I'm going to go down tomorrow, as I'm staying half an hour away
Any tips and advice for the trails?
Will be on the HT
Cheers
The faster the better. It's virtually tech free.
The signage isn't the best so try to have a rough idea where to go. Red 1 (all 50m of it) is closed after forestry clearance, and red 8 is also closed but I think that's all that's shut on the official route. Plenty of options left and right at the top of red 18 (or is it 19) climb if you want to play.
Other than that - full gas! It ain't no place to bimble.
Be prepared to pedal. A lot.
I've got a "best bits" route somewhere if you've got a navigation device thingumibob.
Avoids one of the stodgy red routes and takes in the old log drop off, which is fun.
Or I'll send my son up to ride with you, who remembers the whole thing 😀
Enjoy the swoopyness - it's all about the flow.
<austin powers>Berm, baby, berm!</austin powers>
Anyone bored by it isn't pedalling hard enough.
Can be a bit hard to follow if you dont know it, but it is all on trailforks. If you dont have it yet, you can set your "home location" to somewhere nearby and you get your home trails for free.
The red is sort of two loops, the first half of which is on the tamer side, you may want to skip that and just go to the second half of the red.
Stickler (blue 10) is a leg burner. 8-10 minutes of zero elevation bermed corners/pump track.
There are 5 fun descents (admittedly only 30-45 odd seconds each) that run parallel to Red 20 and its easy to loop round to repeat them.
My suggested route without going too obscure in descriptions is -
start on the blue, up to and including blue 10. turn left instead of right and do the last section of red - tank traps/red32.
again ignore the signs, turn left at the end, then the next fire road right, then left, which will put you onto the red 11 (also fireroad) for the climb up to the start of the fun stuff.
do all the options parallel to red 20, continue on the red after that to the end, then follow the remainder of the blue home.
red 25 (pumpy flowy downhill) you can easily repeat - and is well worth doing so - by turning left at the end, then keep turning left until you get back to the top.
the old log drop off
Used to ride Swinley a lot years ago but never remember such a thing (unless it isn’t of significant size).
OP, there are some short but fun bits that deviate from the signposted trail so are not meant for riding, if you can be bothered to search (too hard to give directions and shouldn’t encourage off piste riding). I can piece together a decent ride there taking in the best of the marked trails and plenty of other bits.
There are about 5 different runs (inc the marked trail) off the top of the ‘clubhouse’ hill that are worth a few goes.
If you’ve not been before just ride a full blue/red loop and have a play on the clubhouse area. Apart from a couple of the clubhouse runs there’s no jumps / drops of note to catch you out and it is a lot of pedalling rather than a winch and plummet place. Probably quite good on a hard tail as I always feel overbiked on the odd occasion I return there.
On an aside I always feel that R25 is the most overrated of the ‘fun’ sections and don’t think it’s worth the pedal back for another go.
Used to ride Swinley a lot years ago but never remember such a thing (unless it isn’t of significant size)
Well, it's big for Swinley 🙂 I think it's the end of "old" Stickler?
Anyway, the .fit file is available for anyone who wants it. It's a nice enough way to spend a few hours out on the bike
Found a pic (if this works)
[img] https://tinyurl.com/2p9rj2tp [/img]
hardtail is the correct choice for swinley
it is indeed pedally, rather than pedal up plummet down, i find i often need to check on trailforks which way to go next
Cheers guys I've downloaded Trailforks and the Pro version is free for 7 days
Found a pic (if this works)
Ah, the double ‘drop’, log wasn’t what you dropped off though, was a couple of roots IIRC.
OP, really not worth seeking out. 😉
singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/swinley-forest-advice#post-12351003
This is excellent ayjaydoubleyou, much appreciated. I can follow this dead easy, which is important as my ADHD son loses the plot if we explore.
was a couple of roots IIRC
Oh! sigh! if only me and my child could be a rad heroes too! 😥
We'll that was a pleasant enough couple of hours.
