In preparation for a weeks mountain bike guiding for Plymouth College starting on the 23rd June I thought I would check out the new trail centres at Cardinham Woods and Lanhydrock.
Lou and I travelled down to Cornwall last night so we could get on the trails before they got busy with half term users.
Lanhydrock trails were really good and a great place to take beginners. The skills area has everything you need to teach all the basic riding techniques and the short sections of blue trail that leave the green trail mean you can ride small sections and head back to the carpark when required. This being very useful if the groups fitness levels are lower than you expect. There is also a short section of red that starts as a dual track, great if your group pick up the skills quickly and need a test. From this trip I think I will take the students here instead of Haldon Forest.
When we had finished at Lanhydrock we quickly loaded the bikes onto the rack and headed over to Cardinham. Its not that far and with a confident and sensible group you could easily ride between the centres.
Cardinham's blue trail and red sections were really good. Its 7.5 miles if you stick to the blue and roughly 8 miles if you choose the optional red sections. The trails here flowed superbly and good riders can really get something out of the trail. However, if you are new to mountain biking there are no real technical sections on the blue trail to catch you out and a leisurely pedal taking in the forest atmosphere can be had. The only downside of taking a beginner group would be the trail length, there are options to cut it short but not like Lanhydrock. The red sections were nice with a stiff climb on the Hells Teeth section followed by a fast bermed descent.
We had ridden both centres by 12.30 and headed back via Saltash to drop in to Silverfish for a quick catch up with Richie.
