Moving back to the Benson/Wallingford area in October.

I was there around 3 years ago and could never find any decent routes or trails to make a nice a loop.

Just wondering if anyone has put a decent loop together at all?

Cheers

Steve

Lived round there a while ago. I don’t recall finding anything too special but some nice enough bridleways. Up to the ridgeway from the king bill or the downs to the west of Moulsford spring to mind

could never find any decent routes or trails to make a nice a loop.

you are shitting me right? The whole area is literally littered with some of the best old school woodsy single-track in the south 😆

I can think of at least 3 B/W that go from your doorstop that lead to the other end of the chilterns and back again, anything from 10-40 miles

You need Explorer 171 and just follow your nose.

you are shitting me right? The whole area is literally littered with some of the best old school woodsy single-track in the south

This.

Absolutely loads of stuff, take a look on Strava.

Here’s one for free:

https://www.strava.com/segments/884339

STW meet up / route compare in the Red Lion in Brightwell cum Sotwell?!

As others have said, if you can’t find decent riding from the doorstep of RAF Benson, you need to sit down and apologise to yourself 😉 Spent over 25 years growing up and living in Wallingford and there are loads of trails to join together of varying lengths.

Just buy a map and look for bridleways, then head out and find the good, find the bad, try them in the other direction etc, etc.

If proper xc riding is not your idea of mountain biking, then yes you will be disappointed!

More bloody great trails than you can count !

Just get an OS map and go exploring the Chilterns. While its dry they will all be good fun.

If your still stuck after that email me, I ride there every Tues / Thur and most weekends.

I had a good look around last time but couldn’t find much to be honest. I didn’t even find grims ditch that everyone went on about ?

I will get myself a map and have a good look around again.

Some awesome riding, I’m south of Wallingford and play around Goring to Reading and up to M40 most weekends and a couple of nights if I’m feeling fit!

Like others have mentioned, OS map and explore

Is there a particular OS map I need ?

Mines an old map so hopefully still in print but 1:25,000 OS explorer 3 Chilterns Hills South will be the immediate area.
And having ridden that area with Trimix, yes, there’s some good good trails roundabouts that way.

Grims Ditch is great (and just outside of Wallingford). Rides on Air bike shop in Wallingford is good. Get the Chilterns book by Rough Ride Guide, it has looads of routes around there.

Is there a particular OS map I need ?

You need Explorer 171 and just follow your nose.

Used to live just up the road, some ruddy brilliant fast woodland single track around. Grimes ditch is great, also head up towards park corner and follow your nose. Woods around nettlebed as well, might still be some old dirt jumps tucked away still.
Can get proper proper nasty in winter though 🙁

Never made it further than the Shepherds hut myself

I’m a few miles outside Wallingford and regularly ride Grims Ditch to the woods in Nettlebed. Or go the other way and ride the Ridgeway to Uffington. Checkout the route for Uptonogood as well.

Personally I think every one is being a bit too positive and I think the OP has a point. Dont get me wrong I love riding in the Chilterns and have for many years. But its definetly not the MTB utopia that alot of you are suggesting.

1. There are ALOT of bridleways alot of these are Rubbish decsents !
The one given above is a perfect example of that
Wormsley Descent
The first bit which has been rerouted is ok but the rest is just a straight line down the hill.
On a Full Suss bike it is plain boring, on a dry day on a rigid its pretty dull, on a wet day on a rigid its very slippy which some may like.

2. Alot of the good trails are a bit tame on a FS, I would recommend a rigid 29er for the chilterns my self.

3. The chilterns can be rubbish in the Winter as the drainage is bad its soo muddy in alot of places. Late summer is the best time to ride.

4. There arent many twisty turny trails (but there are a few)

The chilterns is best for long rides, with reasonably long up’s and down’s with road sections to link bits.

I dunno where the OP lives. To the north of where I live is the chilterns. To the south is Bracknell forest and the army wood land ie Tunnel Hill etc etc.

Now these are area I would describe a teaming with trails just head in find what you can find it will probably be good. Also with the sandy soil the drainage is normally decent all year.

Personally I dont think the Chilterns is like that. I think some of the posters are down playing the amount of local knowledge they have learned over time or gained from others.

It is perfectly possible to ride up into the chilterns and basically find nothing but straight boring bridleways as the OP has done.

