Possibly moving to Lewes next year, we love the town.
What’s the riding like in the immediate area? Is there any good routes you can do from the town? Any websites with good routes?

Head up past the prison & old racecourse to Blackcap and hit the SDW (to Winchester 😉 ) Plenty of bridle ways going off in all directions. You can also leave Lewes from the Nevill Estate and mess around in the chalk pits and woods above Offham.

A favourite circuit of mine is Lewes, Blackcap, Ditchling Beacon, down into Patcham past the Indian War Memorial, a few Beers in Brighton then steep road climb up to the race course, along bridle ways/SDW to Castle Hill then fast downhill into Kingston and along the Juggs Way back into Lewes 🙂

Also worth a visit is Stanmer Park near Falmer with a bit of singletrack and slightly further east is Friston Forest, again with a fair bit of singletrack.

Sussex Muddy@rse and Brighton MTB clubs both ride in the area so it’s worth checking out their respective websites.

it’s good – pick up a map or guidebook and you will find

I like. Lots of fast tracks to wiz about on. Can get a bit exposed on the tops of the downs sometimes

Brighton MTB forum

They ride on a Tuesday & Thursday evening at 7pm from the Sussex Uni sports centre carpark on the Falmer Campus without fail.

Tuesdays are a milemuncher & quite quick. Thursday’s are more laid back with lots of Singletrack round Stanmer Park.

THere are also pleanty of rides going on of a weekend. Some local but some further afield.

Getting there is easy from Lewes either along the cyclepath that follows the A27 & delivers you at their meeting point or across the top if you’ve got a bit more time.

Whatever you decide there’s pleanty of good riding to be had in the area 🙂

Some good riding around Friston Forest, 12 miles East from Lewes.
Stanmer is good considering the area for singletrack.
SDW for mile munching to Eastbourne or the other way to Winchester.

Plenty of local small clubs around

Slugwash, try Nevill to Balckcap, turn left at the gate, follow the singletrack down the back of Falmer Uni, singletrack around stanmer, back out the top of stanmer park, climb up to Ditchling Beacon, right, along the SDW back to blackcap, little 4X racing around the chalk pit circuit. Out the back of the chalk pit down and across the Offham Road,turn right down by the church then right, following the river back ish and pop out Lamport !.

Quality

(looks out of window)

Nope, no riding to be seen in these parts…….

…..honest 😀

Nope, you never see mountain bikers anywhere near Lewes…
🙂

Ditto all the comments above, Loads of good riding to be had, lots of classic South Downs trails, some very good forest singletrack close by in Stanmer (Brighton) and Friston (between Seaford and Eastbourne) and a good local mountain biking scene courtesy of SussexMuddy@rse and BrightonMTB.

SussexMuddy@rse

Possibly moving to Lewes next year

Why, what have you done?

Are you staying in the big Victorian pile at the top of the hill. Just at the start of the downs, great views. Downside – access can be problematic!

You can ride around Lewes or you can drive over to the Surrey Hills and actually have some fun! It does depend on what kind of riding you are used to. Surrey Hills is as good almost as it gets in England; the trails do lack length but they are plenty fast and technical. The riding on the south downs is less challenging but just as nice a day out if riding technical single track isn’t your thing.

DirtyLyle – fine choice, I spend a lot of time in E Sussex, got a static caravan in Eastbourne, as mentioned the riding is great, especially if you like miles of XC with stunning views across the downs, Friston Forest is definitely worth exploring. Also worth riding, although not that challenging is Abbots Wood near Arlington, Bedgebury Forest and Pevensey Flats, you can ride the 1066 trial all the way to Rye. There’s also Tilgate and of course the North Downs, where I live. Dorking has some of the best riding if you’re after more technical stuff.

The best thing about Lewes though is the beer, Harvey’s Best is one of the finest pints in the world.

Lewes has a pretty major firework display too.

Are you staying in the big Victorian pile at the top of the hill. Just at the start of the downs, great views. Downside – access can be problematic!

😀 funny

I can thoroughly recommend a bottle or two of Nut Brown as a South Downs winter riding recovery drink. Preferably in front of a log fire in one of the local drinking establishments 🙂

You can ride around Lewes or you can drive over to the Surrey Hills and actually have some fun!

True in a small way. A lot of friends I brought down to ride around the South Downs who normally rode the Surrey Hills complained about the amount of gates you have to open & close whilst riding around on our fine chalk hills. One advantage though, I’ve never got lost whilst exploring new trails on the downs. I’ve lost the plot many a time in the rather more foresty Surrey Hills, often only managing to get back to Dorking railway station and the train home well after sundown.

Slugwash, try Nevill to Balckcap (Blackcap), ……. and across the Offham Road, turn right down by the church then right, following the river back ish and pop out Lamport (Landport) !

That’s a great little run back into Lewes along that track below the Offham Road. I used to live in Barcombe for a while so did it several times a day 🙂 There’s a handy water tap in the churchyard as well if you’ve just come off the downs with an empty water bottle.

Ah memories! The woods between Offham and Mount Harry is where I started getting into that bivi lark back in my late teens.

I’m getting chalk trail withdrawal issues. I’ll next be down in that neck ‘o the woods for bonfire night with my trusty single-speed wedged between the kids in the back of the car 🙂

Boy do South Downs pictures make me feel homesick!

a pretty major firework display too.

bit more than that;

One of the finest traditional anti-catholic ( 😉 ) events in Europe attracting hundreds of thousands of people every year.

slugwash – used to camp up exactly at that spot when I was teenager 🙂

slugwash – used to camp up exactly at that spot when I was teenager

What the woods or the chalk pit?

Oi! That’s my sister’s flat in the background of your middle picture ^^^^

Further to Slugwash’s beer pic, Middle Farm, a couple of miles down the road on the A27, has a particularly fine selection of ciders 8).

What the woods or the chalk pit?

sorry, missed the question earlier – the flat bit just to the right of where your bike is in that picture. that is the chalk pit with the pub at the end isn’t it?

This was 30 years ago, mind, it may all have changed a bit now.

Typing that last sentence has made me feel old. There’s stuff I did 30 years ago and I was already 15 then 🙁

Typing that last sentence has made me feel old. There’s stuff I did 30 years ago and I was already 15 then

wwaswas, we’re the same age then. Did you also grow up in Lewes? Have we met 😕

grew up in Burgess Hill – went to the Old Grammar School. my ‘real’ name is my email address in my profile.

grew up in Burgess Hill – went to the Old Grammar School

So you lived on one side of Slugwash Lane and went to school on the other 🙂

bit south of there, but yes.

The riding is great round here. It’s mostly open downland so you have to seek out the singletrack but it is there. Very good riding to be had in Stanmer (a big thanks for Brighton MTB guys for their hard work making some sweet trails in there!) and the Big Dog guys for organising the race in Stanmer every year.

Quick plug for the “other” Brighton MTB club, Brighton Explorers http://www.brightonexplorers.org/index.php (though we have a few members in Lewes too) A multi activity club but quite a few of us are MTBers. (and a bit less “Famous Five” than the name might suggest!) 3 organised rides a week, usually starting / finishing at a pub. Tuesdays is fast, Thursdays is moderate (with slow rides in summer) and Sundays is a longer social moderate ride.

Here are some local rides posted by one of our guys (thanks David!)
http://www.wabsnazm.co.uk/rides/