Thinking of going to the Surrey Hills this weekend with a mate who is coming down from Kidderminster and wanted to know what their current condition is and what they are like to ride.

Have got back into riding this summer and spent a long time on the South Downs Way and surrounding trails. Done about 50 miles of it so far from Lewes to North Marden, and found some decent trails in the area, so fairly competent. Also done several of the trails at MTB Shropshire and been round a few of the trails in the Surrey Hills.

Planning on doing this route suggested on MBR:
http://www.mbr.co.uk/routes/south-east-england/surrey-hills-gps-route-download-2-324674

Main trails mentioned in the article are Barry Knows Best and Summer Lightning.

We both have hardtails so I wanted to know if you guys think we will be ok on this route? (Me Spec Rockhopper Expert and him GT Zaskar or Kona Shred) Also is it a mud bath at the moment after the recent rains?

Any comments will be helpful.

Thanks

Well they’re hilly. And in Surrey 🙂

And probably quite wet at the moment.

I’d probably try & tag along a group when you get to Peaslake, there are a huge amount of trails you will miss out on by just following that loop.

You should have come a month ago… Barrys will be fine but bits of Summer Lightning will be sloppy. Linking them together will be filthy in places. Hardtails will be fine.

It’ll be fine if bit sloppy in places.
I’ve ridden all that stuff on CX bikes for years and also on hardtail, FS and rigid MTBs, and also on a tandem, and currently on a Ti Fargo. Actually we might go out round there on Sunday.

Currently trashed.

Did that route the weekend before last so it’ll be a lot wetter now – I was still up to my skins in water in places cos it didn’t look that deep! It’ll still be dry in places whilst others might require a push! Not technically too difficult TBH – harder climbing on the Haslemere Loop is you want more of a challenge

Thanks for the quick info, don’t mind getting muddy just concerned some bits might be impassable. Glad we will be ok on HT.

Can you guys recommend any other routes that can be downloaded onto a garmin? Don’t mind where we start as will be driving there in the morning.

Thanks

Holmbury Hill stands up best after rain.
The new stuff that gets made in the summer is shagged out by the following spring.

Not a bad route and takes in a number of well know classics – Barry’s, Yog Pots, Tel Rd and Summer Lightening

But always find that there is a lot of climbing/traversing to get to them on that route (although I actually go on the other side of the road from Westcott

Based on last two weeks – the route will have very varied conditions. BkB will as the name suggest be the best/driest, SL the worst (especially the boggy mid-section back to Wolverns).

Personally, I would recommends picking one of the four hills – Leith, Homlbury, Pitch and Winterfold and explore one of them and/or combine two eg H&P or P&W – more bang for your buck

If you are coming down the M25/A3 and fancy more of a work out – its not too wet on the Punchbowl loop – a good XC loop plus a couple of sections that might test a HT!!

OP yes it’s a decent enough route, to be honest any published route won’t show you the best stuff as the Surrey Hills aren’t a “trail centre”. The route starts in Westcott home to Nirvana Cycles which was always my LBS, the shop runs rides and knows the area intimately. That ride takes in some of the more worthwhile trails and although BKB (trail down towards Peaslake) and Yogurt Pots attract critism they always leave a smile on my face and both can be easily repeated and recommend that as they’ll be more fun second time around. If it where the summer and drier I might recommend you some other areas but Holmbury dries about the best and Leith will be ok and is worth a tour for the tower and the view. A large percentage of Surrey Hills regulars/locals ride hard tails, the more hidden trails have all the big jumps best on a FS

Have fun, I’ve moved away now and miss it very much. Hopefully you’ll want to be back next year and perhaps even books B&B as there is tons of riding for a full weekend

Currently trashed.

Is about right. I went yesterday. Established trails – Barry knows best, telegraph row and and Yoghurt pots for example – have smoothed out in the damp weather but the single track through the trees s sloppy and the roots uber-polished.

I did a 28 mile ride which was a pretty staccato event tbh mostly because of the front wheel sliding to the slide on corners / climbs halting smooth progress. Not that is wasn’t enjoyable, its just so much better when the trails flow a bit more.

Like this

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Glad he’s OK but I don’t know why it’s a story.

Thanks for the advice guys, hopefully will have dried out a bit over this week. Probably stick to our plan as can download the route and not get lost. Will definitely be back to Surrey Hills next year for a bit of a bigger exploration. Coming up from Horsham in Sussex so it’s not far for us to get to.

Oof – that looked painful. Not sure being shouted at to lie down was helping.

From Horsham, I would be really tempted to just go up the back of winterfold and muck about there. It’s a bit wet on the S side but great fun.