I have listed some sections on here which I think are good.
Chilterns Singletrack Post

I know I have missed some like young offenders.

on the other hand you are on the good side of the Chilterns where there is a descent gradient.

I think some of the posters are down playing the amount of local knowledge they have learned over time or gained from others.

I don’t know how you find trails, but I just dive into the undergrowth on any tack or trail that looks promising. To say that:

“could never find any decent routes or trails to make a nice a loop.”

Smacks of just not being adventurous enough, you have a bike, go explore! 😀

especially as has been pointed out by many over the years, the Chilts is pretty good for the South. Yes it’s a bit shit in winter, but then lots of places are, and even then it’s perfectly possible to string a route together that avoids the worst of the Somme-like conditions.

I don’t know how you find trails, but I just dive into the undergrowth on any tack or trail that looks promising. To say that:

Yeah pretty much the same here.
But there have been distinctly more times in the chilterns where I’ve followed a trail and 1 of 2 things has happend .

1. ok this is a bit boring/rubbish and im starting to lose a bit of altitude, ok still boring and im going quite fast now should I turn back nah !, ok suddenly Im at the bottom of a ruddy great hill and all I’ve done go down very quickly with no skill in a straight line, ok I suppose I ride back up it again.

2. Oh this look interesting, hmm bit wet, hmm bit muddy, hmm very muddy, probably dry round the corner, hmm ok I’ll get off and walk a bit followed by 1 mile walking through mud.

Riding round Crowthorne Wood, Bracknell Forest, Tunnel Hill etc doesnt tend to be like that. Generally u just see a route think that looks interesting, and 90% of the time it is !

We seem to be talking about two different Chilterns then.

Sticking to long boring bridleways is one of your problems. Try the more entertaining twisty singletrack instead.

Its a pretty good place for XC mountain biking.

Look at the map and you will see if the trail is going to lose all your height. On the other hand, the hills are not so big you cant ride up them again.

I’ve just moved out of Reading but would agree with nickc, there are so many bridleway/byway options and the riding is really good. Not just in late summer either, but from spring until autumn (weather depending somewhat). You do have to make the effort to get to know every bit of the area though, then you can make the best routes combining the best descents or singletrack, and over time you get to know how various routes hold up in the wet and which to avoid. I can see sku98rkr’s point, but some of that is down to your attitude and knowledge. If it’s a wet winter then the trails do get a bit rubbish, but that’s when i tend to head to Swinley/Bracknell forest area.

For starters Wallingford has Grim’s ditch right on the doorstep! then there are lots of trails to find/link up near Nuffield, Nettelbed, Stoke Row and Checkendon. Also, make a route that goes past the King William pub in Hailey, lovely views and right on a byway.

We seem to be talking about two different Chilterns then.

I think it’s more two different types of riders, them that are prepared to just ride and see where it gets them, plus can read a map and are probably reasonably fit because they just ‘ride’ and the rest – who ought to just go to Swinley… 😉

And with a maximimum of 100m of vertical descending, even when at the bottom it’s only 15-20 mins back to the top.

You are correct 🙂

I always despair when I read the treads asking where to ride – its like “exploring” and “OS Map” have been somehow removed from some peoples brains.

Or is it an age thing – older riders had to find stuff for themselves (before email / internet / forums / GPS / Strava)

Whereas now some expect the internet to tell you where it is and beam it to your phone while out on the ride. Oh and if there is a hill there needs to be an uplift 🙂

Sticking to long boring bridleways is one of your problems. Try the more entertaining twisty singletrack instead.

I know the chilterns well now. I have been riding there since I went to Uni in Reading in 1998.

However I have had some pretty boring or depressingly wet rides there getting to know the place. It is not always possible from the OS map to work out which routes will be good, just from the gradient lines.

Anyone who claims you can just head out into the Chilterns and guarantees you will find some great MTBing first time is wrong (even if your happy with OS maps). You may find some great riding first time u may not as the OP stated.

However if the weather is nice your almost certain to have a great time cycling in the outdoors, as long as your not too hung up on finding “singletrack” or “trails”.

Probably true b r and trimix, though it’s not necessarily an age thing, more about being proactive or resourceful. I’m a mere 36 (so def NOT an ‘older rider’ 😉 ) and have never used a GPS to follow a route, though i will when i need to. Just think an OS map is a core resource for trail finding, helpfully supplemented by what can be found online and with GPS.

