This weekend saw me riding a recce of two new routes I’d penned around the Forest of Dean and down the Wye Valley with a view to creating a gravel weekender for 2026. My idea is to utilise the miles of local trails and tracks the area boasts and showcase the amazing scenery but base the start/finish points for both routes from the Forest of Dean Cycle Centre. It’s setup pretty well for an influx of riders with an extensive car park, cafe, shop etc….and some decent MTB trails too if you want to spice things up a bit. 😉
I decided to ride the more familiar Forest of Dean route first on Saturday. I’d booked into a hotel in Coleford for Saturday night and check-in wasn’t till after 3pm so I decided to leave my house @ 11.30am so I could drive there and set off around 1pm.
The Forest of Dean Cycle Centre has a rep for being busy at weekends and as I rolled into the car park the cafe was buzzing. I chanced a space next to it rather than the overspill and got lucky. I figured at this time, some of the early riders may have left. Parking is expensive @ £9 for the day (it’s £7.50 for 4 hrs but that would have been too tight and pressure I didn’t need) but if it’s pays for facilities like this that I don’t get to ride very often, it’s an investment and I don’t begrudge it.
Recce rides never seem to go to plan for me, there is always some niggle or problem and this one was no exception. As I went to fit my saddle bag, the strap that secures it to my seatpost came away in my hand. I think having it on the bike, on the roof rack last week probably tore the stitching in the wind. It was annoying but not a disaster. I tried the on-site shop, no saddlebags so I decided to just pop the contents in my jersey pockets the old-skool way but I did have to leave my 2nd tube.
Eventually, sometime after 1pm now, I rolled out across the bridge and headed south on the wide and fast Colliers Trail. Not too busy but glad I had a bell to alert the groups fanned across the path. At Cannops Wharf I had my first trail issue. The route was supposed to cut back on itself and do a kind of inner loop back to the same point but it was closed due to a fire incident. I wasn’t going to risk that so I decided to sack off that section and carry onto Parkend.
It was a lovely downhill start to the ride to get the legs warmed up. Just before Parkend the trail crosses the road and takes you round the back of some houses. From here it was past a cricket match going on and a short climb to St Paul’s church and back into the forest on a brand new sector I’d never ridden before. The trail meandered around the forest and had some climbing but nothing too strenous yet.
A brief bit of road took me onto the next trail section north to Mallards Pike where the real climbing started. The beautiful lake there was visible through the trees as I began the long, steady climb in the welcome shade. The wildlife in the forest is amazing. Away from the crowds I often spooked and saw deer running off and a buzzard took off feet in front of me too. There were times when you are on your own and feel a million miles from civilization. Love it.
After the climb topped out I dropped down to the foot of Cinderford where the climbing went up a level or two. Initially the road climb past Ruspidge is pretty steep (18-20%) but you do get a brief rest on a flat path that cuts past a cemetery. Then Coomb Drive hits you and puts you deep into the red for the first time. It’s short but pretty nasty made harder by the loose surface so you have to pick your line for grip. However you are rewarded with a fast trail across the ridge and a nice descent over the top.
At the bottom you take a short, quiet lane before you’re climbing back into the woods again but this section is a little longer but a lot more steady. The crowds don’t come here and it’s really quiet. At Littledean I tried a little byway descent to keep off the main road and that worked out well. Then, instead of the main road, I took myself up Littledean Hill. If you look upto your left here you’ll see a row of houses on top the ridge and that’s where you’re going. It seems really high and feels it. The climb is pretty brutal and unrelenting only made slightly better by being on tarmac and the incredible views across the Severn Plain. I think I burned a match on this one though.
Over the top, the lane contines and becomes a fast gravel track which pops out on the main road. Straight over and it’s pin straight onto the next trail which skirts a farm and football pitch and offers up some rare but not too technical singletrack down the side. From here you seem to skirt some houses and then it’s another long, straight track to Puddlebrook. After so much gravel, I found the next road section a welcome break before it was back into the woods for another fast descent to cross the road onto another untried byway. Initially it’s twin track gravel that serves some house and then when that runs out it cuts left and into a very shaded byway cutup quite badly by 4×4’s but the centre ridge rode fine to the end. However, I wasn’t expecting the steep road climb from this point so the long road descent through Drybrook and Harrow Hill was welcome.
After a brief foray on the relatively quiet A4136 it was left and mostly downhill now back to the cycle centre picking up the Colliers Trail again. From here I’d plotted a final loop around the forest roads that join up all the MTB Trails however I think my GPS just thought I’d finished and my map stopped.
I decided to just carry on and try and do it from memory. Initially it was fine, I followed a forest road in the right direction but that fizzled out and I needed to ride up a narrow, technical climb to get to the top and pick up the forest road again. I followed this for a few km but then felt like I was just riding further away from the trail centre. I stopped and checked my map and it looked like I was a mile away from the cycle centre and the quickest option was an MTB trail. I was pretty tired now so I just thought fuck it, whats the worse that can happen. I pulled over to let a couple of MTB riders past and then I had it to myself. Endless ups, downs and berms. Nothing too technical but no doubt fun on an MTB. I just wanted to get back to my car. At the end I could see the car park through the trees and then I was done.
In all, it was a great route but I found it quite tough, despite being 14km, less than I’d planned, as I struggled to eat.
I was really happy with the route though. It’s pretty hard going in places so I might dial it down a bit for the weekender but overall, apart from a few tweaks it’s pretty much all there and will be a great first day’s ride.
Ride done, I was off to my hotel now to freshen up, get in the bar and smash a load of Tapas later ready for tomorrow’s ride down the Wye Valley.
See you for Gravel Weekender Part 2 shortly
Adios
