Help, I need a flatish off road route near Chichester

tempest5

Hello,

My 10 & 8 yr old lads are wanting to do some off roading in the Chichester area having got bored of cycling along the canal for our Sunday afternoon ride. Can anyone recommend any flatish off road routes, about 45mins to 1 hr, around Chichester that might suit. I only know the routes with big lumpy bits around here and can't think of anything less hilly. I don't mind having to put the bikes in the car & driving 10-15 mins

Chris

CitizenLee

I'm in Aberdeen so you'll have to trust my GoogleFu

Any use?
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic ... owth-downs

Twelly

Take them down the Kingley Vale DH tracks. Then see if they moan about the canal!

tempest5

Cheers guys, I have been tempted to do Kingley Vale with them but I can imagine the squealing of brakes behind us as as we get in the way of someone who knows what they are doing :-).

Might liven things up by doing the canal cycle in the dark without lights. Probably get grief from their mum for that though.

bartimaeus

I live near Emsworth, and my 11 year old is a keen rider. We started off doing a loop round Racton and Southleigh Forest which is fun until it gets really boggy - but then you can just stick to the proper path in Southleigh and avoid the actual woods. This is our route.

I would like Stanstead - though this does get very muddy... it's OK at the moment. I don't seem to have a track that I can find, but the top left loop of this one gives you some idea going northwards to Lodge Farm and then back via Watergate Hanger - and on the OS map you will see the quiet roads and tracks to make a loop within Stanstead.

We've since gone on to some pretty big rides with 'proper' climbs at Kingley Vale - e.g. this one - though if you are doing KV I would park at the Adsdean triangle on Hare's Lane (out of Funtington) and go up the Adsdean path to the top (this route) as it's the easiest way up... the worst part of the climb is the final push to the top.

At the moment we are making big changes to the QE Park Blue Trail, so come summer that should be much better for beginners... at the moment it is too hard and very dull. That said, you can session some fun singletrack if you park at the top (Juniper) and ride up the fireroad to do the 'Lumberjack' section of the Red Trail. Here's the QE Trail map. The Juniper car park is above the text 'Electric Avenue'... the fireroad is shown by yellow dots heading up to the start of Lumberjack in the top right. You need to bale where you see the trail turn back on itself alongside a red dotted path - you do a U-turn and rejoin the fireroad under where it says 'Snakes and Ladders'. Repeat until they get tired. Lumberjack is a bit rooty in places and can get wet an muddy, but it is great fun. If you are a bit slow you may want to stop and let people past every so often - but QE attracts all sorts: last weekend I saw someone on a mixte road bike doing Lumberjack.

bartimaeus

... and I *would* take them down the first part of "the Vale" DH at Stoughton as that's all fun features and nothing too hard (I need to confirm this is still true as they've been building there the last couple of weeks... looked fine to me though). But I would stop BEFORE you get to the two drops and the big right hander into the first 25ft tabletop!

booldawg

Have you tried the Hayling Billy ride? All flat on an old railway track from Havant to Hayling seafront. Also the Centurions Way from Chi up to West Dean is again a flat, old railway track.