Mountain Biking at Dalby Forest

Dalby Forest is a mountain biking a destination with good quality trails.

There are greens, blues, reds and a black, and it is such an extensive area that you can easily spend all day exploring the forest.

Mountain Biking at Dalby Forest: Location

The main parking and Visitor Centre are at Low Dalby.

Mountain Biking at Dalby Forest: Facilities

Parking

Dalby Forest belongs to Forestry England (formerly the Forestry Commission). It is expensive to park - £10, at the time of writing, but:

• £5 after 4pm, and
• £5 from November to February

There are pay stations. The system is ticket-less and uses Automatic Number Plate Recognition, so you enter your registration number on the screen at the pay station and use a debit or credit card to pay.

You can't pay in the first 30 minutes after arriving (because people just driving through and not parking are not charged), so it's easiest to pay just before leaving.

As well as the main parking is by the Visitor Centre, there are a number of other car parks around the forest.

Visitor Centre

The Visitor Centre provides information and has a gift shop. It sells trail maps, for £1.50 at the time of writing.

Café

There's a café in the Visitor Centre.

WCs

There are WCs by the Visitor Centre.

Dalby Courtyard

At the other end of the parking from the Visitor Centre and just across the road is Dalby Courtyard, which is home to Dalby Forest Cycle Hub. The shop does bike hire.

At Dalby Courtyard you can also find:

• WCs
• a small exhibition room
• the Timber café

Mountain Biking at Dalby Forest

The trails are shown on an information board (above), and if you wish you can buy a trail map.

Someone has uploaded older but more detailed trail maps to their website here. The trails are listed (but not mapped) on Forestry England's website.

Starting from Low Dalby

Ellerburn Trail

Green multi-user trail, green. 1.7 miles short route/2.8 miles long route. Starts from Dalby Courtyard/Low Dalby.

Jubilee Trail

Blue, 6 miles. Starts from Low Dalby.

Newclose Rigg Trail

Red, 6 miles. From post 12 return to Low Dalby on the escape route.

Cycle Skills Area

Along the Ellerburn Trail from Low Dalby. Test your ability on sections of green, blue and red.

Starting from Dixons Hollow

Adderstone Cycle Trail

Green trail, 8 miles short route/12 miles long route. Starts from Adderstone/ Dixons Hollow.

Jerry Noddle Trail

Red, 7 miles. Starts from Dixons Hollow.

UCI World Cup Trail

Black, 4 miles. A technical course that was used for a World Cup event in 2011. Steep climbs and challenging descents.

Starting from Low Dalby or Dixons Hollow

Riggs & Dales Trail

Red, 8.5 miles. Posts 26 to 38, and involves taking other trails to reach the start.

Red Trail

Red, 21 miles. This is the full red route, taking in the other red routes listed here (Newclose Rigg, Jerry Noddle and Riggs & Dales). Posts 1 to 38.

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Do you enjoy mountain biking at Dalby Forest? Which is your favourite route? Let me know in the comments.