Cannock Chase, Trail Centre
Follow the Monkey Dog
Cannock Chase Forest is situated in the Midlands to the north of Birmingham. A Forestry Commission trail centre like Whinlatter and the Forest of Dean centres. Boasting the same excellent facilities ample parking, cafe, toilets, bike shop and of course the trails themselves.
Cannock Chase is home to two dedicated, way marked, XC mountain bike trails – ‘Follow the Dog’ and ‘The Monkey Trail’. Cannock Chase is relatively flat , you won’t find that much climbing on Follow the Dog, there’s only one hill to climb up. The Monkey Trail is a mix of fast and flowing machine built trail and tight, twisty and technical hand built trails.
If you’re starting from the trail centre then you’ll set off on the first half of follow the dog. Starting of pretty flat single track snakes through the woods until the first climb at only 50 m of elevation gain its not massive, however it does mean there is a descent to follow. The descent drops through a series of switchbacks down to the decision point for the Monkey trail. Continue back to the trail centre or cross the road and complete the Monkey trail?
Monkey start with a climb or more a series of climbs and descents, but no serious climbing! Lots of fun single track sections from flowing line to rock gardens there is a pretty good mix of everything you could possibly want. The anticlockwise loop rejoins follow the dog after crossing the road again small climb is required and then it’s almost downhill all the way back to the Birches valley visitor centre.
Downhill
Stile Cop bike park is home to Cannock Chase’s only downhill trails, with around a dozen trails to choose from over varying difficulty levels. Despite having only 65 meters of elevation, the hill has a wide variety of trails to keep riders busy. Each run lasts around a minute, but there’s enough to keep you busy for a good many hours.
Cannock Chase Mountain Bike Trails
| Distance | 20km |
| Time | 2-3hrs |
| Climbing | 500m |
| Starting location | Birches Valley |
| Pubs, cafes | Birches Valley Cafe |
| Parking | Birches Valley |
| Route | View route on Strava View route on Komoot View route on Garmin Download GPX |
| Monkey and Follow the Dog trail map Stile cop trail map |
