Longish easy routes in Surrey?

jayf76

I'm looking for an off road loop to do in the Surrey area with a beginner friend, so nothing technical, but we would like to get in 20 miles or so with as much off road as possible. Any ideas?

Are there easy trails in the Surrey Hills area or is it all steep and technical?

Any long ridable sections on the North Downs Way that wouldn't be too treacherous at this time of year? The South Downs Way might be an option too. But we would prefer a circular route if possible.

Thanks!

brooksie50

http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=1357776

Steve-XcT

If you go to Swinley you have a choice of sticking to fire trails or throwing in some blue or green.

You could ride half a day without any technical stuff or try some of the blue's.

roger_merriman

Heading east from Guildford to Dorking, maybe parking Newlands Corner? Fair amount of fire roads and otherwise reasonably tame stuff does get steep if you head off the ridge.

Steve-XcT

roger merriman wrote:

Heading east from Guildford to Dorking, maybe parking Newlands Corner? Fair amount of fire roads and otherwise reasonably tame stuff does get steep if you head off the ridge.

I'm guessing the OP wants as near a fully positive experience as possible :P

My 6yr olds first ever off-road and the one that got him hooked.
We cycled from Newlands to Guildford and back. It's a nice run but all uphill on the return. We had planned to get picked up in Guildford but he was up to cycling back.

Retrospectively though, for a first time experience I'd say Swinley is much better simply because a beginner doesn't need to "commit to anything" and its intrinsically circular with as much technical vs non technical as anyone chooses.. You can always get back to the parking on a flat fireroad... (with perhaps 1-2 small but pushable hills)

I love the area round Newlands and Dorking ... but it is quite easy for a beginner to push too far and perhaps have a miserable second half of the day unless you are with someone knows the area really well ..? You can end up getting to the bottom of the downs just because the fireroads skirt around farms etc. and humans have a habit of remembering the half hour when they are tired and miserable over the 2 hours they were having fantastic fun!

If Newlands is a target I'd suggest the reverse and park say at Shalford then cycle up to Newlands, use the cafe and then the return is almost all downhill! If the beginner doesn't like the hill you can turn back and cycle along the River Wey instead ???


(You can also hire half decent bikes at a very decent rate. I took a friend (and his GF) and his comment was it was worth the £15 for 2hrs just to not have to clean/transport a bike! (They also have a bike wash for £1)
I broke my frame and whilst it was at the Carbon Doctor (in Dorking) we went to Swinley every time because I could hire easily.)

Monty Dog

It's also possible to joint the Northdowns Way with the Downslink - Downlink is mainly the disused railway from Guildford to Shoreham, so is pretty level apart from a couple of detour sections. Was a bit muddy in places in January when I rode it but should be drying out nicely.

jayf76

Thanks for all the tips! In the end we did a triangular route (out of some book) from Reigate Hill car park on the North Downs Way, up towards Ashtead, down to Box Hill and back. It was a success :-)

Steve-XcT

Congrats ....