Rides In The Slough Area (XC Please)

Felt-Alex

Hi people, my friend has just moved down to Slough from East Yorkshire. In a couple of weeks I plan to get the bike and go down for the weekend. With him been new to the area and me knowing the routes up north we have no isea were to head for...

Could anyone point me in some sort of direction for a good XC ride out...We dont mind travelling for a couple of hours if the route is good.

Any help would be great guys

Thanks Alex

Redmans

Hi Felt, your nearest decent ride is at Swinley Forest head for the look out at Bracknell. You can entertain yourself for hours there or head over to afan. If you want to share petrol costs me and a few friends head to afan once a month. :!:

Felt-Alex

Redmans wrote:

Hi Felt, your nearest decent ride is at Swinley Forest head for the look out at Bracknell. You can entertain yourself for hours there or head over to afan. If you want to share petrol costs me and a few friends head to afan once a month. :!:

Evening mate, thanks for the quick reply....They both sound good to me, I live up north but I'll get my mate to sign up to the forum and give him your name. I know he's finding it hard to meet people who MBK down there.

I think we'll try Swinley Forest first and see how that pans out. I guess the "look out" is sign posted through the forest?

Felt-Alex

Redmans- don't worry mate I've just typed it into Google Maps and it came up with the answer. I think "The Look Out" is the area of the Forest were the main mountain biking car park is? And all the trails run from this section of the forest?

Redmans

yeh felt its all signposted mate. you cant go wrong. if you guys have any probs or fancy a ride let me know.

Anonymous

Swinley's a great place to start. It can be very busy around the car park and the "look out" mind, but better in the thick of the forest as families don't venture that far in. If you're not on one of the well known singletrack you can go for miles without bumping in to anyone.

Note that it's a £2 a day permit to ride there (buy it from the look out centre), or £18 for an annual pass. I know most people don't bother or aren't aware, but I ride there a lot and appreciate the work that's done there, and considering parking is free, £2 is a bargain.

Further out, there's the Surrey Hills (Leith Hill way). Holmbury hill (starting from Peaslake) especially. Far better than Swinley. More technical and hilly. Pop into the local bike shop in Peaslake for a map and some guidance.

There's a couple of threads in here and the rides forum about these two.

If you just want a leisurely ride with virtually no traffic, there's Windsor Great Park. Not mtb, and you can't go off road, it's just paths and roads. Nice place though. Park up in the Savil Garden car park for cheaper parking than the rip off around Virginia Water (free if you do the gardens). Sadly you can't ride the Long Walk as that would be fun to blast down from the top all the way to the castle

Felt-Alex

Redmans wrote:

yeh felt its all signposted mate. you cant go wrong. if you guys have any probs or fancy a ride let me know. [/quote

Evening mate, thanks for the guideance again. Guess the only problem is everyones choice is different...It's the first time I've seen or rode with my mate in months. I just want a good ride with some downhill sections and nice long steady sections.

I see you like Coed Y Berinin, I've done the MBR route there, what does Swinly compare like to that? Somthing along the MBR lines would be great, not to long in lenght but everything included if you get me..

Not sure what date were riding yet but I'll have a word and see what my mate suggests and let you know about joining up if he's got no plan's.

Do you have any advise on which route to ride if we end up at Swinley Forest. Reading Deadkenneies post there seem like theres a few to choose from lol...

Felt-Alex

deadkenny wrote:

Swinley's a great place to start. It can be very busy around the car park and the "look out" mind, but better in the thick of the forest as families don't venture that far in. If you're not on one of the well known singletrack you can go for miles without bumping in to anyone.

Note that it's a £2 a day permit to ride there (buy it from the look out centre), or £18 for an annual pass. I know most people don't bother or aren't aware, but I ride there a lot and appreciate the work that's done there, and considering parking is free, £2 is a bargain.

Further out, there's the Surrey Hills (Leith Hill way). Holmbury hill (starting from Peaslake) especially. Far better than Swinley. More technical and hilly. Pop into the local bike shop in Peaslake for a map and some guidance.

There's a couple of threads in here and the rides forum about these two.

If you just want a leisurely ride with virtually no traffic, there's Windsor Great Park. Not mtb, and you can't go off road, it's just paths and roads. Nice place though. Park up in the Savil Garden car park for cheaper parking than the rip off around Virginia Water (free if you do the gardens). Sadly you can't ride the Long Walk as that would be fun to blast down from the top all the way to the castle

Hi Deadkenny, thanks for the info about the payment at Swinley. To be honest I did read this on their website and like you said “free parking" so the £2 isn't a worry at all

I like the sound of Holmbury hill, can you give me any more info on this? Is there a car park or a set route you follow? I know you mentioned about speaking to the local bike shop but with no understand or experience off the area at all it may be a little hard to understand and relate to what the chap is referring to if you get me lol

Are there some good downhill sections on this route?

Anonymous

Try these two threads.

This for Swinley: http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... highlight=

and this for Surrey Hills: http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... highlight=

But basically I don't know what stuff in Wales is like, but I doubt Swinley is anywhere near as good. That said, for the South East it's not bad. It's basically a big forest with a lot of trails and singletrack. Nothing too technical and not much in the way of obstacles. There's an "expert" area that has a bit more to it though. The main thing it has going for it is the size.

Surrey Hills I've only just started doing so I know little about it, but for Holmbury Hill area basically head for like Peaslake (tiny little village that in the day is populated by mountain bikers), and just head for the hills. The guy in the bike shop sells laminated maps for £3 that have clear routes marked on them and he'll mark good routes for you and point you in the right direction even if you don't know the area. There are a few car parks nearby and one big one a short walk/ride from the centre of Peaslake (all free). Or you can head more over to Leith Hill way (National Trust owned hill, highest point in SE), where there are lots of small car parks dotted around.

There's more here: http://www.diaryofamountainbiker.co.uk/ ... _downs.php

And yeah, good downhill sections. Well, good in my book as I'm not used to much else.

Felt-Alex

Hi Deadkenny, thanks for all the info mate. There's that much to take in I think I'll just show him this thread and let him choose lol... Swinley Forest may be a good start for the weekend. Then he can scout the other routes for my return visit later in the year.

Thanks again.

Alex

Cloud & Bikes

There are some trails in Upton Court Park. They can be found here https://www.singletracks.com/bike-trail ... trail.html. I do not know any others around.