Surrey Hills - where to start?

Helter

Doh!!

Was looking at the wrong calendar, they’re heading to Swinley Forest on the 17th. This place good for a beginner or will I be out of my depth?

Beardface

Personally, I think Swinley is more beginner orientated than Surrey Hills - I've only been to Swinley once, and to be honest, was kind of disappointed.. maybe I've been spoilt by the years of riding the Surrey Hills, but I found all of the trails at Swinley to be much too short.. (yes, I found the labyrinth, the gulley etc..).

Dont get me wrong, Swinley was fun, but I probably won't bother going back when the Hills are pretty much on my doorstep

Helter

That's perfect, cheers. Sounds like a good place to get my trail legs and then try the more challenging stuff.

Happy days!

Anonymous

Swinley is great for getting started. Not much in the way of hills, plenty of singletrack, though as said it's mostly short sections, and it's all self contained in a well managed forest. It's something for everyone really. Families on a trundle to experts. However, it's not a patch on Surrey Hills. Though I'm certain Surrey Hills is not a patch on Wales, etc.

Surrey Hills are great, but it's more "raw". Have to deal with obstacles on the ground a lot more (tree roots in the main), steeper descents, and some bits can actually scare you (though not Barry Knows Best any more since it was made family friendly ). Was quite a leap for me in fitness though as requires hill climbing skills. Swinley requires very little.

But Swinley still surprises me. There's a lot in there and if you hunt you can still find new stuff. Remember that it's a £2 a day pass though, or £18 for the year.

Helter

Cheers Kenny!

Surrey Hills definitely sounds like the better of the 2 options but as it's my first time will try Swinley Forest on 17th Jan and then I know where to go when I'm a bit more confident.

Am in West London so are there any other suggestions of places to go?

FunkMaster007

Hey Guys,

Firstly, happy new year, hope you guys are all alive and kicking and ready for some 2010 riding!

Well the wife and I started MTB only this year and quickly discovered Swinley forest and from reading the posts here, I have to agree.

Swinley is a well managed forest and all very well self contained, but for a couple of people starting out, I found it had something for everyone and got us comfortable with our riding and we still head out there on regular occasions ....

Although, I've been reading about this 'Surrey Hills' place and I am quite keen now to go and explore there .... whats the riding like there in the winter when it's wet?

Is Peaslake still a good place to start from or are there other little towns which are taken over by the MTB riders over the weekends, where it's good to start from too.

Cheers
Rob

evade

Went to SH in the mud a couple of weeks ago and it was fine. Even the places we thought would be churned up were ridable. Of course, we got plenty muddy, but that's part of the fun, right?

What I like about Swinley is that you can get there and see how you feel, in terms of effort/skill - you can go hard, or mellow, or inbetween. There def are some very challenging parts of Swinley that can help you learn how to tackle tech at speed. They're just not very long and you have to know where they are. Plus we can take the ladies and they can do their thing for a while, then we can meet up do some stuff together. It's almost like being at a ski resort.

SH on the other hand is pretty much full of hardcore trails that need to be had at speed and you have to slog up the hills to get to them. I still prefer it cos it feels more real somehow, and cos even while I hate the ups, I still do them, and feel like I've really deserved the downs. Plus I like the locals feel to Peaslake, you see them same riders, same people in the shops and the pub.

Today, after three weeks off the saddle, and NYE, I'm off to Swinley

Evade

Shmikuk

^ nice post. Feel the same, just getting back into mtb after too long out of touch, and my better half has got into it too with me! That's meant being patient and riding a bit differently when we ride together, but it's been great to see her progress in skills and confidence just by being out there on the trails. It'd be good to get together with others for a ride and a pint after. We've done leith hill areas and a bit out hurtwood way plus a few bits of the north downs, but aren't particularly fast or skilled, just enjoying the ride!

evade

Swinley was lovely on Saturday. Clear blue skies, crisp white frost everywhere, and we pretty much had the forest to ourselves - even the halfpipe was free of hodads. The hand built trails have stood up really well and are really ridable (but quite slippy). We even found a new bit of DH that we'd never noticed before. Twas glorious to work off all that nasty Xmas nonsense...

I think we're doing Swinley with the ladies next weekend, then we're off snowboarding for a couple of weeks. Would be up for a ride with other when we get back.

Evade

J09

One of my new resolutions has been to do more MTBing, been in London since early last year but have managed to do only 1 or 2 proper rides.

Can anyone help in getting in touch with any riding group directed towards the enduro/XC feel of MTB???

diy

Specifically where in the surrey hills are you looking to start.. There are groups around Dorking, Leatherhead, Guildford etc..

J09

aaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!1

So many options... I'm confused... Ok been looking at trains... Cause I will have to get out of London, either through Richmond or Clapham Junction, so Dorking and Leatherhead sound reasonable...

gregsd

JO9 - I ride with this lot - VCGH. We start out (mainly) from Godalming, so you could catch the Waterloo-Portsmouth train from Clapham. We meet-up at the railway station at 9am on Sunday mornings and head out for a 2-3hr ride. Nothing too extreme, especially this time of year, so mostly XC with regular trips over to the Surrey Hills for more challenging rides.

You'd be more than welcome to join one of the regular Sunday rides so you can check us out. Don't let the roadie stuff put you off

J09

Good stuff. Just had a look.

Do I need to warn if I'm going or can I just show up???

