MTB Weekend Away/Trail Center - Road trip with friends

Afan would be closer and quite good for intimediates and first time visitors to trail centres. there is camping near by, but plenty of cheap B+B's which makes the whole weekend a lot nicer to sooth the aches and pains (bar)

Afan, Cwmcarn are easy to get to from the south east. 2 to 3 hours from London just straight down the M4. Possible to do there and back in a day if you live nearer the M4.

However, nearer to you are the Surrey Hills and Swinley Forest. Not near the coast, but far closer than Wales.

The former is (in my opinion) the best you can get in this relatively flat area that is the south east. Basically a woodland area along the North Downs, some reasonable hills and a large amount of singletrack spread all over the place. It's no trail centre, it's all natural stuff with paths carved out by bikers and walkers, and some built trails by various volunteers (a small handful are approved funded trails). No costs, and parking is free in any of the car parks dotted around the hills. Some parts are owned by the National Trust (e.g. Leith Hill), others by various local woodland estates.

The latter is kind of like a trail centre. Swinley is up by Bracknell (it's aka Bracknell Forest), owned by the Crown Estate and is a self contained forest park with a mix of family woodland trails, doubletrack and a reasonable amount of single track scattered around (some are proper built trails), plus a bit of a DH area. You need a permit to ride there (£2 daily or £20 for the year), but no other costs (free parking). Swinley is frequented by a lot of families also, but get out into the depths and off the fire roads and you find the good stuff. Surrey Hills is miles better, but Swinley is a great place to get started or for a bit of fun.

They're neither a patch on the trail centres in Wales, but they're still very good.

There's a long thread going here with a bunch of us around the London area who frequent the two often (and are now doing the odd trip to Wales also):

London Calling

Also check out these threads:

Swinley Forest / The Lookout

Surrey Hills - where to start?

Oh, and Surrey Hills has a Youth Hostel at Holmbury St Mary. Not sure if you count as youths now

Hardtail it looks like. Should be fine for Afan.

Read about the Trans Wales course - Epic MTB stage race to cover 534km of Welsh and English riding with 15,225m of climbing. It includes one prologue marathon, 7 linking stages, 6 special stages and for the first time ever one day in England. Not going to participate but can't wait to watch...will be inspiring.

Another vote for Afan, I always camp at the Glyncorrwg trail centre, rock up early on a Friday to make sure you get a pitch. Can't go wrong at £5 a pitch, the cafe whilst currently shut is epic, there is a warehouse for overnight lock up and the shop is fantastic, always good work at a great price, great if you tend to break things.

Infact, heres my trip video from this week:
http://www.vimeo.com/21226496

Popped into the Afan Lodge Hotel for a fry up, very nice, the place looked very new and smart with a nice bar and chill area, not sure what the prices are like but worth a look..
http://www.mountain-bike-accommodation.com/

There is also a camp-site 5-6 miles away that lets you wild camp in the forest, can dig out the name if interested.

Whilst me and my mates have upgraded since, we all hit Afan a few years back on entry level hard tails & it was still a hoot.

as the OP was asking about June 2010 topic locked.