The long awaited new Mountain Bike trails on Cannock Chase were finally opened in mid April. Having been away racing abroad and embroiled in the organisation of the British Orienteering Championships, May Bank Holiday Monday morning was the first opportunity for me to get out and explore the new route.
Riding from home in Milford, two of us on hard-tails decided to ride the new trail as the designers intended from Birches valley so after a 25 minute warm up ride out we started on the first part of the trail, the existing Follow the Dog section, though tweaked at the beginning to try to separate bikers from the many other users of the forest centre.
Saftey improvements are noticeable all round, with better signage, but the first rock garden before crossing the bridge over the brook out towards the black graded ‘log’ is a little difficult for beginners early on for those just doing Follow the Dog. The original single plank over the marshes also seems to have been changed to make it easier now, though.
The turning off the Follow the Dog route to get over the Rugeley to Cannock road comes off half way down a section that opened a couple of years ago. The new paths immediately benefit from machine built fast flowing bermed corners that sweep down hill to exit at the bottom of Kitbag Hill.
The railway crossing is fine but the road crossing is an accident waiting to happen. Cars really speed along this stretch and, although visibility is good, it is very difficult to judge how fast they are approaching. Although I’m sure it would be difficult to arrange because of land ownership, some warning signs would be useful for those new to the area.
Good to see once across onto Rawnsley it is a technical singletrack ascent that winds its way up the first ridge before cascading down the otherside rather than the classic trail-centre norms of long fire road climbs. This just repeats and repeats in a seemingly never ending series of switchbacks and swoops. The trails are very narrow, with fairly steep drops to the side and at times the distance between handlebar and trees is very small, but commitment rewards with the bike going light over the many humps and bumps.
There is only one fire road climb on the route, which is fairly gentle taking you up, before a series of fast crests leads to more of the same. Every so often a small rock garden can take you unawares, but the single tracks keep on coming. My guess is that of the 19km total of Follow the Dog and Monkey Trail, at least 15 kilometres must be on single track.
After a final climb the route seems to crescendo. A black rock garden option (we bottled that bit) starts a series of descending swoops that seem to build getting faster and faster, before having to brake to stop at the bottom to negotiate the “anti-chav” gate before returning back across the road and railway line.
Then the sting in the tail, known locally as kitbag hill (so named by the men who stayed at the RAF national service training camp that covered the area in the 50’s). This climb saps any remaining energy before returning back onto the classic Follow the Dog route until the second major change in the new route’s design.
The Forestry Commission, quite rightly, has tried to keep the various pedestrian and family users of Birches Valley separated from the MTB routes. Hence the original sections of Follow the Dog from the early noughties have now been shelved in favour of a new route down through Takeroo. These single tracks again build and build swooping and looping tightly through the trees, but we did feel that the technical drop off towards the end needs a chicken run option (edit -now a little easier), as both of us decided it was not worth risking our necks on and it came up as a shock with little warning.
A series of large rollers finish the lap which the Garmin 500 indicated at 19km with 470 metres climb. It took us about 1.5 hours to ride but we only stopped once for a couple of minutes for a drink and a bar after an hour, riding straight through the groups congregating at the tops of the climbs. I would expect that a leisurely group stopping regularly to chat could easily double this time.
We finished off with a spin out for home chatting about the route.
Both of us thought it a big improvement on the original follow the dog which although graded red was really blue in standard. In fact, rightly or wrongly, I have ridden the original Follow the Dog with my baby daughter on a seat on the back a few years ago. Monkey trail is a red-graded route for all its length and is way out of baby seat territory. It is a proper MTB route
I expected it to be busier than it was. In fact, after we pulled past a few groups at the beginning it was fairly quiet. Being so narrow I expect that the single track climbs could be a bottle neck and frustrating for stronger riders, but as long as people are happy to stand aside, I’m sure it will be fine.
The new surfaces seem to be standing up well with no real erosion kicking in but the underlying ground on this area of the Chase tends to be fairly gravelly anyway.
So congratulationss to Chase Trails and the Forestry Commission for providing the Midlands with a top class trail route that has now also addressed many of the safety and user conflicts of the original route.
I saw some of the route on Thursday evening and I was impressed. After not doing follow the dog for a few years I am now tempted to do the new route.
There are some temporary signs along the road that say something like ‘Caution cycle race in progress’. This is probably better than nothing but after drivers have seen these temporary ‘cycle race’ signs still up after a few days, they will rightly think that the cycle race is now over and they have forgotten to take the signs down. Drivers will then most likely then ignore the signs and drive as normal.
Temporary signs might be ok, but they will need to be re-worded.
I do feel that with the vastly increased number of cyclists crossing this road it is a collision waiting to happen.
Great post Mark,
After comparing your tracking maps to mine it quickly became apparent the reason for my disappointment in the new monkey section was down to poor navigation on my part.
instead of taking a quick right just after the road/rail crossing, i continued up the fire road looking for the first signs of the new trail. What i eventually come across was the last section (top of fire road on the left), unbeknown to me at the time.
I need to get back up there and complete the whole course and maybe invest in a compass , thanks for your post!
Rich T
Great feed guys,
As a frequent local rider i often get asked for directions around the monkey trail start and the link section above marquis drive. It is clear that a couple more well placed direction post would be useful.
I ride both routes together as part of training 3 to four times per week, I will usually complete the two in 1h 10 -20 minutes. With carefull planning i am able to miss the majority of slower riders. The track is for everyone of every level i dont beleive its fair of me to constantly pressure riders in front. Usually an early start will achieve this. After 10 the Dog will get busy. I also usually ride to get home just before dusk this is my favourite time, lung busting rides on an empty track.
The trails are generally good for the whole Chase area, there are 100s of K of single track all over the chase, these in there natural form are some of the best riding to be had. Local knowelege is a must for these well hidden gems.
Dave B
Parking advice : don’t park at Birches Valley, as you’ll be paying £3 for enough time to do Dog + Monkey. Instead, park at the large, free, car park on Penkridge Bank, opposite the entrance to the caravan park. Then cycle down into the caravan park, and join FTD at the start of the downhill section (now, that’s a nice easy start !), about ⅔ the way around the route. This also has the benefit that you’ll be nearer to your car after the killer climb back up Kitbag hill.
trouble is those trails aren’t built for free and they cost money to maintain!
Having last sunday done a survey on the numbers of cyclists at Moor’s Gorse the results are as follows 08.00-10.00 117 cyclists 10.30-12.30 377 cyclists,so get up early to avoid the numbers also remember please subscribe to chase trails if you want the standard of the trials kept up.
went today and found 80% of the trails washed out,still a good ride but is in need of some tlc.