Suggestions for a short mtb break, from london with no car

prhymeate

Hi,

me and a friend have the last week of October off from work. We'd like to spend a few days riding and staying in a hostel somewhere. We live in London and do not have cars, so it would have to be somewhere that we can get to by train/bike. We are both pretty new to this, I've heard quite a lot about the Surrey Hills, are there any hostels in that area that people would recommend and is it easy to get to by train? Any suggestions are more than welcome.

Thanks in advance for any help.

nonnac85

Look at my website - link in my sig. It has UK trail centre info and links to nearest train stations.
Then just find a B+B / hostel nearby.

will5031

Take train to Leatherhead and from there cycle towards Tanners hatch youth hostel. Lots of offroad riding! Situated in the surrey hills. Just buy OS map of the area. Think its the one featuring Dorking. Did it a few months ago!

joec1

train to bath....... then ride to the uni.... loooooads of routes.

or train to wales. lol.

prhymeate

cheers for the replies guys, definitely some routes worth looking into. that's a really handy site you have there nonnac, it's going straight into my favourites, thanks

trailpuppet

Peak district?
Lake District? Windermere
Check YHA site for nearest to train stations

Dumfries for Mabie http://www.marthrown.com/
http://www.7stanes.gov.uk/
http://www.7stanes.com/

B&B + pick up;
http://www.thebreakpad.com/

LDNTrailRider

You don't need to stay in a hostel to enjoy the Surrey Hills. Dorking is only 50 minutes from Waterloo by train.

If you're noobies you might prefer something like the South Downs Way???

welshkev

train direct from paddington to newport in wales - only takes about 2 hours. about 3/4 of an hours ride to cwmcarn and stay at the campsite - job done

prhymeate

thanks again everyone. i think it might be a bit too cold for camping now, plus it means carrying a whole lot more gear with us. Surrey Hills looks worthy of a day trip, if not next week then definitely sometime in the future. the break pad link looks great, it's a bit of a long way but looks almost perfect. are there similar ones a bit further south?

singletrack mind

You can also get the train to Wendover from Marleybone in less than 50 minutes - it's a 4 mile ride to the trails from the station. There are plenty of shops for food on the way and there's a good cafe nearby Wendover woods (less than a 5 minute ride from the trail head)... worth thinking about.

The train costs £14.00 without a railcard for an adult return.

http://www.rideastonhill.co.uk/Home.html

Stevo_666

Try Bedgebury Forest, down the A21 near Goudhurst - some decent singletrack there and the track round Bewl reservoir may still be open till end of the month for a bit of XC.

Not sure where you'd stay though.

Steve.

nonnac85

Try Bedgebury Forest, down the A21 near Goudhurst - some decent singletrack there and the track round Bewl reservoir may still be open till end of the month for a bit of XC.

Not sure where you'd stay though.

There is a campsite near the little chef on the main road just before you turn up the narrow road to the Bedgebury Forst entrance.

rhext

Get the Caledonian sleeper and go to Scotland.

You can leave Friday evening, arrive in time for breakfast on Saturday, enjoy what has to be some of the best riding in the world, leave Sunday evening and arrive back in London in time for work on Monday morning! And there's no better way of spending Sunday evening than sitting in the restaurant car of the train out of (eg) Fort William, drinking beer, eating microwave curry - OK, the food's not great - and watching the West Highlands drift past after a hard day's cycling.

compo

rhext wrote:

Get the Caledonian sleeper and go to Scotland.

You can leave Friday evening, arrive in time for breakfast on Saturday, enjoy what has to be some of the best riding in the world, leave Sunday evening and arrive back in London in time for work on Monday morning! And there's no better way of spending Sunday evening than sitting in the restaurant car of the train out of (eg) Fort William, drinking beer, eating microwave curry - OK, the food's not great - and watching the West Highlands drift past after a hard day's cycling.

+1
Happy Times 8)

rhext

Oh, I forgot, you can book your bike on in advance at no extra charge and the staff will actually help you with it rather than looking at you like you just crawled out from under a rock. There are showers at Fort William station!

Anonymous

Or if you want to go nuts, Eurostar run trains down to the Alps

Though I admit I'm not sure if that's only in the winter months for skiing.

LDNTrailRider

rhext wrote:

Oh, I forgot, you can book your bike on in advance at no extra charge and the staff will actually help you with it rather than looking at you like you just crawled out from under a rock. There are showers at Fort William station!

What you mean they won't make you run round Euston station like an idiot trying to get a stupid piece of paper that they then don't even look at and even though you'd already 'reserved' you bike space by telephone? Hello Virgin Trains!

rhext

LDNTrailRider wrote:

rhext wrote:

Oh, I forgot, you can book your bike on in advance at no extra charge and the staff will actually help you with it rather than looking at you like you just crawled out from under a rock. There are showers at Fort William station!

What you mean they won't make you run round Euston station like an idiot trying to get a stupid piece of paper that they then don't even look at and even though you'd already 'reserved' you bike space by telephone? Hello Virgin Trains!

Can't vouch for what happens at Euston, but the staff who met us at Crewe and Fort William couldn't have been more helpful. You do have to get a ticket for the bike, and you do have to attach it. But the ticket is free: I think the train splits at some point and they need to know which sections get which bikes!

If you live near a suitable station the Caledonian sleeper has to be one of the best solutions there is for mountain biking. It's at least as easy loading up a car, you get the tedious travelling out of the way while you're asleep, and you aren't confined to circular routes as you don't need to return from the same station you arrived at.