I think it would be a good idea to compile all the best spots to unicycle in the UK into one easy to access place. Such as the UUU web page, or just a web site with just spots to ride on but that is for later, so could all UK riders put their favorite places to ride in a reply.
They can be any thing from a nice set of steps and ledges, to a sports hall that will let unicyclists in or a Muni trail even a cool skate park.
As much detail as you think it needs. I think the most important ones are places to park around spot, the route if it’s a trail and how good you would say, you have to be to ride the spot(1-10)1 being easy 10 hard.
I’m from Edinburgh and a good place to unicycle round there is Bristo Square, unfortunately thats been invaded by the new age skaters so it ain’t the best. For guys interested in Muning Hollyrood Park throws up quite a few challenges. That’s all I can think of right now, but to use that cheap gimmock that the Govenor Of California often uses “I’ll Be Back”
spots I know:
the ice cream shop on “Old Beer Road” on the way from Seaton to Beer. It’s in the area down to Seaton hole end of the beach there are a few benches and steps. Then if you walk down to the beach there is loads of rocks like in the beginning of universe for “Natural Trials”
The rocks have easy sections and lines and some hard ones so is for anyone who wants ago.
Seaton sea front is good to.
Lyme Regis:Marine parade has the “shelters” are fun to rise and the area.The new part of the parade has some nice ridable walls, “natural trials” rocks. And a nice area of flat ground to do freestyle.
Woodberry common(nr Exeter) has some cool muni rides but Sarah miller has more details
Seaton skate park has some nice rails and ramps ect the park next to it has some real cool metal benches so you can do as may crank grabs as you like and no one is the wiser. The pole things seen in our video most of the Seaton things can be seen in Phil and my trials video www.flippet.org
What about that big hill behind Edinburgh (Arthurs seat I think?). That looks like a pretty cool downhill to ride your MUni. Unfortunately I was hobbling around on crutches when I was in Edinburgh, so I could only look up wishfully from the bottom :(, my MUni still packed away. I think Edinburgh in general has to be a great place to sift around on a MUni or 29er.
Try here:
Head up the green A614, past the first turning to Bilsthorpe, under the railway, and turn left opposite the second turning to Bilsthorpe (the turn left is not shown on the map at this scale).
Drive about a mile or so along this road and park at the end. Lock car and hide all valuables. There is good riding north and south of the place where you park, with plenty of wide trails and plenty of single track. There are several unofficial mountain bike obstacles and one or two official off road routes. All together, many miles of forest to explore with a few short but difficult climbs. Good off road unicycling at all levels except the very high end stuff that nutters do.
This is the scene of many of my adventures on the Coker and the MUni. The infamous Desert is about a mile further along the road than you can get by car.
How about us posting streetmap.co.uk links to our favorite places?
Broxhead common is a great place for various reasons, it has:
flat concrete areas where buildings have been demolishes after the 1937-45 war.
steps & curbs
platforms of various heights
earth banks
loose sand
steep gullys
Mostly trials I suppose but a small amount of good MUNI
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=480260&y=137215&z=3&sv=480260,137215&st=4&ar=Y&dn=884
//\
And here:
Go up the A614 from the island at Ollerton and take the first turning RIGHT towards Walesby (Scout Camp is this way). Cross the small river and park at the next junction.
The triangle of woodland shown just below the junction (running down towards Ollerton) offers single track and wide trails and a few hills. To the north of the same junction you will find some steeper stuff, and some challenging rides through the woods. (Here, you’re on the edge of the Scout Camp, but they never complain.)
yeh edinburgh is very good for street unicycling especially, Arthurs seat is in Hollyrood park, if ure into stuff wit Munis then I’m sure you’d like that, you should come back some time when your not on crutchs, it would be worth your time
And here:
See the square marked Okehampton Camp just below Okehampton? Well, you can get there easily from Okehampton town centre. Plenty of places to park. This is a military firing range, so check that they aren’t firing. (It’s safe on summer Sundays and bank holidays.)
You will find a mixture of stony trails, single track and open moorland with rides possible DOWN from the various tors, and UP to some of them. There are some challenging road climbs, and there is a small quarry next to the road where I played with my 4x4 once.
Riding on Dartomoor should be done carefully as it is a sensitive moorland environment. However, you will do less harm than all the military vehicles that play wargames on there! Also, take warm clothes, compass and map. The weather can change quickly. I had a couple of good rides there and I reckon there’s muni for absolutely all levels of ability.
And here:
Follow the road out of Bude town centre heading north until you find a car park. From here you can follow the coast path north. The climbs are too steep to ride and the descents are also too steep to ride, but there is some fine riding along the clif tops, and if you move away from the edge (inland, you fool!) you will find farm tracks and the like. An hour or so’s walking and riding gets you to the next bay or the next bay but one and you can find tea, coffee, or (in the unlikely event of nice weather) ice cream.
And here:
Ride along Sidmouth sea front with the sea to your right. You will find a zig zag tarmac slope/ramp which is quite a climb up towards the coast path. The coast path is a challenging ride up and over the top with a great drop down to the next village. I went on and reached the donkey sanctuary where I stopped for coffee and cake. Instead of slogging back up the rough track of the coast path, follow the road in the general direction of Sidmouth then cut across on another track which runs more or less horizontally to rejoin the coast path. This was a great day’s ride, marred only by a puncture.
