Heading up Malvern Hills today going to go to st annes well ,
(after reading a post by Phil Himsworth in 2008 )
Does anyone else ride up there ?
Aracer might, i have ridden on the hills a fair bit when i lived with my parents but i’m over the other side of the country now.
How did the ride go?
Malvern
Hi Dave
Do you miss the Malverns, what were your favourite routes ,what size wheel did you use ?
Parked near black hill carpark
Rode up from there and along various routes, tryed to race couple mountain bikes but my wheel was just too small
Really need to plan a proper ride on malverns but never really know where I am
We were going to go to st anns well but weather was too hot for some of the dogs
had a good day out family and dogs included
Ended up in kettle sings cafe for coffee
Yes i do miss the malverns. As much as its a boring town to live in, the hills make up for it. Before i started riding, i used to walk on them regularly.
All my routes start from st annes well as i lived about 1/2 mile from there. Most of my hill riding was actually after i moved away but i have spent a couple of months here and there in malvern house sitting etc.
My ‘long’ starts by going left on the wide trail just above st annes well, following the trail around the hill till it hits a car park. Walk up the footpath at the back of the car park to get to gold mine, then ride down the track hidden to the left of the paved path to the wyche. On the Great Malvern side of the wyche there is a bridleway which leads to holy well for a water stop. Go down the road right from holy well until a path re-appears on the right hand side, ride that path until you eventually will reach the ridge line of the hills.
Turning back, ride the bike paths along the ridge back towards the wyche which will eventually lead to some steps down to the other side of the cutting. Now for the torture test - ride the paved path up to the beacon (or as far a possible). Ride down the path towards the col between the beacon and sugar loaf and turn left and slightly back on yourself down the valley. Eventually you will end up crossing a field and along a track to a car park. At the other end of the car park the trail proper picks up again and you can follow it back up the hill eventually re-emerging at gold mine.
Torture yourself again up to the beacon on the paved path. Ride down and pick up the gravel track than runs around the hills. Take the big steep path down to st annes well (best ridden in the dark with poor lights).
All in all my favourite section is probably the old donkey track down from st annes well. Its not a bike route but pretty much no-one uses it. Basically think 20m, hairpin, 20m, hairpin, repeat on a moderately steep downhill with a mixture of mud, concrete and leaf litter on the ground. Best accompanied by turning left at the bottom onto st annes st and dropping down happy valley road down to the unicorn pub at the bottom.
I do end up walking quite a bit of the ridge line section along with some of the other steep uphills. In addition there are little bike tracks and animal tracks everywhere that can be taken.
Wheel wise, i use a disc brake 29er with a hans dampf.
dave,
thanks so much for your detailed and entertaining route plan, i hope to try it soon
jerome