Surrey - Where to go?
Discussion
Esher Shore is apparently worth a visit, although I'm yet to go there myself. www.eshershore.com
I live very close to Richmond Park, and a lap of that is entertaining by itself. Lots of flowing trails, a few down/uphills (depending on which way round you tackle it) and it covers a vast area. The human traffic on a sunny day can be an issue though.
I live very close to Richmond Park, and a lap of that is entertaining by itself. Lots of flowing trails, a few down/uphills (depending on which way round you tackle it) and it covers a vast area. The human traffic on a sunny day can be an issue though.
Assuming you like cross country:
Great trails on the hills between Dorking and Guildford, and Box Hill to the east (part of the 'North Downs'). Leith Hill and Holmbury seem to be the most popular (as per the mail above), but all are good (I like the decents, south off the line of hills to the north of Leith Hill best myself). Grab a 1:25,000 map including Dorking and you will see there is no shortage of trails + Leith / Holmbury have jumps etc in the woods that the local riders have set up if for a bit of fun.
One of the best riding areas in the country for cross country in my view (my old stomping grounds use to be Lakes, Y Dales, Pennines, Scotland and N Wales), only thing it lacks is technical / rocky / hardcore terrain - but the wealth of different trails more than make up for it.
Hills round Sevenoaks good too, but you will need to fit much more road cycling into the ride to fit the various off road bits together.
Then you could always make your way to the South Downs (nearer the coast) for a change of scene....
Great trails on the hills between Dorking and Guildford, and Box Hill to the east (part of the 'North Downs'). Leith Hill and Holmbury seem to be the most popular (as per the mail above), but all are good (I like the decents, south off the line of hills to the north of Leith Hill best myself). Grab a 1:25,000 map including Dorking and you will see there is no shortage of trails + Leith / Holmbury have jumps etc in the woods that the local riders have set up if for a bit of fun.
One of the best riding areas in the country for cross country in my view (my old stomping grounds use to be Lakes, Y Dales, Pennines, Scotland and N Wales), only thing it lacks is technical / rocky / hardcore terrain - but the wealth of different trails more than make up for it.
Hills round Sevenoaks good too, but you will need to fit much more road cycling into the ride to fit the various off road bits together.
Then you could always make your way to the South Downs (nearer the coast) for a change of scene....
Edited by MTY4000 on Thursday 17th May 14:08
cool, esher shore looks brilliant! where is that then, i cant seem to find a location for it? - edit: nevermind, found it!!
Im into general trail riding, I have a 6inch travel craftworks thats heavy but comfy! my local riding at the min is the lakes and rivington - where the '02 commonwealth games were held...
Im into general trail riding, I have a 6inch travel craftworks thats heavy but comfy! my local riding at the min is the lakes and rivington - where the '02 commonwealth games were held...
Edited by abarthchris on Thursday 17th May 16:09
I used to ride Rivington / Winter Hill / Darwin Moor (ex Bolton boy) too.
Surrey is quite different from mud plugging on the moors, but closer to the Rivington trails (as least the way I recall them.. many years since I rode round Bolton / Horwich) - N Downs excellent for general trail riding - 6" travel should iron out the trails very nicely! Huge community of bikers too on the North Downs - you'll meet more bikers than walkers on Leith Hill.
Surrey is quite different from mud plugging on the moors, but closer to the Rivington trails (as least the way I recall them.. many years since I rode round Bolton / Horwich) - N Downs excellent for general trail riding - 6" travel should iron out the trails very nicely! Huge community of bikers too on the North Downs - you'll meet more bikers than walkers on Leith Hill.
abarthchris said:
chris71 said:
A colleague of mine rides at Leith Hill and Hornbury. Apparently theres a group of mountain bikers there known as the dirt devils who ride a lot of aggresive XC/freerid type stuff. Sounds pretty good....
nice one, any way of getting in contact with them?
Yep, they have a website.....
www.dirt-devils.fsnet.co.uk/
Theres a contacts thing on there (PM if you have any problems and I'll find you a direct address)
Esher Shore is a Freeride and Dirt Jump park. They don't have trails. The Freeride area is North Shore stuff. I'm not slagging it off, it's a practice area rather than a riding area.
As for Leith Hill riding check out Nirvana Cycles in Westcott. They have regular rides (about 8 a week) into and around the area. They have a balls out speed freak ride on Saturday along with Freeride and Social rides.
We also head round to Swinley Forest and the Look Out Discovery Centre next to Bracknell. Excellent for all levels/types of riders (except DH).
As for Leith Hill riding check out Nirvana Cycles in Westcott. They have regular rides (about 8 a week) into and around the area. They have a balls out speed freak ride on Saturday along with Freeride and Social rides.
We also head round to Swinley Forest and the Look Out Discovery Centre next to Bracknell. Excellent for all levels/types of riders (except DH).
Edited by mk1fan on Friday 18th May 14:59
I'd agree with the Surrey Hills - primarily Leith and Holmbury. Pitch hill (their neighbour) is also supposed to be good, but I've never managed to find anything much there myself. You can ride for hours on Leith & Holmbury without the need to go near a road. Lots of trails all over the place.
Ranmore common (the other side of the valley from the above) can be quite nice, but only go there in the height of summer, as it gets horrendously muddy if there's been even a sniff of rain!
One thing to note about Leith & Holmbury hills... Please be nice to other users!
There seems to be far more tolerance for bikers there than anywhere else I've ridden, and I can only assume that comes from bikes slowing down for others and being nice to each other! 
Ranmore common (the other side of the valley from the above) can be quite nice, but only go there in the height of summer, as it gets horrendously muddy if there's been even a sniff of rain!
One thing to note about Leith & Holmbury hills... Please be nice to other users!
There seems to be far more tolerance for bikers there than anywhere else I've ridden, and I can only assume that comes from bikes slowing down for others and being nice to each other! There's a few trails out Coulsdon way that are worth a look, also Oxshott is worth a punt for a short after work type outing.
Grab some OS maps and just explore, there's loads to do in the South of Surrey. Would defiately recommend the Box Hill / dorking, Leith Hill areas - it's where I cut my teeth, so to speak.
Also, I don't know if you are intersted in getting your hands dirty but these guys may be of interest for you www.redlandstrails.org
Grab some OS maps and just explore, there's loads to do in the South of Surrey. Would defiately recommend the Box Hill / dorking, Leith Hill areas - it's where I cut my teeth, so to speak.
Also, I don't know if you are intersted in getting your hands dirty but these guys may be of interest for you www.redlandstrails.org
Edited by bat fink on Tuesday 22 May 08:43
Not sure where in Surrey you're going to be located, but Swinley Forest (Bracknell) in the north west of the county is also pretty reasonable. Not as hilly as the places mentioned above (Pitch/Leith/Holmbury Hills) but it does have a lot of good trails which are mainly XC, but there is some short downhill and jumps to be found.
Good luck with it all!
Good luck with it all!
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