Anonymous

evade wrote:

I think we're doing Swinley with the ladies next weekend, then we're off snowboarding for a couple of weeks. Would be up for a ride with other when we get back.

I'm up for a ride most weekends at the moment. Can't do 16th or 31st though, and I've yet to book a ski trip (leaving it late this year!), but that may be more in Feb or March.

Richard mentioned doing some of Leith so maybe could hook up with him and/or others. I've not done much of Leith. Still love Holmbury and Pitch though.

Have to say, if it's snowy up there this weekend it should be fantastic. It was excellent when it was like that before Christmas. Though the downhills are a bit lethal!. Getting there is another matter though, especially by car.

Anonymous

Office is closed so it's a snow day for me . Anyone know what the conditions are like around Peaslake at the moment for cars? I'm guessing it's cut off and my 2 wheel drive isn't going to get there. If I could get over there I could chuck my skis in the car as well as or instead of the bike!

gregsd

J09 wrote:

Good stuff. Just had a look.

Do I need to warn if I'm going or can I just show up???

Should be alright just turning-up, though it might be worth droping the ride leader a line if you're coming by train (delays etc). Check our forum as the ride details will be posted the week before, so you can see what length route/time the sunday ride will be.

diy

I'll be riding this weekend or I may be snowboarding on box hill instead. Riding in snow is so much fun.

yet exhausting.

Note to self pack tyre levers last time it was so cold I couldn't change my pucture in the normal way

Anonymous

Not sure about Surrey Hills, but I struggled to get anywhere in the car. Main roads were open but the instant I hit a side road or a car park and it's game over in my 2 wheel drive Civic. And that was on the flat!

I'd ride, but it's a long way to Box, Leith, Peaslake etc, on a mountain bike in these conditions.

evade

Right, I'm up for a hoon/slog on the 30th if anyone else is? It'll have to be a 12.00 start for me tho and I'll be well and truly done by 3.30...

Evade

Anonymous

Should be up for that I think. Time suits me, not being an early person . It'll probably have thawed out by then too!

popstar

Hello all

Planning to visit hills this Monday-Tuesday (10-11jan) but not sure of conditions. Can I reach Peaslake by car, or are the roads icy and treacherous ?

Anonymous

Word was from locals yesterday that it was impassible unless you have a 4x4 etc.

However it's warmed up a lot now and a fair bit of melt is underway in Surrey. Obviously the hills are colder, so don't know, but I'd expect the roads to be reasonably clear by Tuesday.

popstar

Deadkenny ... your words do God's ears! With help of Allmighty, hope it will melt by Tuesday , got horny knowing that hills will be litteraly to myself on working day. Can't wait!

popstar

After a trip to Surrey Hills this Tuesday.

The roads leading to Peaslake were fine for my motor (front wheel drive). Went to Pitch Hill for ST and T5 and to Holmbury Hill for Yoghurt pots, Telegraph Row + BKB.
Planned whole affair to complete in 2+ hours but due to snow made it in 5+hours.

Had to mention ... due to very few bikers riding, trails are packed with snow and that made in some cases interesting and fc@kstrating at times to ride. Although couldn't resist and get excited on leary moments of slides :shock:

ST was quite a good ride but T5 was quite bad , broken branches and trees etc would prevent you from riding, had to bloody crawl there :? .

@ and after all your effort you would still go off bike. Agadammit.

Have to confess ... I simply couldn't ride BKB as was so nackered+it went dark, had my P7s set up but due to lack of fitness just rode on roads down to shop for tea and snacks.

All in all , had a great day and don't regret it ... that crunchy snow made my day, at least am now baptized on snow riding.


p.s. it's snowing again, only wonder if people can access Peaslake again without 4x4 ... guess I was lucky that day.

evade

Sounds like a great day, popstar, I admire your resolve tenacity fella. Did you take a camera? I bet the views from the summits were great...

So, on an aside, as you seem to know the area really well, can you tell me what you do after Telegraph Row? We've been over there tons of times, tend to do Yoghurts then Telegraphs but can't seem to find anything decent after that and always resort to fire roads and generally have a nightmare getting lost trying to get over to BKB. We have stumbled on some nice runs with man-made sections in that area in-between but we never seem to find them again. Any ideas?

Evade

popstar

Thanks for reply. After i finish Telegraph row just at the carpark turn left onto fire road which will head you towards Peaslake, there you will reach other fire-road and turn left there again and keep following. Its a gentle uphill-downhil fire-road which will bring you back on top to Holmbury hill. From there you either decide to reapeat Yoghurt pots + Telegraph row or head to BKB.

p.s. am not really good at knowing stuff in Surrey as that was my 3rd time there :roll:
shame I don't have camera yet ... so tempted by Contour HD1080 but would be ashamed of myself to spend that much. Maybe need to start with Veho first?

diy

I noticed last time the snow cleared that the mud was particularly thick, I think the cold has a way of breaking down the mud and clay. Last time I rode for the first time ever I had to get off and carry the bike because it was just to clogged to ride. Fortunately there is always a handy puddle to ride through.

Its the combination of chalk, mud, flint and clay that does it on the surrey hills.

Loafski

Anyone have an update on the trail conditions around Holmbury and pitch hills? :?

popstar

Am planning to ride again this Tuesday-Wednesday* ... surely good weather is coming? Guess there would be many replies on trail conditions this weekend.