Biking in the Mournes

paulocon · October 02, 2011, 06:20:08 PM

Hi all,

Just a general question regarding biking in the Mournes.

Just wondering if there are any trails in the Mournes that are accessible to bikes?

Are these seperate to walking trails or is there a crossover?

LandyLiam · October 02, 2011, 10:11:43 PM

i've seen a few very good home made tracks in donard forest, and tollymore has a purpose built track (1.5km?) at the mountain centre, or were you looking for something more "in the hills" ?

paulocon · October 02, 2011, 10:16:31 PM

Cheers Liam,

It's a bit of a complicated one. Kind of a bet I made. Looking to get up and down Donard as quickly as possible and then need to cycle to another location close to Newry. Just wondering if it's possible to cycle from Newcastle up to somewhere in Tollymore forest before dumping the bike then doing a quick up and down Donard before heading for Newry on the bike. Haven't looked at a map properly yet so perhaps there is somewhere else a bike could be ditched.

LandyLiam · October 02, 2011, 10:28:42 PM

Sounds interesting

you probably can't really cycle effectively beyond the 3rd bridge in donard forest and the roads to there add quite a bit of distance, a fast walk will get you to that point in about 20mins. If you went via bloody bridge there's a 4x4 track as far as the quarry but not sure how cyclable that is as i've never mountain biked on a mountain!

paulocon · October 02, 2011, 10:34:24 PM

Cheers Liam,

Sounds like it might just be quicker leaving the bike in Newcastle and hiking up and perhaps jogging back down before cycling out to Newry. I have very little biking experience either - not overly familiar with the trail up through the forest so don't know how suitable it would be for a bike.

LandyLiam · October 02, 2011, 10:54:40 PM

straight through the forest would be tooooooo steep, the roads zig zag a bit so they would be ok, you'll see what i mean when you see the map

paulocon · October 03, 2011, 08:58:49 AM

Cheers Liam.

beau · October 04, 2011, 10:15:15 PM

notthesundayrun.com Has lots of route maps for mtb around rostrevor

LandyLiam · October 04, 2011, 10:45:04 PM

just had a wee browse through that site, looks good, i might give this mountain biking a go some day soon, no suspension on my bike though

Paul72 · October 05, 2011, 10:08:05 AM

Quote from: beau on October 04, 2011, 10:15:15 PM
notthesundayrun.com Has lots of route maps for mtb around rostrevor

There's a route I walk from Yellow Water car park that I've seen a lot of bikers on, it would take you through some forest and down to Rostrevor. Probably not that challenging but very scenic.

Just make sure that if you're passing me you say hello as most other bikers are a bit aloof!

paulocon · October 05, 2011, 10:15:17 AM

Was looking on the web there and was suprised to see some videos of mountain bikers descending from the summit of Commedagh. Also saw mention of bikers cycling the Brandy Pad.

I would have thought that bikes were prohibited from accessing the higher Mournes.
Thinking about it, I'm not sure why I would have made this assumption but it would probably have been on the basis of erosion caused by the bikes. Maybe I'm making a somewhat illogical link between bikes and the dreaded quad!

suspectmonkey · October 05, 2011, 12:46:55 PM

Probably one of the best trail resources for NI - http://www.trailbadger.com/

MG1 · October 05, 2011, 10:16:08 PM

Trailbadger is great. You should take the fire road to the ice house on the way up and the way down. Its a great blast down. It s not really worth taking the bike any further unless you want serious off road.

beau · October 05, 2011, 10:18:12 PM

Work to start on 26km xc course in rostrevor in november plus 2 dh runs,16km course in castlewellan,rumour is 2 coures will be linked at some stage

MG1 · October 05, 2011, 10:26:19 PM

Cool, can't wait to hi castlewellan trails. Did you do the lakeland warrior?

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Biking in the Mournes