[Closed] Swinley Forest or Aston Hill?

Swinley at the moment is very, very quick...

Depends what you want, really. Swinley has a greater variety of Singletrack - probably 3hrs worth - whereas Aston is better for DH?

Cheers guys........Swinley sounds good then for a few hours blast on my step-dads hardtail!!!

aston is all about the eg imho
pig of a day to be pushing up but will be lightning fast todayp

aston is all about the [b]eg[/b] imho

iPhone auto-correction of DH I assume!

cheers!

part of the aston xc course is pretty steep comapred to swinley so you would need to be a bike your comfortable with maybe. Having said ride aston in the dry while it's conditions are awesome.

Dont forget that Aston is in the Chilterns, so you can scare yourself on a couple of DH runs then spend the rest of the day riding in the chilterns. (free)

At the moment its dry, dusty and full of bluebells. Also much fewer mtbers than Swinley. You can do an all day ride in the Chilterns and feel like your on an adventure, where as Swinley is a bit more closed in and similar.

Swinley was surprisingly light on riders for the early part of today. We started around 8 and it took until 11 before many other people were there. Even then, it still wasn't like it's been some weekends with 30-40 people milling around on top of the hill and as many at the gully.

Great conditions too, dusty and loamy, very fast.

Had a crcking day out at Swinley - we even met a guy who showed us round a bit and we just spent the day playing on the MIRIAD of trails - I've never seen anywhere like it for the sheer number of trails!!

Loved it - even better, the sun was shining. Good to do something totally different to our usual riding 😀

My first time at Swinley today too, loved it, perfect conditions, trails running very fast. I was on my Soul today which seemed ample for most of it - was bemused to see a guy on a Scott DH bike with a full facer on riding past me, i'm guessing there are a lot of trails i missed! I did the ones in the far corner at the top, baby maker, labrinth etc and a few others in between. Can't wait to go back and explore again.

Stevede..... were you fixing puncture by the jumpy chute??

clareymorris - glad you had fun! You should have posted up that you needed a guide, would have been pleased to help out although you'd find me pretty slow!

clareymorris - yes that was me, had 2 punctures in the space of 5 mins so might have been grumpy at that point! Returned to that bit at the end of the day for a proper play which was a nice way to finish off a great day.
Also the bloke in full lycra with a full face helmet on wasn't a riding mate lol - he befriended us in the car park and insisted on showing us round insistent that my GPS wouldn't work in the forest, once he got us to baby maker etc he left us to it, probably best as although i was trying to appreciate the guiding he was irritating the life out of me! I'm not grumpy or antisocial by the way honest lol.

Steve - did you lend me your shock pump? Thanks again for that. I would've offered some more guiding but wanted to get home and see what had gone wrong with it... leaky schrader as it turns out.

thepurist - i did indeed, no worries on the guiding front, we found the trail you directed us too from the top and my mate was pretty much done in by that point. Glad your forks were a simple fix.

CG I am defo going to give you a shout for next time. We met a cracking lad who showed us around a bit but by his own admission he doesn't know it THAT well. It was great fun though 😀
Mum is poorly so I'm down here for the foreseeable.........getting out on my step-dads bike is keeping me sane!!

clarey - it's a shame that you're here under not pleasant circumstances but do hope that you can support your Mum through your poor health.

E-mail in profile, I am a local but do be warned I'm an old wuss!

Whereabouts are you C_G?
I'm in Harefield at the mo...

Come Quantocks wiv us lot next weekend, innit? 🙂

clarey - I'm within riding distance of Swinley Forest.

I was going to suggest the Chilterns but, looking at the map, that would be cross-country from Harefield?

Edit: Silly me, M40 of course!

I would absolutely love to do a Chilterns ride - but I suppose the easy thing with Swinley is you are never too far away from anything so it is easyish to get home...it's the knowing where you are to get home if needed issue for me unfortunately 🙁

You'll be fine. Andy has a vayn, and there'll be someone to guide you back to yer motor if necessary. Nothing to worry about.

OOh a mayn wiv a vayn...........tempting but them Q's are a little too far from Mums at the mo............Chilterns though COULD work. C_G where were you thinking?

clarey - I was riding in the Chilterns on Friday, bluebells were fab and so are the descents. 8)

I know it pretty well so happy to show you around, may even be able to sort out a bike for you! Currently can do mid-week. I start from either Watlington or Nettlebed.

CG - need to speak to work tomorrow about sorting things longer term (hoping to be able to work from Mums part time) so can I give you a shout say tomorrow or Wednesday?

Cheers 😀

Sorry to hear your mum isn't well Clareymorris

Still got room for two more in the Vayn for the quantocks 😀 although you'll have to put up with Elfins ramblings and the dog as well!

I'd also happily trade a guided route around the Chilterns weekday evenings or weekends for one in the lakes later in the year if C_G isn't available when suits. PM in profile.

If in Harefield there is good riding up towards the Chalfonts IIRC. Not ridden that way for 15 years though. Get an OS map and go explore!

Chalfonts! 😆

Quantocks?

Fnarr fnarr!

Sorry. Easily amused. 😳

Oh my - the thought of three hours in the vayn down to the Quants with your ramblings for company 🙄

(Bit early for you Elfin? )

Elfin - thank god we are not in the Trossachs!!!

Andy - yepo the Chalfonts are keeping me (as well as Elfin it seems) amused. Some great stuff within easy riding distance.......always up for a trade off on routes 😀

Well I'm off out this afternoon to head out from [b]Ass[/b]endon and the ride will probably finish with me popping out of bix [b]bottom[/b] 😆

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Push up at Aston is not as bad as I remembered. If you have a triple (and probably SPDs) you can ride up it in 10 minutes (30 min walk). I use an 09 Enduro there and it's the perfect bike for it. Dh3 and 4 are ace, black run, meh.