I’m seriously considering night riding. The nearest place to me is Swinley.

Has anyone ridden there at night? Considering its privately owned, is it allowed?

Oh and what lights? 😉

Chances of tickets being checked in the dark = zero.

Need a Permit to ride there, and you can ride whenever you like.

Permits should be cheaper as half year now:
http://www.gorrick.com/swinley/permits.php

Lights? need a bright one and a backup I’d say.

I have ridden there at night and its fine, i had only ridden at swinley 4 times before the night ride i didn’t get lost!
Spare light is a good idea. 🙂

light on bars & lid is good. try to stay near to surrey hill as higher ground & around reservoir etc, crowthorne wood and adjacent A322 can be a bit boggy which is ok daytime but a surprise if you’re not familiar with the trails esp in the dark

Haven’t been for a couple of years but Swinley is a great spot, especially for night rides. Map here courtesy of Gorrick. If you have GPS or maps on your phone just set your start point and go and explore.

We used to ride on a Thursday night and there was always plenty of other riders, if you get lost just ask, or just tag on with a group if they’re OK with it.

What everyone else said, although on familiar trails most would probably get away with cheep lights and a get you home backup (cheepy 99p LED’s). There’re no rocks or owt like that at Swinley so no need to pick out any great detail on the trail. I’ve got the original magicshine P7 and rarely feel the need to switch it onto high although I’ll usualy leave it on high as the battery lasts longer than most rides anyway and as I’m carying it arround anyway, it’s just un-neccecary.

Used to night ride a lot there a few years ago, its great for it.

I won’t imagine I’ll ever go back as I live up north now, so I’ll say now we never got a permit at night, and no one ever died as a result of that.

Best not leave your car in the Look Out car park when it gets dark would be my advice.

You did not ask about the garlic, silver bullets and the crucifix so I assume that you have those in hand.

if you don’t have a permit and you injury yourself and the air ambulance has to come you might have to pay the Crowns costs.

also money goes to help the forest out. and is the cost of a can of coke and a choccy bar

Thanks for the info all.

I do have a permit so no problem there. I was wondering if it was “closed” after a certain time in the evening. Stupid question really 🙂

I’m now looking forward to my first night ride. I’ll stock up on garlic, silver bullets, cross and ill stock up on holy water in the camelbak.

Last time we did a ride there they were checking for permits, and selling them, in the look out car park.

There are car park charges now, don’t know what the deal is at night though?

permit is not just an insurance thing or ‘to help the forest out’. There are a number of directives covering access and the permit is a means of showing to the relevant powers that be that MTB’ing in the forest is under control.

From the Gorrick site:

http://www.gorrick.com/swinley/permits.php

Why do you need a permit?
There are three main reasons why you need a cycling permit:

Swinley Forest is private land and is not owned by the Royal Household, Local Authority or Forestry Commission.
Swinley Forest is part of a Special Protection Area under the European Birds Directive for four species of rare birds. This directive gives far reaching powers over the suitablility of activities that take place in the forest.
To provide Public Liability insurance cover, which this cycle permit gives you.
The Crown Estate has a duty to demonstrate a proper management of all forest and leisure activities. To ensure that cycling is a suitable activity, a permit scheme must be in place to control cycling and inform riders of their responsibilites. Gorrick, as an agent of The Crown Estate, is solely licensed to manage The Swinley Forest Cycle Permit Scheme and distribute annual permits to cycle in Swinley Forest.

Personally for the price of a can of coke and mars bar, i think not having a permit shows that we can’t be trusted to stick to the rules so why should we be allowed access to these privately owned areas? If we can’t obey this simple one then who’s to say we’ll obey the ones about avoiding areas where protected birds are ground nesting, for example? Sounds OTT but there are enough groups that think like this and every time someone doesn’t buy a permit because they think the rules are stupid / don’t apply to them / unlikely to get caught, it adds more ammo to their argument to have us banned.

[edit – car park does close at night btw, but I’m told you can park in Coral reef over the road]

When I was last there, I was sure the lady selling tickets told me that parking charges were replacing the tickets. But could be wrong!

Car park costs are now in operation and you still need a permit

If you live close, the £40 annual pass is nothing compared to how much you spend on your bike

I ride in Swinley at night a lot and would be happy to show you around one night – as long as you’ve got a permit

Thats odd as she told me not to buy the annual pass as it wouldn’t be needed in the future????

I’ll look into it – but if thats the case, then they’re going to shoot themselves in the foot as a lot of local riders wouldn’t dream of paying to use the main car park – so their revenue will reduce significantly

A bit like the trade in the cafe since the car parking charges came into force

Councils – what a bunch of twerps!!

She may have been mistake as my last trip was pre intro of CP charges. But I was very happy to buy the annual pass, but the very nice lady didn’t want my money!!

Labyrinth in the dark would be fun, but not if your lights packed in!!!