And here:
Castle Ring is an iron age hill fort and an ancient monument. You shouldn’t ride on the ramparts, although part of the ramparts are now a ballasted path. There’s a pub nect to the ring. From the ring, there are numerous (downhill!) routes and there is plenty of woodland to explore, with several purpose-made cycle descents. Alan and Mark and I had a couple of great days out round here. Find your own level of difficulty here.
Hey this quetion is off topic and I apoligize but I was just wonderin is Britan another name for the UK, or is it like a PRovince there. Thanks.
-Brian
Great thread idea. My favourite urban muni spot is here:
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?G2M?X=526363&Y=187105&A=Y&Z=1
It’s part of Hampstead Heath in North London. Most of the Heath is thick with pedestrians, some with sticks, but this triangle (bounded by Spaniards Rd, North End Wy and Wildwood Rd) only seems to attract runners and teenagers on mountain bikes. The area is wooded and farily open under the trees. Lots of random single track paths and a few difficult bombholes. It would be nice if it were bigger, but hey, this is London. Easy parking on Wildwood Road, don’t tell Ken.
Re: uk spot guide (add spots)
uniextreme wrote:
>
> Hey this quetion is off topic and I apoligize but I was just wonderin is
> Britan another name for the UK, or is it like a PRovince there.
Not quite, the UK is Great Britain plus Northern Ireland. But many
people living in Britain forget about that, and use the two terms
interchangably.
I’ve attached the reply I made to a similar question posted last year,
which might clear it up a bit!
- Richard
> What’s the difference between Great Britain, England and the United
> Kingdom?
There are 5 main areas involved:
England
Scotland
Wales
Northern Ireland
Southern Ireland = Eire = Republic of Ireland (ROI)
England, Scotland and Wales are on one island.
Northern and Southern Ireland are on a separate island to the west.
Great Britain = England, Scotland and Wales, controlled by a central
government in London, with an additional government in Scotland and
an assembly in Wales with lesser powers.
UK = “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”,
which is England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Anyone
born in any of these areas has nationality UK.
The UK is ‘effectively’ one country (technically England, Scotland,
etc are all countries, but the whole of the UK is run as one entity).
A comparison with America would be that England, Scotland, Wales, NI
are similar to states, whereas the UK is equivalent to the USA.
Eire is a completely separate entity, with some of the residents
wishing to re-unite with Northern Ireland.
“The British Isles” I think refers to all of the above, including
Eire, but I’d need to check.
It’s easier to visualise if you look at the areas on a map!
Hope that helps,
- Richard
Wow that really did clear things up, Thank You.
Camel Trail (mind the bikes!)
Tarka Trail (mind the bikes!)
Good question i live great britain, england and the the united kingdom ah i don’t have a clue what the differnece is though
It’s quite easy: if a Scotsman, Welshman or Northern Irishman does well in a sporting event, the English claim this as a victory for Britain.
Historically (Saxon times, pre 1066) England was made up of 6 separate kingdoms: Mercia, Northumbria, East Anglia, Sussex, Essex and Wessex. These were later united into England.
Meanwhile, Scotland was a barbaric land to the north full of warring natives, and Wales was a barbaric land to the west, full of warring natives (mainly warring with the English). Ireland was adrift in the sea, and full of warring natives.
The English claimed dominion over Wales. The kingdoms of Scotland and England were united when Elizabeth I died, and James VI of Scotland became James I of England in the late 1500s.
Ireland was always a problem, but was claimed by England. Eventually, it was split with the south becoming an entirely independent republic and the north remaining a province of the United Kingdom.
So England is the largest (south eastern) part of the vaguely triangular island just off the coast of France. Scotland is the northernmost bit. Wales is the lump on the left, and Northern Ireland is the tip of the big island to the left.
London, England, is the seat of the UK government, ruling England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland has some independent government, and Wales has a slightly weaker independent governement.
The British isles includes both big islands and all the little ones (Man, Orkney Islands, Hebrides etc.). The term ‘Great Britain’ refers to Britain’s ‘greatness’ on the world stage in the 19th century, rather than any particular geographical area.
The Isle of Man is part of the British isles, but not part of the United Kingdom. Same for the Channel Islands.
A much larger island to the west was allowed its freedom from direct rule by London in 1776.
When I was over on the assorted British Isles last summer I really wished I had brought a unicycle. There were a ton of good places to ride, it seemed (maybe I was bored?). I think it would have been cool to do some trials around those lions in Trafalgar square (think I spelled it right), but the police may not let you. Whats the deal with them not letting you feed the pigeons anymore? Thats like the only reason to go there.
Another good place I found to uni was the Isle of Wight. The entire island is pretty good, with a lot of places for MUni. I stayed in Ryde for a while and there wasn’t much Muni there, but tons of great places for trials down by the sea. When i went across the island to Sandown and Shanklin all you had to do was go three blocks away from the channel and there was great MUni. Also, the coastal path was nice, and with so improvisation, had nice MUni and trials lines in it.
I think I’ll try to make it back someday, but I’ll bring a uni and a friend this time:D