondered why it had taken us so long to visit this trail centre. If you want to get a feeling of being in the mountains but aren’t quite ready to venture away from the trail centre then this place provides that perfect balance. Once you’re ready for the mountains then keep an eye out for Part 2 of our Lake District Location check when we take on an all day mission.
