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Does anyone know what the scaffolding tower in the middle of Swinley Forest is for?
Apparently they are going to be filming Harry Potter there according to one of the blokes who was putting it up the other day, said it was going to be a giant green screen.
Sniper tower for picking off riders not showing permits, surely?
Am phucked then I keep mine in me rukky.
Hopefully to erect a gibbet to string up the retards who insist on walking on the waymarked red mtb trail.
nearly killed a pakastani girl at llandegl once.
she was walking with mates up a rough part of the red.
crazy muther fickers.
CG - agree there. As I (slowly) passed (and after shouting 'excuse me please') one of these characters on said trail last week he passed off what was intended as an impersonation of a bicycle bell and suggested I get one. C0ck.
auric - sounds like Bracknell's finest 🙄
I politely informed a middle aged chap walking along Yoghurt Pots on Holmbury to watch out for bikes as he was on a bike track 'No it isn't' he replied; I didn't tell him to get off just to watch out.
Came across 20 or so red sox walking down BKB once, kinda ruined it for me.
I looked up this thread as I was interested in what the scaffolding might be....still don't know. 🙁
Anyhow, I think it's a bit harsh to have a go at people walking the trails. I don't think the trails are "waymarked" on the ground, so it's not unreasonable to expect people to be there. I've biked swinley most weeks for 8 years and I didn't know there was a "waymarked red mtb trail" perhaps I'm really unobservant?
One could easily meet another biker coming the other way since there's no one way system. I'm not defending grumpy twonks who don't let you by etc, but I think you should ride swinley with some sympathy for other users.
Adam, (a biker who trail-runs (but gets out of the way sharpish for mtbers))
Its for filming the next Harry Potter movie. Think the red marked trail they are refering to is the full 9 yards
AdamT - my post was very tongue in cheek I can assure you!! After my recent thread about the Chilterns miserable-itis virus, I'm the last person to be rude on the trails.
I was referring to the red-topped posts which lead mountain bikers out to the "expert" area.
Seriously, it's great to see so many familiies getting out in the fresh air and there's such a good play area for the kids too.
Cool, I didn't see the implied 😉 For fear of getting slightly flamed, bells are really good. They seem to be so much less aggresive than even the most polite "excuse me please".
Must look out for the red topped posts...never ever noticed them! (going too fast obvs)
Are they building a new Tesco?
Came across a couple walking their dog in the middle of one of the downhill trails at Woburn on Saturday. Right on a blind corner.
They were obviously pissed off as two of us flew round and they had to jump out of the way. I was confused as I'm not sure what they thought the purpose built jumps, berms and drops were for, not to mention the large amounts of bikes with riders in full face helmets and padding...
[url= http://www.londontaxitour.com/LondonTaxiTour.Com-Harry-Potter-Film-Locations-Harry-Potter-And-The-Deathly-Hallows.htm ]http://www.londontaxitour.com/LondonTaxiTour.Com-Harry-Potter-Film-Locations-Harry-Potter-And-The-Deathly-Hallows.htm[/url]
Riding swinley tonight.
Curious to know where the set construction is taking place and whether or not is likely to effect/close any trails?
Cheers
There's quite a lot of cordoned off area towards the Lookout side of the forest and some trails that are closed as a result.
They're supposed to be filming for a couple of months. I think they started around 10th June, so prob will continue until early/mid-August.
hmm planning on a Swinley ride tonight. Would it be advisable to go elsewhere?
It's a real PITA cos I can't ride where I want to. Reckon it's bang out of order to block off some of the trails at the top of Surrey Hill.
Still, I expect the FC/Crown Estate are getting a nice pile of dosh for hiring out part of the forest but just hope we don't have any more of this inconvenience.
pedalhead - do you know Swinley? If you do, at the top of Surrey Hill (with the covered reservoir with picket fencing around) there are several trails that are blocked. Shame cos they are good ones too.
The Labyrinth and Deer Stalker are OK though.
The others are close to the Look Out so can be avoided.
Hope this makes sense!
Hi cg, thanks yes I know where you mean. I haven't ridden there for a couple of years, but used to more or less know my way around. Think I'll take a chance as I'm in the area & it'd be a shame to wait another couple of years before riding those trails again.
Walkers on the trails:
It is all public space and folk on foot (and horses for that matter) do have priority, even on purpose-built singletrack. It is up to us to ride responsibly and with awareness and courtesy. A little bit of info-spreading is fine - expecting them to leap out of your way because you're hooning along at your limit is not ok.
There is a new trail called The Stickler with a little bridge, it's opposite the start of Tank Trap (near Lower Star Post). Good fun!
I want a bell and a foghorn,
polite ring ring, then for the miserable fekers who look back then keep walking, a nice sharp blast!
There is a new trail called The Stickler with a little bridge, it's opposite the start of Tank Trap (near Lower Star Post). Good fun!
