Cant Ride Epping Try Hainault Forest

grantway

Hi Guys went upto Epping Forest today and waste of time just
one boggy joke.

Went upto Hainault Forest first time and nice and nearly dry?
Some climbs and very good decents.

And not to far to get in the car and go onto.

£ 2.00p all day parking or £ 1.00p for two hours.

be heading back there for Monday

Anonymous

what is epping like to ride on a good day? i havent been yet but reckon it is as close to me as thetford and chicksands so might give it a go if its any good. i am very much a wheels on the ground type of rider and like good old fashioned xc type stuff.

grantway

Its good would suit your type of riding sheepsteeth a few hills but and a couple of decents no jumps that i have seen the only problem is that you have to go over
roads to get to other sections of the forest.

Some people meet up at the tea hut at the Kings Oak Pub.

At the moment just Boggy and just to hard to ride in being the horses
use mostly the same trails.

Hainault Forest was very suprised very different as no roads between the
forest and all trails have green arrows and plenty of signs and easy to know
your bearings. So if you want a large hill you know where to find.

Plenty of downs and only slight mud sections.

No branches laying around and well maintained

Worth a ride there and only 30 mins from Epping Forest
and did'nt see anyone else riding there

Anonymous

are the routes in epping way marked or is it a case of going for an explore? where abouts is Hainault Forest?

i would be traveling down from near cambridge, do you think it would be worth the trip bearing in mind it might take about an hour to get to epping (but it takes more than that to get to thetford or chicksands and i do it most weekends)

grantway

Epping is more explore and find but Hainault is mainy contained and sign
posted and basicaly cant get lost.
And also you can go to the rangers office and buy a orientering map.

How to get to Hainault is come down M11 go east onto A406
come off the first exit to Redbridge Turn onto A12
and about 15 mins down turn left at A1112 go past Marks Gate
stay left and straight down up large hill and Hainault Forest
on the right hand side.

Worth it if you want to ride and being nearer to you
very little mud some good speed on the downs and hardly
and exposed roots

I would say Hainault is more XC country
with a little of trail riding

I used more 100-130 on my forks
So anything like that is more than enough just surprised not
to see anyone else riding back up there tomorrow at 9 am

Chaka Ping

Anybody on here know their way around Epping properly?

I only live a few miles away but haven't bothered going there in years - as I remember it being a quagmire in winter and have been happy elsewhere.

rikk

Pop onto here and say Hi

http://www.eppinghardcru.co.uk/Forums.html

The guys are out over Epping every weekend normally Sunday about 0900.

grantway

Thanx for the link rikk have just joined

Was you riding there this weekend?

Been going round Hainault hardly any mud

xcracer

There are some jumps in Epping if you know where to look but there isn't any manicured trail centre-type stuff if that's what you're after. There is some quality singletrack sections though and definitely lots to explore.

It was a very boggy in places last time I was there. Haven't been over there for a few weeks due to other commitments though.

Look here if you want some trail maps and stuff to give you some ideas: http://eppingtrails.co.uk/

There is no waymarking and no designated MTB trails so you just have to follow your nose really.

xcracer

Just having a look at the map...Hainault Forest looks quite small. How much riding is actually there? One hour? Two hours?

grantway

xcracer theres about 40 min circuit.

A couple of long gradiant ups and one step a few good decents
and then go round again.

The thing is the going and soil is a lot better at Hainault Forest.

I dont know if your near ?
But i have a good time there.

rikk

It's not huge over there but linking a load of stuff up like crabtree hill/havering country park (that is some hilly s%$t)/fox burrows, you can make up a pretty decent and taxing (physically) route.
The downhill section coming back from cabin hill during the summer are super fast and damn good fun.
The technical climbs up crabtree and spurgate get very interesting in the winter 8)

I tend to steer clear of Epping this time of year as it is a real mudfest and I just don't find grinding through 6-12 inches of mud the whole journey to be fun.

I spend most of the winter at Thorndon/Thetford/Hainault and some road routes.

Gareth

Going to be trying out Pole Hill at the Chingford end of Epping Forest this weekend to see how gloopy it is. If its a washout i'll just go to the Royal Forest pub instead

rikk

Some of pole hill is closed to bikers, just be careful where your going and watch for the signs on tree's