Mountain Biking at Sutton Bank

Sutton Bank is a great place for mountain biking.

There's a 1.6 mile Cyclocross course and pump track near the National Park Centre, there are signposted green, blue, and red mountain biking trails, plus more routes besides.

Mountain Biking at Sutton Bank: Facilities

Parking

Sutton Bank National Park Centre has a large car park. It is fairly expensive - at the time of writing (July 2022):

• £2.70 for up to 2h, and
• £4.80 for more than 2h

Sutton Bank Bikes

There's a bike shop on site, Sutton Bank Bikes.

They do bike hire for children and adults, including e-bikes and tag-a-longs. It's best to book in advance, and you need photo ID on the day.

They also sell bikes, and do servicing and repairs.

Note also that maps and details of the trails at Sutton Bank are not published, but you can get a trail map from the bike shop for a small fee.

There is an information board outside the bike shop that shows the trails.

Visitor Centre

The Visitor Centre provides information and has a gift shop. It is open 10am to 5pm April to October, and more limited hours the rest of the year.

Café

The Park Life Café next to the Visitor Centre does tea, coffee, and lunches.

WCs

There are WCs at the Sutton Bank National Park Centre. Opening times are the same as those of the Visitor Centre.

Cycle Skills Area

There is a small cycle skills area. When you are looking at Sutton Bank Bikes, it's down to the left of the shop.

The skills area is a short track circuit with banked corners and rolling bumps.

Mountain Biking at Sutton Bank: Cyclocross Course and Pump Track

There's a very good figure-of-eight cyclocross course near the National Park Centre, in the Hambleton Plantation, paid for by the European Union Rural Development Fund.

All the trails (green, blue, and red) direct you round this course first before you start on the actual trails. As good as the cyclocross course is, you might not always want to do it first. I aim to give you some information here, so you don't have to follow the signs blindly.

Part way round the cyclocross course, there's a pump track.

Mountain Biking at Sutton Bank: the Trails

As mentioned above, you can get a trail map from Sutton Bank Bikes for a small fee. The official trails are green, blue, and red.

Cliff Trail (Green)

The Cliff Trail is a 3 mile family-friendly route that includes a section on the top of Whitestone Cliff, with a stop at the viewpoint towards Gormire Lake (main photo at the top of the page).

Fort Trail (Blue)

The Fort Trail is the main blue. It heads out past Dialstone Farm, goes towards the cliff, and drops down past Boltby Scar.

Then it's back up through Town's Pasture Wood, and along the cliff to the Gormire Lake viewpoint.

This is one of the rides in Bike Rides In and Around York. There's a GPS file for it that's available on Plotaroute.

Drovers Trail (Blue)

The Drovers Trail follows the same route out as the Fort Trail and the Paradise Trail (red). At Boltby Scar where the Fort Trail drops down to the left, Drovers continues on the red route to High Paradise Farm (café). It then comes back along the Hambleton Road.

Paradise Trail (Red)

The official red is called the Paradise Trail. It follows the Fort Trail route until the point where the blue drops down to the left.

Then the red continues past High Barn to High Paradise Farm, which has an excellent café.

Next you ride on a track along the edge of the moor, before dropping down to the left through Boltby Forest. Some of the descent is rough, rocky, and difficult.

You reach the road at Brickshed Cottage, then return via Ravensthorpe Manor, Boltby, and Town's Pasture Wood.

Mountain Biking at Sutton Bank: Nether Silton Moor Route

Of course you don't have to follow the official green, blue, and red trails - you can make up your own.

I've plotted a 23-mile route that echoes the Paradise red but goes further, to Nether Silton Moor. The descent through the woods there is easier than the red descent.

The return route is via Kepwick, Cowesby, Boltby, and Town's Pasture Wood.

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Do you enjoy mountain biking at Sutton Bank? Have you got your own favourite route? Let me know in the comments.