Meeting some chums at The Lookout tomorrow. I'm getting there on the train. Planning to get off at Ascot.

Looking at the map, it seems a direct route from Ascot station to The Lookout takes me through a wooded area marked on the map as 'Swinley Park'.

Is this rideable/private/easy/possible/private/maze-like/crocodile-infested?

http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=UTF-8&q=maps+RG12+7QW&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Bracknell,+Berkshire+RG12+7QW,+United+Kingdom&ei=JvYQS7b3OeLKjAe6pJTOAw&ved=0CA0Q8gEwAA&ll=51.395671,-0.713167&spn=0.029026,0.08626&t=h&z=14&iwloc=A

Yes, you are allowed to ride through this bit. To get to the most north-western corner, go to central Ascot and the Heatherwood Hospital roundabout.

From there, take the A329 towards Bracknell.

At the second set of traffic lights, turn left into Swinley Rd (B3107), over the railway bridge and just when you drop down, there's a small lay-by left and right.

Enter on the right hand side and go to a crossroads thingy. Follow the wide path to your left and this brings you to the sawmill in Blaine's Lane. From here, turn right and follow this through to the lodge where you'll come to a busy part of the A322.

Straight over the dual carriageway will take you into Swinley Forest proper and after about 200 yards, turn right – you'll see the signs for the Look Out from there.

I estimate that it's about 15-20 minutes from where you enter at the lay-by until you hit Look Out.

Have a good ride – I'm leading one there myself on Monday. 8)

Thanks for the directions, Old Git. I'll make good use of them.

Cheers,

Clive

Clive, in case you're a complete stranger there, here's our Monday route that takes in a lot of the good stuff:-

This is a ‘figure of eight’ course based around the Lower Star Post and takes in some wide roads and some good single-track trails as well.

From the Lookout, we head south and uphill towards the Crowthorne Reservoir and from there (turn left at fence, then right) to the Upper Star Post. Lovers of water sports will enjoy the next part as we take the normally well-puddled road south-east towards the Lower Star Post but just before we reach this, we turn right onto our first purpose-built trail, the Seagull. (between two concrete bollards about 8ft high)

The Seagull is a two-part trail and has a nice ‘camel-hump’ part of the way down on the first section. From there we cross over to the second purpose-built trail, the Stickler. This terminates at the Devil’s Highway.

From here we go straight across with a slight fork right to Caeser’s Camp where we turn left and after a few minutes arrive at the Corkscrew, as requested. We’ll probably stay here for a few minutes with a short break for anyone wishing to play slalom there.

From here we’ll retrace to Caeser’s Camp and follow through to Forest Pond where we turn left and sharp right up a slight climb. This has several drop-offs from it that anyone can try (I’ll show you the best one) as well as a technical trail that runs parallel to the climb and meets up with it at the brow. From here we continue to Lower Star Post again where we take the road towards Wishmoor Cross (blue water pipe) and proceed uphill towards the Surrey Hill Reservoir and then on to enter the expert mountain bike trail (non-experts welcome, of course) to choose one of three descents.

First descent is known as Left-left and is nice and twisty. Second descent is known as Left-right and has a couple of sharp downhill bends. Third is the famous Babymaker, not too difficult but with a couple of tabletops that can be jumped, if you wish. All three converge at a crossroads marked with a red paint smear on a tree that marks the start of the Labyrinth, a superb single-track technical trail that twists and winds up and down small hills until it eventually comes out just south of Vicarage Lane. All three descents and the whole of the Labyrinth include purpose-built and maintained tracks with excellent berms and bankings. Part of your £2 day-licence fee contributes to this.

From here we climb again to the Surrey Hills Reservoir where we descend another trail (CJ’s trail) to the Jump Quarry and our break. Some tempting stuff here if you like BMX-style riding.

From here it’s a short climb to the concrete inspection cover and then a right along Tech Trail One, a k a. the Full Nine Yards. This is in four parts (one of which is very short) and is again a purpose-built trail with banking, excellent short rises and descents and lots of nice twisty bits. This terminates at the top of Pudding Hill from where we return to the Lookout just a short ride away.

Depending on the weather, our speed and how long we stop for at the Corkscrew and Jump Quarry, the ride should take between two-and-a-half and three hours.

Many of the above highlighted features are on YouTube so that you can have an idea of what the ride’s all about.

Hi Old Git –

As it turns out I didn't make use of your helpful directions. My train was delayed – a helpful friend rescued me from Bracknell and I put my bike in the back of his car.

We had a great ride. We were shown round by a couple of guys who know Swinley very well. I hadn't been for ages. We did all kinds of trails including Mordor, Seagull and the Labyrinth.

It was very very wet. But the water tended to sit in distinct puddles rather than turning the trails to complete mud. Good fun.

By the time we finished we were wet through, but we had a great time. We rounded it all of with a couple of pints on the scariest locals' pubs in Bracknell.

Result.

For future reference, if you get off at Martin's Heron, you can ride there all off road from about 100m from the station, on the obvious tracks through the woods marked on the OS map. You have to be careful crossing the A road, but it is pretty easy to navigate, I did it first time on a night ride with no hassles.

Joe

joemarshall – Cheers, but if arriving from the south by train, I can't get to Martins Heron without changing at Ascot and hanging around there for a while. Mind you, the ride from Bagshot seems OK too.

Glad you enjoyed it, Clive.

Well, after it pi55ing down here all day, I'm really looking forward to getting drenched tomorrow! 😯

What is Swinley like at the moment? Only been in the summer when it was really dusty