Hamsterley Forest / Doctors Gate ride on the E Cube mtb

Well a trip over to Hamsterley Forest was well over due, so I packed the bike in the van and my kit and off I headed. I parked at the duck pond and rode into the forest along the drive. The weather was overcast / cloudy and cool. The wind was very strong on the tops / exposed sections. The Garmin temperature just reached double figures when I got back to the van. The forest has not changed any, some of the trails are still very rough, big rocks, tree roots and suffering from over use. I also did a loop out to Doctors Gate and the open moorland track is still trashed from the 4x4's. There was also loads of motorcross bike tracks / ground ripped up in the forest / moorland. It was very quiet indeed and only seen two dog walkers at The Grove then two leisure cyclists at café end. I also did a loop of the skills on the way back but had to nurse the bike back as it was on its last bar. All in I covered 24 miles with 3500ft of climbing in 2 hours 40mins. It feels like my body has had a good battering! Below are some pics from the ride, enjoy and hopefully more soon -