On a cold, wet and muddy Friday evening I headed over to Sherwood Pinesin Nottinghamshire to sample its only red route, the Kitchener Trail.

What a difference a bit of rain makes. Normally a flat fast flowing trail with berms and rollers, and a nice mix of rocks and roots. This time a muddy, gritty energy sapping water filled trail. The 13km took over an hour to complete and my brake pads well and truly ruined.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be breaking the root down section by section so you can see how the trail fares in the rain.

This week is the release of section seven video. Check it out above.

Section seven named ‘Donkey Walloper’ is a section that follows suit with the previous two sections, ‘Snipers Alley’ and ‘Sanctuary Wood’. It flows through fern covered ground in the trees before opening out to less dense forest with bramble covered floor. The track is compact dirt with visible tree roots. The only difference with this 1km section is it starts down hill for the first 200 metres and then the remaining section trends slightly up hill, although not so you would know.

The section nears the end when you can see a glimpse of a fire road parallel to the trail. There is a twist left and no breather as you enter section eight straight away.

One thing I did notice with this section was the rain collection. There were deep gullies meaning deep puddles. If I wasn’t already wet, by the end I was drenched. No one of my favourite sections.

Keep an eye out for next week’s look at the Kitchener trail section eight.

For other related articles showing the different sections of the Kitchener Trail please click below:

Kitchener Trail in the Rain

wet Kitchener Trail – Section One

wet Kitchener Trail – Section Two

wet Kitchener Trail – Section Three

wet Kitchener Trail – Section Four

wet Kitchener Trail – Section Five

wet Kitchener Trail – Section Six

wet Kitchener Trail – Section Eight

wet Kitchener Trail – Section Nine

wet Kitchener Trail – Section Ten

wet Kitchener Trail – Section Eleven

wet Kitchener Trail – Section Twelve

Kitchener Trail – Section Thirteen

Kitchener Trail – Section Fourteen

Kitchener Trail – Section Fifteen

wet Kitchener Trail – Section Sixteen

Mountain Biking The Kitchener Trail - Sherwood Pines