Got the day off work and itching to reacquaint myself with the mtb after a few months of avoiding the mud and riding the roadie.

Its a fair drive for me so was wondering how the trails are? Have they dried out okay?

Thanks a lot.

Trails themselves are nice and dry, they didn’t get too bad even in the winter. Some of the fire roads are a bit messy because of the logging they are doing but its fine.

Does anyone know if the start of the red (Tank Traps) is open again? Heading there Sunday morning.

Rode it not long ago and it was fine, a bit sketchy in places but nothing major. Mates rode it last weekend and said it was fine – nice and quick – I couldn’t go due to bike being in bits :(.

I was going to suggest you check the Swinley facebook page to see if tank traps will be open on Sunday, but had a look myself and it is not clear if they are open or closed…………….

It was closed on Tues 10th March when I was there last

I was under the impression now the trees have been cleared around tank traps it would be closed for the bird nesting season.

Yep smatkins has it. Red1/tank traps is now closed until the end of August according to the signs. I think they’ve left all the clearance debris behind to discourage numpties who/won’t read signs, see barriers etc.

Ah ok. The Facebook page implies it should be open by now, but I guess it’s not to be. Darn nature, getting in the way of my enjoying the outdoors!

I went on Saturday and that section was closed at the start of the red trail. Still pretty dry though!

Brilliant, thanks all. Fingers crossed the M25 plays ball…

Red 1 was closed today.

Large section of the red route is missing sadly, but its drier than a dry thing. Well it was a couple of weeks ago and its been mostly dry since.

It’s only tank traps (red 1) which is closed at the moment and possibly the bit by the bridge of doom after the run out of deerstalker / labyrinth. Swinley is running great at the moment. The pipe laying means there is quite a bit of traffic around and large holes in the ground! When you come out of stickler instead of turning left to tank traps (red 1), turn right.

Don’t make the mistake many people do and hang a left at the spider towards red 9 ish. You need to turn right, past the metal fences and take the long fire Road to pick up red 3. This runs into old seagul and then newt which is the new bit created parallel is to old seagul. It’s still called a diversion…. But it’s the new trail and pretty good fun hit fast.

Enjoy!

How long do you have to drive? It is running fine at the moment. Went today and it is great.

Heading up to Swinley on Sunday, I’m running an Ardent on the rear & a Shorty on the front. I’m thinking I should swap the Shorty for my other Ardent as I’m hoping Swinley’s not a mud fest at the moment.

Anyone been this week and can advise on levels of mud?

Been today.. Very dry. Was a joy just sticking bike back in shed rather than hose down of bike and me!

@don thanks

Some regulars here clearly – I’m not a million miles away but have never ridden Swinley. Where would you recommend starting / parking if I were bringing a hyperactive 9 year old and possibly a 6 and a 4 year old (4 on tag a long)?

Brassneck yeah I ride Swinley daily (it’s my commute). Often take my daughter on tag along (she is 4.5)…main car park is 4 quid for the day (I think – never used it) and puts you right by the start.

Blue and green start from the same bit…. Just head down the end of the car park (if you want to get really close, as you come into lookout car park follow one way round till you see the overflow car park, head down the end by the pay machine and you will be 10 meters from the start of trails.

Red picks off the blue half way round.

I would suggest starting off with a couple of loops of green (which is really short – think I get round in about 5 mins with my daughter in tow).

Plenty of fire roads to pick up and follow, head over Crowthorne way and pick any fun looking trail. Prepare for frequent stops to pick random objects and build tents out of all the old wood.

9 & 6 year old will be fine on all the blue. If you go at weekend it will be very busy in the dry. But just chill and enjoy it…. You will get strava sausages trying to overtake you but just ignore them. Ride at your own pace. The first bit blue especially gets busy before the peel off to red.

Also quite a good playground for the kids and there is a cafe (but food is crap)

Enjoy!

Perfect, thanks very much!

main car park is 4 quid for the day (I think – never used it)

yep, £2 for 4 hours, £4 for the day.

You’ll be fine round the blue, just keep an ear open for faster riders & move over when you can. I’ve riden round with my lad at a fairly slow pace on busy weekend mornings and never had any problems – in fact most folk are pretty friendly.

Had a great day yesterday we had 8 adults and 8 children between 6 & 11 so we rode the blue 1.5 times! All the kids rode everything one of the 11 years even got some air! As it was my 50th birthday last Monday it was our Big Birthday Bike Ride so there was home cooked pulled pork rolls, homemade colesaw and homemade carrot cake.

Only slight/big glitch was on the way home someone ran into the back of the car and destroyed 2 bikes and my car’s tailgate! My Whyte T-130 Works was the outer most bike and seems totally unscathed! Insurance company are sorting the repairs etc but have said that if the bike was on a rack which was hit by another car then they write off the bike even if it looks OK!