If you want a guided tour around then I know the place quite well and would be up for a bit of night riding again.
Let me know!
Wa. Jenkins @ live.co.uk

Yes , you pay £2 to park for 4 hours , and get your mtb ticket included in the price. You do not have to pay twice.
You put your cash in the machine and take the ticket into the lookout center. A very nice lady then checks it and gives you a mtb ticket.

I have no idea how this works with online purchace or pre / post lookout opening times.

A xml torch on your head would be essential for Swinley at night as you need to keep your head up and looking away down the track, not at 5ft in front of you.

Best not leave your car in the Look Out car park when it gets dark would be my advice

Good point – we always used to park in the posh tennis club over the road. Not the Coral Reef car park though – been broken into there before.

the £40 annual pass

£40!!!!!!! Jebus that’s gone up a bit. I’m pretty sure I last bought a permit last year (year before maybe?) and it was £23?

£40!!!!!!! Jebus that’s gone up a bit. I’m pretty sure I last bought a permit last year (year before maybe?) and it was £23?

I think he means the car park permit? Which is a tax on the lazy and stupid as there’s at least 10 other car parks around Swinley, not counting just parking on the roadside!

No, the annual riding permit is £40 (which is 20 visits as breakeven) – or you can now get a half year for £20 (since Oct 1)

Car park permit is £100 for non Bracknell residents, £60 for residents 😯

They have double yellowed most of the roads around now, and Coral reef is also pay and display (refundable if you use C-R though)

No, the annual riding permit is £40 (which is 20 visits as breakeven) – or you can now get a half year for £20 (since Oct 1)

Car park permit is £100 for non Bracknell residents, £60 for residentsWow, talk about rip the arse out of something. Are they deliberately trying to discourage people from using it or do folks really have too much money round these parts?

They’ve done a great job on the trails there over recent years but I think when I do get the opportunity to ride regularly again it might be in one of the other dozen or so local (and free) locations. Yes 20 visits is breakeven, and I understand the money goes to good use, but almost doubling it in the space of a couple of years, AND, charging a fortune to park? Bye bye.

Is the Annual Permit really going up to £40 from this year’s £25? At the moment me and the wife both have a permit. At £80 for 2 permits next year I don’t think we will buy any and will just ride elsewhere.

At least Stickler won’t be quite as busy as it is now…

[edit – might be backtracking here – but i don’t know how much an annual permit is. A half year is £20 and i extrapolated but I guess if you count cost of administering it is conceivable it’s not £40 for the year – apologies :oops:]

But even if it is – no-one’s forcing you to pay £40. It’s £2 a visit if you don’t hit breakeven for an annual permit. Honestly, it does make me wonder, quibbling at £2 while you ride your £1500 bike. You spend more than that on poncy energy drinks!

And if you park, you take your ticket in to reception and can get a day permit for nowt anyway so you don’t pay twice.

But as you say, loads of other nearby areas are available, although not strictly legit….

The last I heard (not sure who from) was that the permit scheme was being scrapped when the current annual ones expire next April.

don’t know about that. I have no idea how many permit purchases are annual vs walk ups, and if the walk ups are covered by parking now, I guess it could be conceivable.

But even if it is – no-one’s forcing you to pay £40. It’s £2 a visit if you don’t hit breakeven for an annual permit. Honestly, it does make me wonder, quibbling at £2 while you ride your £1500 bike. You spend more than that on poncy energy drinks!

Not everyone who rides spends £1.5k on a bike and consumes poncy energy drinks. It’s not a lot in the grand scheme of things if you look at it on a per trip basis, but £40 is not a small amount of money, especially when it was £25 the year before.

Charging for parking was reasonable imo, the hike in the permit prices wasn’t.

I backtracked on that £40 btw. Sorry.

Being able to purchase a day permit online was really useful. I wouldn’t want to leave my bike in the car whilst I went to both the ticket machine and the Reception. 😐

arrive. Unload bike. ride to machine. ride back to car. put ticket in car. take tear off bit to reception. Swap for permit. Job done!

Go into Reception with a bike? Seriously?

If I was paranoid enough to worry about leaving my bike in a locked car for 2 mins while I take a tear off slip to reception, then yes, i guess I would.

C’mon CG, you’re actually looking for stuff to complain about now.

Well, I seem to remember plenty of signs in the car park saying not to leave valuables in the car. Is there any guarantee there won’t be a queue at Reception?

Not looking to complain but I have to ride on my own these days so don’t fancy leaving an expensive bike in the car.

It would be nice if it could all be done on-line. 🙂

Ever since they started charging for the car park, my usual parking spot for my dawn ride gets pretty busy by the time I get back.

If they open the car park early enough for my dawn rides, I will probably have bought an annual ticket. It just feel wrong to park where I usually do. Although £100 for an annual ticket is way too much but not having to queue = more riding time. It’s not that much if you use the car park weekly.

And yes, Labyrinth is fun in the dark, so it Strickler and Tank Traps. Night/dawn riding has never been the same since I bought some proper lights. There’s not much difference compared to riding in day light especially if you are close to the trees.