Swinley Forest - anyone have a map / directions to best bits
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Its a total maze, so hard to be specific. What I would do if I were you....
Assuming you start from the Lookout.... Go from the car park, through the cafe/playground area, and out the gate on the other side. Turn left on the firetrail. RIde along there for a while until you crest a second rise, just on the downside of the rise there should be a firetrail crossing left to right. Go straight over. Follow the path up the hill, at the top you will join a curving trail. You should see a red post on the opposite side of the trail. This marks an' MTB' trail. Go down this and just keep going from trail to trail. You'll have fun.
Ive created a little 'map' showing the route from the Lookout to the red trails, although it only really works in Satellite view!
http://www.instamapper.com/trk?key=583434749773213607
Another easy to find route is to go to the Lower Star Post (Signposted in various parts of the forest) and then on one of the 6 or so spokes, the one thats signposted 'Upper star post', you see a trail that starts by some concrete blocks (tank trap type things). Thats the Seagull trail and it runs for 3 sections right out to Crowthorne wood. Well worth a blast in both directions.A Flock of Birds
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Thanks. That's great.
Where is the Corkscrew ?0 -
tobh wrote:Thanks. That's great.
Where is the Corkscrew ?
Go over Sunday, there's a race on over there which is taking in the Corkscrew.Salsa Spearfish 29er
http://superdukeforum.forumatic.com/index.php0 -
The corkscrew is on the Crowthorne side of the forest. If you're riding the seagull from Lower star, then go all the way through the 3 sections and come out at the end. To your left you will see a gate, go through this and turn immediately right. Follow that trail for a while and you will come to a bench. Next to the bench is a singletrack that will (eventually!) lead you to the corkscrew. Alternatively, turn left at the bench, take the next firetrail right and follow that for a while.... Im afraid it gets a bit vague from there, as my memory isnt what it used to be! As its a race weekend then it might already be trail marked for the race, so you could follow the red and white tape from the bench.
Where are you planning to start from?A Flock of Birds
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benpinnick wrote:
Where are you planning to start from?
The car park !, I guess.
And is the Corkscrew the best bit or is the Labyrinth the best bit ?
(when i say "best bit" i mean best non 'downhill' bits - we like singletrack..).
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So the next question will be which car park? The Look Out?0
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Yep. The Lookout...0
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Labarinth is cool, Dear Stalker is the nuts, but its on the far side of the forest..... and a touch downhill.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 7&t=h&z=17
The DS trail starts at the tip of the triangle patch of grass extending to about 2 oclock from the firetrail.A Flock of Birds
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Honestly though, for the best/easiest to find single track follow my directions from the Lookout to the red trails and head in from there. You'll cover most of the best single track in one long run. To get to the Labyrinth/DS you need to find Swinley reservoir, and then follow the trail round the southern edge of the forest. This will lead you up a steep climb with the entrance to the Labyrinth at the top.A Flock of Birds
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We went on sat,first time in about a month.Its a big pile of skank at the mo,what with potters freaking lot over there again,shutting of the main trail in(9 whole yards beginning).The new bit they put in last year cant remember its name turkey twizzler or something,is a mess all full of deep puddles,talking four footers!seagull run is about the most ridable.
Hopefully it will start too dry out,does quite quickly,not like the bucks boggy bridle ways.
Plus the overflow carpark is gone too,thatll be fun for peeps on sunday!Told ya itll hurt!0 -
Hmm, bloody Warner Bros. In that case (they were there a few weeks ago - I know what you mean about screwing the place up) you might be best to head straight over to Lower Star post and take on the seagull to the trails on the crowthorne side. They tend to be a bit less well ridden so survive the boggyness better.A Flock of Birds
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...and there are no wizards.A Flock of Birds
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stev68 wrote:.
Plus the overflow carpark is gone too,thatll be fun for peeps on sunday!
Parking for Sunday is down the road about 1m from Lookout.Salsa Spearfish 29er
http://superdukeforum.forumatic.com/index.php0 -
http://www.binfieldbikers.co.uk/routes/swinleysingletrack.jpg
That should do ya!
Keep meaning to finish this.
Tux0 -
Tux, Awesome, well done sir. Can I suggest a couple of things....
Labelling the Whole Nine Yards would be helpful as thats a nice 'cross the forest trail'. I would break Seagull into sections 1,2 and 3 (as they are all independently rideable) with one closest to the LSP. I would also mark on the bench in Crowthorne wood, and the gate at the end of Seagull as its a good reference point.A Flock of Birds
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benpinnick, cheers for the complements
I have been sat on this for a while. I should finish it.
Funny how different people have a different perspective, I always think of the Seagull section near the gate as the first section, as I think it flows better in that direction.
I also noticed that i imply tank traps is directional, which is not true. I often ride the "wrong" way when the woods are quite. The last climb out of the gully section can be quite amusing
Tux0 -
I agree on the flow of Seagull, it does run better that way overall, the middle section being probably better from LSP, but I think that people who are using your map would be more likely to start from LSP than by the gate, as the gate is a little hard to find.
Tank traps the wrong way? Thats just madness though.
There's also a small trail thats bidirectional from USP to LSP on the opposite side of the fire trail to Seagull, I have dubbed that the Tern trail as its found near seagull, only much smaller.A Flock of Birds
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That trail is very good for avoiding the mud and puddle fest on the firetrack between upper and lower star post.0
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Tobh, how did you get on? I was there yesterday and conditions were actually pretty good as a rule.A Flock of Birds
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I know it's a bit late for the OP, but there's lots of named trails on OpenStreetMap.
http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=51.3759&lon=-0.7443&zoom=14&layers=0B00FTF
and you can fix it if it is wrong, or add other you find0 -
I concept thats good - but its fairly unusable as a map. I think Tux is still holding the crown.A Flock of Birds
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How are the trails looking and are Warner still there? I'm over next Saturday and wanted to check it was still worth heading over?Blogging about junior road bikes http://junior-road-bikes.tumblr.com0
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Assuming the rain holds away the trails should be good. Can't comment on wizard numbers, but there's a lot of trails away from them.A Flock of Birds
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Brilliant Tux - I ave been desparate for something like this.
I hope you dont mind but I have added the star posts, where I think the reservoir is and the missing section from the top of the map.
http://www.calcot.plus.com/swinleysingletrack2.jpg
if anyone wants it.0 -
Handy.A Flock of Birds
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PS - The forest is now wizard free again. I am pleased to report that they left relatively little damage too.A Flock of Birds
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ill be up here in easter! lets hope now with this knowledge i dont get lost like last time!0
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Sorry to resurect an old thread, but I need to say thanks to apreading and Tux for their mapping skills.
I spent today in Surry Hills (well, until the rain turned up and spoiled the fun). First time I've been there and the maps you've posted got me round perfectly. Well, apart from the first half hour when I was, er, getting used to the area (some may say lost).
Thanks for the work; it really made my day!0 -
Thanks for the maps Tux and apreading- I went to Swinley for the first time today and found them very useful
For those who have Google Earth (GE) i've roughly georectified the mapping created by Tux and apreading so that it broadly fits google's aerial image and created a .kmz file you can open in GE.
Its a best fit only i'm afraid as the rectification tools in GE are not great, and the coarse representations of feature such as roads in the base mapping do not allow a perfect fit.
When you get it into GE you can play with the opacity so you can see the image and the trails better.
The .kmz file uses the link in apreading's post above to get the image, so it does rely on that being available.
http://www.auroramapping.co.uk/swinleytrailsoverlay.kmz
any problems pm me!
Cheers!0
