Had a quick glance at the Cannock section (cos I was riding there on Friday) on the bikehike link.
I was interested the route was fairly convoluted across the Chase, but not on the Follow the Dog or Monkey Trail.
So I downloaded the xml file; that shows the route going straight across the Chase, mostly on road!
England-Wales-England: EWE
Moderators: Bearbonesnorm, Taylor, Chew
Re: England-Wales-England: EWE
Hmm Tracklogs is showing the route wiggling all over the woods...
Looks like a fair amount of fire road in there, but that's probably fair enough on a loaded bike & a route of this sort
Looks like a fair amount of fire road in there, but that's probably fair enough on a loaded bike & a route of this sort
Re: England-Wales-England: EWE
There's a couple of issues I can spot with the route through Shrophsire.... Just after crossing the A489 you cross the A488 and then head up north on a trail between Heath Mynd and Cefn Gunthly , when you get to the end of that trail there are big f'off signs saying no right of way across the bridge to the road the other side (similar signs coming from the North).
You can see the trail with red dots meet a t-junction here on the map here:
http://www.geograph.org.uk/browse.php?p=265861
The trail you meet has no right of way, I have crossed it on a couple of occasions and been lucky enough not to be challenged, but they (Linley Hall) clearly don't want anyone on their "Private Drive"
There's a bridleway from the Bog onto the Stiperstones that doesn't lose as much height as the road.
Also, even fully loaded I'd be coming down Minton Batch rather than Cardingmill Valley, plus riders can then go over Pole Bank.
Up Sutton Bank out of Ironbridge will be nice on a SS :)
You can see the trail with red dots meet a t-junction here on the map here:
http://www.geograph.org.uk/browse.php?p=265861
The trail you meet has no right of way, I have crossed it on a couple of occasions and been lucky enough not to be challenged, but they (Linley Hall) clearly don't want anyone on their "Private Drive"
There's a bridleway from the Bog onto the Stiperstones that doesn't lose as much height as the road.
Also, even fully loaded I'd be coming down Minton Batch rather than Cardingmill Valley, plus riders can then go over Pole Bank.
Up Sutton Bank out of Ironbridge will be nice on a SS :)
Re: England-Wales-England: EWE
Feedback is preferable by email. I'm away racing for the whole of next week and every weekend afterwards until EWE. Scanning internet forums isn't a reliable way for me to find this kind of information.
I appreciate route help, so if someone wants to send a better route through Cannock, I'd welcome it. It's been years since I rode there, and something had to be put down even if it did get changed later. So I used a route from a magazine. I'm not keen on using FtD or Monkey as (at least when I lived up there) FtD was not as good as the natural trails (I say that having helped to dig FtD).
I appreciate route help, so if someone wants to send a better route through Cannock, I'd welcome it. It's been years since I rode there, and something had to be put down even if it did get changed later. So I used a route from a magazine. I'm not keen on using FtD or Monkey as (at least when I lived up there) FtD was not as good as the natural trails (I say that having helped to dig FtD).
