DARE TO FLOW

The UK’s first family bike park boasts an uplift and a flowy blue trail to inspire and instruct

- Jamie Darlow

Wales is a land rich in bike parks. From Revolution and Dyfi in the north to BikePark Wales and the Black Mountains in the south, the combination of great terrain, government grants and a strong riding culture has conspired to grow bike parks like bracken.

Now there’s one more to add to the list: Dare Valley Gravity Family Bike Park. It’s a clunky name, but the park is smooth and flowy, designed with mellow, swooping berms and comfortable gradients, it hopes to carve out a niche for itself as the family-friendly bike park – the sort of place you could bring your kids and reasonably expect to drive away from without tears... or stitches.

“There was nothing in this area for families to ride when we started building the trail,” says Mathew Moses from Dare Bike Park. “You’ve got BikePark Wales just over the way, but at the time we were building the park, they didn’t have a family track.”

Built by Trailcraft – the vision behind Black Mountains Cycle Centre amongst others – the new track is owned by the local council. Pedalabikeaway – which also runs the cycle centre at Cannop in the Forest of Dean, and Wye Valley MTB guided tours – will run you up to the top of the hill in its Land Rover and custom people trailer for £20, or £12 for under-16s. That’s for a morning session, during which you’ll get four runs in. Or push and ride up and you can ride the trail for free. The opening weekend is 7 August.