Excellent, thanks, I'll make sure I give it a go.
The stickler was great. Landed badly elsewhere though & snapped my seatpost bolt, fortunately near the end of the ride so only 15 minutes stomping on the pedals to get back to the lookout. Trails are in great condition.
Are there any clues as to how to find The Stickler? I had a look a few weeks back and couldn't find it. I am there again tonight so it would be good to know what to look for (I had thought it would be pretty obvious but was wrong)
jfeb: the easiest way to find it is to follow the "Full 9 Yards" until you get to the second forest road, turn right along the forest road and it's a little way up on the left.
This may be riding it the "wrong" way but I think that it works both ways and I like the way it links up with the Tank Traps this way round.
Anyway you'll know where the other end is once you've ridden it 🙂
tooslow - thanks. That makes sense. I will give that a go tonight.
pedalhead - glad you enjoyed The Stickler but bad news on the seatpost.
jfeb - do you know where the Star Posts are? Or the Devil's Highway? Would a grid reference be any good to you?
cinnamon_girl - I stumble across the Star Posts rather than necessarily know where they are but I do know the main trails and think I know where tooslow is indicating so should be able to find it. Last time I looked for it I was walking around the area around the Lower Star Post for ages but didn't find it!
I don't have a map or mapping software for Swinley so unfortunately grid-references won't help 🙁 but thanks for the offer.
I was riding down BKB last summer, only to find about 15 Duke of Edinburgh kids having a kip on the trail. I asked them to move, which resulted in a few grunts and unwilling shuffles out of the way. As for Swinley, my only issue has been with a large group of runners on the downhill section of the labyrinth, where the berms and jumps are. They got out of the way sharpish, but why are they there? Does it add an adrenalin rush to meet death head in the shape of an overweight mountainbiker hell bent on stringing the berms together?
Andy - I would suggest that those runners do not belong to the regular running clubs that meet there. Trouble is you get all sorts of things happening on the singletrack. Once I saw a couple snogging 😯
Is there a right and wrong way on the Stickler. Like all trails in Swinley they are bi-directional, although you could argue that riding up the Labyrinth would just be stupid. I personally prefer to ride it in the direction of Tank Traps.
Am surprised that people are complaining because a small part of Swinleys trail network is currently fenced off. Would people be just as unhappy if for example, it were due to forestry work?
There is so much riding to be had there, it's hardly an inconvenience and a great opportunity to find/ride some new trails or to ride some familiar trails in a different order. Stops you getting stale and bored of the same old stuff.
I had some interesting moments yesterday afternoon coming up against people cycling the Stickler and Tank Traps in the opposite direction but both trails seem to ride pretty well both ways so it would be hard to say one direction is right.
Thanks tooslow and cinnamon_girl for directions to the Stickler by the way
(I totally failed to nail the deep, bermed S-bend when travelling towards the Tank Traps, although it was much easier the other way)
Hopefully to erect a gibbet to string up the retards who insist on walking on the waymarked red mtb trail.
that's very bitchy - isn't being crashed into punishment enough ?
I ride Swinley quite often, but have no idea about the names. Can someone tell me where Labyrinth and the tank traps are?
Thanks
I tend to stumble upon things really, so won't even try & explain 🙂
RichT - email me (in profile) and I'll send you a map with labyrinth on (and I'll try to mark Tank Traps too, although I rode it for the first time yesterday!)
Lovely, thanks jfeb!
I reckon The Stickler works well in both directions, which is what I always do! The bridge is slightly harder coming from the Devil's Highway end.
I've certainly seen people riding Tank Trap in the direction of The Stickler, just doesn't seem quite right!
As regards my moaning about a few trails being fenced off, it's also some of the fire roads that are fenced off too so not just one or two. It's being going on for at least a month now and I stand by my comment about it all being a PITA 😉
I had a chat with one of the HP crew this morning - he said the last day of filming is scheduled to be tomorrow, then they've got a couple of weeks to get everything off site. He said they've been talking about end dates on site of 10th or 17th July, so a couple of weeks left.
Agreed it is a PITA, but the guy I spoke to this morning said that they're paying the Crown Estate a fair whack for the filming so let's just hope some of that trickles down into the hands of the trail pixies.
I wasn't intentioanlly getting at anyone, more just trying to put a positive spin on things.
Since various areas have been fenced off, we have ended up riding some different trails and found some really good stuff that we just didn't know was there.
I personally haven't been stopped riding any of the fireroads that I wanted too and judging by the breaks in the tape people have been riding fenced off areas anyway, so don't see it as a big issue.
On a positive note the trails were amazingly dry last night. Don't remember that happening last summer until well into late Aug/Sep.
I was shocked how much I had to concentrate on my riding in order to find grip and not lock up under braking. It was almost like the first ride of winter if that makes sense, but way quicker and thus with more potential for serious injury.