FWIW You can ride pretty much offroad from Dunstable to the Thames, and have a number of different routes at various places (obviously some it is ‘cheeky’), and while I’d agree that a 29er would be perfect I wouldn’t want to go rigid due to the harshness during the dry summer months.

I know the chilterns well now…

hmmm, on the last time this had come up (about three months ago) you’d admitted not having ridden Young Offenders or Dame Alice (climb/decent) which means that’s a significant number of trails that lead from them and to them that you’ve not explored. (unless you’ve done them since and decided that the Chilterns are all a bit crap and you’d rather not bother with it all.) OP lives in Benson, there’s enough singletrack, double track, woods and quiet roads nice pubs and decent views to keep an averagely keen off road cyclist entertained for a while. Yes, it’s not the most exciting area in the entire world for techy descents, and yes, it gets a bit muddy in Winter, but to suggest that there are no decent loops to be had is just mischievous TBH.

Young Offenders or Dame Alice (climb/decent)

True I still haven’t done them. They are quite a way from me in Twyford and I had my first kid last August so I’ve been doing quite alot of road biking unfortunately. I used to commute back on MTB from didcot but I dont have the time most of the time now.

But the Chilterns is a very big place and to be fair I don’t now much of the 2/3rd’s north of the M40.

I would probably include the hills south of the Thames between Henley and Cookham in the Chilterns and I do know this area extremely well.

but to suggest that there are no decent loops to be had is just mischievous TBH.

This is not what im suggesting at all, I love riding in the Chilterns !

Im just suggesting that I think most people are underestimating how much local knowledge they have picked up either over time / from other riders.

I think suggesting just go for a few rides and your’ll automatically find some good trails is wrong.

Although as I have admitted above the OP is on the right side of the Chilterns (the scarp sloop), to find some good descents. So he has more chance of finding something that some one from Twyford.

Haven’t been up Dame Alice for a few years now (fnaar fnaar etc). Used to be a regular end to a loop from Christmas Common. If Sunday’s decent might head over that way.
Agree with many posters – I’ve been riding the area for 25 years, usually between the A34 and Risborough, and am still enjoying it. Lots of old-skool woodland singletrack and frequently all but deserted, even at weekends. Guess the gnar-monsters are on the M4.

This month’s Mbuk has a 42 mile loop starting from Wallingford. Although I don’t know the area surely use that as a bit of a starting point and do a bit of exploring in conjunction with an os map, strava, and just using your eyes and intuition whilst riding.

I live a couple of miles from the op. Love it for XC training but it’s fitness not skills really. Trail centre it is not – more like gravel with mud instead of gravel. Suits me and there are some bits of twist to liven things up occasionally.

adsh pretty much has it. The Chilterns is great for getting out in the countryside, views, pubs and joining together miles and miles of tracks, bridleways, greenways etc – You can ride for days off-road.
It’d be a mistake though to think of it as exciting or technical, sections like that are few and a bit far between – it’s just not that kind of riding, but it is just a great place to live and explore.

Just out of interest what is the nearest trail centre to the Wallingford area then ?

Aston or Swinley both about 45minutes. Aston is rideable to on the Ridgeway if you like a long day out.

I do a 60 mile loop from Benson via Goring to Henley, Fawley and Christmas Common. Probably only 6 bits of fun single-track but a heap of nice climbs, fast descents, dips, roots and wallows to get lost in.

Do you have a map of that route at all bud ?

Just to add to the point about nearby ‘trail centres’- not trail centres as such, but there are some little downhill runs in Sulham woods near Pangbourne and others at Badbury near Faringdon. Both more for a ‘session’ than miles though.

I also disagree about technicality to some extent; there is often a bit of mileage between really fun sections, but a lot of the trail, ridden fast on light tyres and short travel is much more engaging!

At the moment it’s riding as well as it ever does! I’m out Thursday night and probably Sunday morning this week, if anyone wants to join. I’ve been riding the area since 2002, so I know a few routes.

Do you have a map of that route at all bud

https://www.strava.com/activities/578301801

I’d be interested in some of the Sulham woods knowledge please mate. I can’t ride for a few weeks but i’m very interested.

Weeksy- no problem- email is in profile when you’re free. There’s a couple of lines which ride well and other features to session- it’s not really a place to travel to, but if you’re local it’s a good spot for a few hours.