Routes south east of Guildford

Howski

Hi,

Having recently moved to Guildford I am a little unsure of the area and was hoping that someone could help me assess the technical difficulty of some of the routes in the Guildford area.

I picked up the Surry cycle guide and looking at it there are some paths that are marked as “Off-road routes that are recommended for experienced off-road cyclists only” in the area near Blackheath and Farley green. (51.20552,-0.514004).

Has anyone cycled these paths? I have done red routes before at Nant-yr-Arian but I’d not want to do too much worse than that.

Thanks in advance
-Howard

njee20

Blackheath and Farley Green (and St Marthas Hill) are all very sandy, and whilst there is some stuff up there, a lot of it isn't great, it certainly wouldn't be (/isn't!) my choice of area to ride.

Your best bet for 'proper' riding is to head further East towards the Surrey Hills around Peaslake, there's miles and miles of fantastic riding up there, none of which is particularly technical.

gregsd

You'll be alright - the routes around Blackheath and Farley Green are not technical, unless you count riding through deep sand as technical! It can be difficult to navigate around there (Blackheath) as well, or at least I find it difficult. There are more technical trails towards Winterfold/Pitch Hill/Holmbury Hill (Surrey Hills area), but again I think you should be alright if you've ridden red routes at trail centres.

I ride with a club based in Godalming, so if you fancy joining us you'd be more than welcome, or hook-up with the guys in the 'London Calling' thread over in the MTB Rides section.

Howski

Oh dear I hate sand! Horible stuff to ride on!

Thanks for the info. I might look in to the club in a few months - not sure how long I will be in Guildford to be honest with the job being what it is!

cooldad

Take a look in London Calling. We just arrange to meet up and ride, very relaxed. We are meeting in Peaslake on Sunday at 10am. Welcome to join in.

Nick Cod

Hi Howard

Like you I moved to the South East, but having been here a few years now I'm becoming more aware of places to ride. Depending on your style of riding and what you're looking to do I've recommended a few locations that may or may not suit

Swinley Forest: Good mix of fireroad and single track, located just off the M3 near Bracknell. Very popular riding location

South Downs: Can be picked up from various locations starts in Winchester stretching down to Brighton

QE Country Park: Located off of the A3 down towards Portsmouth. Sits on the South Downs with cafe and parking onsite. Waymaked trails in the park but plenty of good riding to be had outside of the park too.

Farley Mount: Near Winchester nice open trails and some single track thrown in here and there. No facilities onsite though

I'm sure there's more out there but it's a case of hunting them out. Hope this was helpful

bigpee

There's also the Ash / Pirbright ranges between Brookwood and Frimley. There are some good trails there, although being MOD land they're not publicised.

Anonymous

Surrey Hills are the king of trail areas around here, if not the whole of the south east (maybe even further than that), and can extend that into the North Downs.

Can recommend popping into the Peaslake bike shop and ask for directions and/or map, though at a weekend you can find masses of people riding there who are usually friendly folk and can point you in the right direction.

But as said, London Calling thread is a good start to find people out on rides, though have to weed through the hundreds of pages of mindless chat to get to anything sensible . All very informal.

There's quite a lot of little places to ride around the area though aside from SH and Swinley. Lots of MOD land, bits of common land, various different styles of stuff to ride.

booldawg

If you're looking for something more long distance the Downslink starts at St.Marthas Hill and can be followed all the way to Shoreham - about 40 miles. Its mostly on disused rail tracks and not hilly. A good leg stretcher but not challenging.

Also keep an eye on the development of the Shipwrights Way. This is expected to be fully open in 18 months time and will run from Farnham (alice holt forest) down to Portsmouth, a 60 mile track. Not sure how much is on/off road.