APART from the famous woods, is there any other off-road riding in the vicinity? Or would I never need to ride anywhere else?

Cranham woods are 20 minutes up the A419.

here isn’t too far out:-
http://www.ibikeride.com/england/2057-bradbury-clumps

or here
http://www.moredirt.com/trail/United-Kingdom_South-West/West-Woods/761/

you are not far from the ridgeway (barbury castle). you can keep going either to avebury or to marlbrough downs also and do a loop.

as i sit here in my sunny office, i can tell you with hand on heart there is no nicer place to be right now…. 😯

why the hell would you want to come here? 😯 😯 😯

at my job interview to convince me my boss said
“swindon is great in 30 minutes you can get to Bristol, Oxford, Reading”
“so other places are great then?”

And he was lying even then; Oxford is an hour.

And what are these woods you talk about? (Stuck here thinking there’s gotta be something up on those hills.)

http://www.mbswindon.co.uk/croft-trail/

why the hell would you want to come here?

Work, innit.

Where can we buy the “Molgrips UK Tour 2016” T-shirts?

As raceface says you’re not far from The Ridgeway, believed to be Europe’s oldest road. Also worth visiting is Fyfield Down:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fyfield_Down

Embrace this magnificent and historical landscape, there is so much to see in this area.

The Wandsyke:

Fyfield Down:

Silbury Hill:

That stuff looks good, if I’m there over the summer.

Put some hybrid tyres on and ride around the Cotswolds countryside and villages, assuming roads not clogged with tourists. Swindon is a place you generally drive past or around.

mol – give me a shout if you want any gpx’s or specific route info. 🙂

Thanks 🙂 Gutted I lost the GPX from that ride we did at Swinley. Although much of that’s not there any more.

FLYUP 417 BIKE PARK

Swindon is town that should be great but has been let down by the usual bad town planning. Ridingwise there in nothing that but it is in some wonderful country side. Ridgway and the downs, in any direction are excellent. I know over toward Wantage more but it a nice ride and it’s very mint sauce.

Where is Brendogs Swindon?????????

What happened to your Litespeed CG?

Road riding is great around Swindon, MTB is OK but depends what you like riding. I love the Ridgeway around Fyfield on a dry day but the chalky ground can get claggy in the wet. The Croft trail is fun for an hour’s blast. The local club MBSwindon are great and have quite a few social rides. Swindon itself is a functional town, great for kids but not much going on for grown ups – hence the “not far from Bristol/Bath” etc comments.

Nice pics of Silsbury hill could hardly see it Sunday from Avebury and the Wilts council have been busy grading part of the Byway across from Rockley back to Barbury Castle nice and flat wonderfull!!Swindon is lovely 😉

Good thing about Swindon is that although there are approx. 200,000 inhabitants very few of them venture outside of Swindon so you get the great countryside round about it to yourself.

Very true the Ridgeway seems way less busy these days than say 10 years ago and if you go over Flyfeild common and over that way to Albourne etc you hardly see a sole.

I lived in Wroughton for years and the Ridgeway was my haunt not the best riding but it was close
But being on Fyfield Down at sunrise in the summer is quite magical why tbh I do not know but try it hopefully you will see what I mean.
I have not ridden there for over 10 years but one day this summer I will venture away from the Quantocks for a ride down memory lane ( the loop out of Barbury) and check out ladder lane for old times sake

I’d bring the road bike.

Yes Mrblobby the road riding there was ace I have to agree

It is indeed. I know the Oxford / Newbury side well and there’s loads of lovely quiet country lanes to ride. Not sure north and west of Swindon but you’re not far by road bike from the Cotswolds so I’d guess there’s some good riding over that way too.

All things considered it’s not too bad. I did a 30 miler today that included Croft Trail and some of the Ridgeway stuff and it’s drying out nicely. Also some good stuff half an hours drive away (or a good ride if you want to be out all day)around the Calne, Cherhill, Roundway area. And further afield we’re not too far from CwmCarn, BPW, FoD, Swinley. It’s not all gloom and doom!

check out ladder lane for old times sake

That brings back memories of the Red Planet shop rides. Been down Ladder Lane plenty of times but I never did manage to clean it on the way up

I ride from Swindon to West Woods, Savanacre forest, Liddington, Avebury and there is loads of ace stuff on the way. the trick is to pick the right months when either the mud is dry or the nettles are low. There is also a wide variety of trails from technical stuff to canal paths. I never feel the need to shove the bike in the car and love the fact I can pick MTB/road or CX and ahve an equally good day out on all of them. The best bit as others have mentioned is the solitude and sense of being somewhere really bloody old. Ride up to Liddington Hill on a crisp clear night and you’ll know what I mean. As for the town, simply walk up the hill into Old Town and the Swindon myth fades away. A night in the Beehive will convince you that the place has as much character as anywhere else.

ps. the woods behind Nationwide are actually pretty good (but cheeky) for a quick blast on the way to Croft Trails

What happened to your Litespeed CG?

Hello beaker. Still have the Litespeed, won’t part with that!

There used to be Spirt Hill nearby, but it looks as if it is closed at the moment.

http://www.spirthilltrail.uk.com/index.htm

Have to admit to being excited when Spirthill opened. The place had potential but due to a lack of any further investment from the farmer who owns the land it got worse instead of better. The official line is that they closed it due to insurance difficulties, I’m inclined to think it’s more because us locals got fed up with it. I don’t know anyone who’s ridden it in the last 3 years

tis good to hear the nationwide woods are still fun

Checked out the map – the stuff on the downs to the South looks like a brilliant way to get the miles in on a summer’s evening. Actually really looking forward to it!

Pick your route carefully mol as this is chalk territory. The Wansdyke can be hard going as it’s grassy and, you never know, the short eared owls may still be there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wansdyke_(earthwork)

Do let us know how you get on. 😀

Might be time to get some 40c WTB Nanoraptors. And maybe some drop bars for the rigid 29er.

Head East young man, Lambournish/Berks Downs area, both sides A34 also Ridgeway out S and Canal(and or train) back or N and train

Absolutely outstanding couple of rides earlier this week. Zipping through remote countryside and across lonely downs, some really beautiful scenes, had to stop taking photos as it was taking far too long and my phone also ran out of battery 🙂

Looking at the map, there is so much of this kind of riding I think my only option is to keep planning from the map and exploring!

1) It looks like there’s a bridleway in the river valley going West from Marlborough – worth doing?

2) Also there’s a White Horse Trail (how many white horses are there?) SW of Wroughton, looks like it might be different – is it rideable?

3) Might it be worth going to Savernake Forest on that old railway?

What else need I know about? I’m going to be doing 3-4 hour rides hopefully on Monday and Tuesday nights starting on the South of Swindon.

[img]https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1572/26618160812_ab7c624801_z.jpg[/img][img]https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1682/26656048335_3646eaeed5_z.jpg[/img]

Told you it was gorgeous there! 😀 Let me have a think about your q’s.