Ashton Court is managed by Bristol City Council and contains half of the Forest of Avon Timberland Trail. The trail joins up with the section in 50 Acre Wood, or can be ridden as a loop.

There’s usually a trail day in Ashton Court every month. The trail gets very well used and degenerates quickly if it isn’t repaired. It’s also an opportunity to add new features to the trail and improve the way it rides.

Although we have tried to keep as much of the estate as possible open to mountain bikers, some old unofficial trails have been closed for conservation or safety reasons. See the FAQ for more information on this.

The trail is also one-way (from the official start point at the gate house) and due to the amount of use it gets it’s a good idea to ride cautiously at busy times.

50 Acre Wood is managed by the Forestry Commission and contains the second half of the Timberland Trail. There’s a choice of the yellow trail (an easy short-cut) or the pink trail (a more challenging route).

Trail repair sessions usually take place monthly. Since the trail opened it has been partially rerouted to make it more durable and we are still working on upgrades to the new route. We’ve already built features like berms, jumps, drop-offs, rock gardens and an 8 metre log ride. If you have any suggestions what to build next we’d like to hear them.

150 tonnes of stone were donated by Tarmac to enable us to carry out the improvements and there is plenty of this left over. Due to its out-of-the-way location the trail in 50 Acre Wood is more challenging than the trail in Ashton Court, and we’re going to continue improving it along these lines.

Leigh Woods is managed jointly by the Forestry Commission and the National Trust. There aren’t any official trails there yet but there are several well-used unofficial trails that cross the top of the wood.

In the meantime mountain bikers are welcome to keep using the established unofficial trails, providing they avoid any specific “no cycling” areas and refrain from creating any new trails. The main trail starts near the hole in the wall, just along from the crocodile bench.

Trail development in Leigh Woods

A proposal has now been approved to create an official trail in Leigh Woods by adopting the most-used unofficial trails and rebuilding these to a weatherproof standard. The new trail is still at the consultation and planning stage. When this goes ahead it will be built by specialist contractors, and there is the possibility that some will be built by volunteers. Work on the trail is scheduled to start in early 2011. For more details check out the 1SW Project website.