Just stuck to the marked trails, did the blue, red blue - hardtail was perfect. Ebike would be fun for a couple of laps though
Would have been a couple of head scratching moments without Trailforks, so that was the best bit of advice
Sat in the sun at the Golden Retriever now with a pint of Estrella waiting for chicken wings and a fish finger butty
Well, it’s big for Swinley 🙂 I think it’s the end of “old” Stickler?
Anyway, the .fit file is available for anyone who wants it. It’s a nice enough way to spend a few hours out on the bikeFound a pic (if this works)
So is the trail actually the way the rider is travelling in that pic, or does it go over the logs behind them (uphill to their left, if that makes sense?) and they've taken a chicken line around the worst drop?
Glad you enjoyed it. Swinley gets a lot of criticism, but considering it's in the middle of the Berkshire countryside I think it is great and we are lucky to have it. Enjoy the pint!
So is the trail actually the way the rider is travelling in that pic, or does it go over the logs behind them (uphill to their left, if that makes sense?) and they’ve taken a chicken line around the worst drop?
It's not actually part of any official trail (official being the ones that have been purpose built). Back in the day it was the end of a fairly busy section on the way back to the Look Out, IIRC those logs weren't there (you just dropped off of the roots and there is a set a little higher up). Guess they've been added to deter riders. The rider is going the right way.
So is the trail actually the way the rider is travelling in that pic, or does it go over the logs behind them (uphill to their left, if that makes sense?) and they’ve taken a chicken line around the worst drop?
I think the logs didn't used to be there and the trail was directly down the hill over the two small rooty drops. The logs have probably been added to discourage use or slow down the exit.
The logs have probably been added to discourage use or slow down the exit.
Given that it exits perpendicular to a fire road and you could carry some fair pace into it, that's probably why. Same as the New England Switchbacks drop, that goes straight over a fire road with limited chance for walkers or bikers to see each other, and has got loads of "do not stray from the official path" signs on it. Or so I'm told...
Oh! sigh! if only me and my child could be a rad heroes too!
No offence intended, just remarking it’s not so much a log drop (the logs being there to block a fast entry rather than drop off). IIRC real hero’s used to gap both at once.
OP glad you had fun. Great day for it and nice and quiet during the week.
Great day for it and nice and quiet during the week.
Ta, conditions were lovely - was surprised that it was so quiet on the trails. Car park was rammed, but hardly saw a soul out there
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I'd drive right past it and go to Peaslake 👍
I’d drive right past it and go to Peaslake
Might do that next week 👍
I’m at Swinley next week, whilst my 17 year old is at Thorpe Park with a friend.
I’ve been once a year for the last 4 years and I still get lost due to the dodgy signposting.
Still, gives me something to do while my daughter is on the rides just down the road.
Be prepared to pedal. A lot.
Well it is a cycle track...
Those logs in the photo above have been put in place since I used to live just down the road, as suggested, probably to reduce speeds onto the fire road. The A line was just to the right of the photo.
Found some of the yellow brick road sections hard going on HT’s without much give in them. A 2007 Epic was my choice.
i stayed in Ligh****er for a while for work and used to go into swinley a fair bit at the Bagshot end. I would do laps of the Deerstalker/babymaker area, red 15 and the off piste stuff in between, not great but decent enough for post work summer nights... if i ever ventured north of the Res, it would genuinely force me to consider selling my bike and packing it in! awful.
i stayed in Ligh****er for a while for work and used to go into swinley a fair bit at the Bagshot end. I would do laps of the Deerstalker/babymaker area, red 15 and the off piste stuff in between, not great but decent enough for post work summer nights… if i ever ventured north of the Res, it would genuinely force me to consider selling my bike and packing it in! awful.
Useless information for you now but there’s quite a bit of decent riding in the woods around Deepcut.
ha. well when i was staying in Ligh****er i was actually working in Farnborough so rode around Deepcut, Mychett and Tunnel Hill a fair bit too... very different riding to my local riding (Lancashire Moorlands and steep valleys) but enjoyed it... would usually drive down to Hindhead or Redlands once a week too for some gravity.
Useless information for you now but there’s quite a bit of decent riding in the woods around Deepcut.
Take a hardtail and look for where all the long travel Santa cruz’s are.