reading tadley

larrythelathe

Anyone know any good riding around this area?

Podders

hey Larry,

I'm from Reading.
me and my mates tend to follow the river in any direction for about 6 miles.

last night was heading your way kinda, by the water ski park near J12 M4.
head over that way mate, and get a local 1:125,000 map of your area, you'll be surprised how many public footpaths there will be

larrythelathe

Not sure i am meant to be on footpaths the locals seem to enjoy putting logs across then to stop motorbikes seems to slow me down as well.

eddie_in_da_air

larrythelathe wrote:

Not sure i am meant to be on footpaths the locals seem to enjoy putting logs across then to stop motorbikes seems to slow me down as well.

I live in sherborne.. just down the road from ya, Vine is okay if you only wanna be there an hr, but in fairness the local rides are soo poor here i got a P2 to mess about with on the street and park, at the weekend, if you have a car Swinley forest is very good, maybe a little far. basingstoke canel from Odiham to aldershot is a nice ride, fat and easy but a nice little trek besides and end up at the tank ranges and fleet pond, that is well worth trip and easy to get to by train if a car is out

in fairness, Swinley is do-able by train too, Via reading, get off at Harmans water and ride up to coral reef, ask about every one knows it, swinley is right over the road

Edd

Jumile

I used to live in Burghfield Common but am up in Emmer Green now. Not entirely sure about good rides in your area, but you might benefit from visiting the Sustrans site, if you haven't already. The Berks and Hants/IOW sections might be useful. The Berks page has a Berks/Hants borders section at the bottom.

If you're after a club kind of thing, I think Berks On Bikes are probably the closest. Worst case, they'd have some good advice for you.

Failing that, get yourself a Ordnance Survey Explorer 159 and/or 144 map and work out the bridleways, etc.

Chris`I

eddie_in_da_air wrote:

larrythelathe wrote:

Not sure i am meant to be on footpaths the locals seem to enjoy putting logs across then to stop motorbikes seems to slow me down as well.

I live in sherborne.. just down the road from ya, Vine is okay if you only wanna be there an hr, but in fairness the local rides are soo poor here i got a P2 to mess about with on the street and park, at the weekend, if you have a car Swinley forest is very good, maybe a little far. basingstoke canel from Odiham to aldershot is a nice ride, fat and easy but a nice little trek besides and end up at the tank ranges and fleet pond, that is well worth trip and easy to get to by train if a car is out

Edd

I live a little further down the road on the outskirts of Basingstoke, near the hospital, and agree the riding is pants! I ususally do road circuits around Bramley/Sherbourne/Charter Alley/Ramsdell/Wooten St Lawrence just to keep fit.

What is at the Vine? I know my mum goes walking around there, didnt realise there was any tracks in the Vine itself?

Need to get up to Swinley at some point soon, trying to find some spare time on the weekend is proving prolematic though!

flip_flop

If you're in Tadley the Monkey Bumps/Silchester Common (Next to Pamber Forest) are worth checking out, you can get a good hour or two blast in on some fun trails.

There's also some good stuff in the Englefield Estate but bikes aren't allowed... :roll:

Otherwise head over Kingsclere/Watership downs way for some more epic all-dayers. You can get some serious mileage in if you want - plenty of routes going out via Whitchurch if you look online. Not very technical but some stunning scenery and challenging climbs.

If you want to stick to Hampshire routes there are a few you can ride out from in the link below:

http://osola.org.uk/rides/index.htm

If you haven't got a GPS to load them in to then use http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php and upload the .gpx file from the Osala site - it will then draw the route over an OS map.

eddie_in_da_air

hmmm - useful