[Closed] Why do people think Southern England riding is crap?

Yes it's awful, don't come down here.

If you think Epping Forest is comparable to Surrey Hills you really haven't ridden around the South enough.

well said wwaswas - best stay where you are.

page boundary bump

I've ridden Surrey Hills most weekends for 5 years and tbh I've got bored.

Theres LOADS more riding than just the surrey hills. You've got the whole of the north downs, south downs and chilterns at the very least. Furhter afield theres Dorest, Isle of Wight, Quantocks, and its only 2-3 hours to South Wales.

HoratioHufnagel - Member

and its only 2-3 hours to South Wales.

If you live in west London maybe and want to spend shit loads of fuel.

hovis stopped doing doorstep deliveries

Hovis hill = Golds Hill = Shaftesbury = South my luvver 🙂

[i]My missus would laugh in my face - you're taking 4 hours out of the weekend with me and the bairn to ride round that bag of pish?[/i]

Obviously she just laughs behind your back now.

Many northeners also think that Pace made good forks...

Many northeners also think that Pace made good forks...

some of the monday morning ones were ok

Tough one.
Lived for 4 year in soton, so rode around. Been to a couple of bike centre in wales, rode in surrey, swinley, farnborough, QEII park. but to be fair none of the riding were as nice as the ones I did in scotland with druidh and Jojo.

I can't say a thing about northen england as I have never been there. but lets face it, if I was to agree or disagree I just say that the south is much better, but I mean the real south, here right now around Nice 😀

Shaftesbury = South my luvver

and where might you be burying that shaft ?

I live in a city but within riding distance I have hundreds of miles of legal trails.

Same here.

Erm no you don't, since when is farnborough a city 😉

You know what I mean Juan! 😀

BTW where are you staying in PDS? I might come and say hello one night, I just need to know where.
Did you get a chance to pick the bike at WCA's btw?

Im lucky to have lived north of Glasgow for a number of years and now live on the isle of wight.
Whilst the south may not have "big" hills, its certainly not flat. The SDW is an amazing ride (if not overly technical generally), the IW has huge amounts of bridleways and i can easily put together a nice 40+ mile loop that is mostly singletrack / trails.
Glasgow was a great place for some really big wild country rides.
In summary, the south isnt crap, its just different.
I enjoy both locales equally in terms of riding pleasure, oh and gary_lager, that attitude is poor indeed. Need to remove those blinkers.

Juan, yes, we're stayin on a campsite in Chatel. I can email you the address if you like?

I do have your bike, but I've been sooooooooooooooo busy I have't had the time to look at it yet 😳
Hopefully next week sometime, but I'll have to have a look for some instructions for the forks. Do you know what's wrong with them? They don't feel good.....

Juan, YGM 🙂

I've just got back from my crap afternoon ride on the crap Quantocks, and I didn't see another rider, maybe everyone's gone oop North to find some non-crap riding and left the Quantocks to me 😆

To be fair, I don't differentiate between North and South with regards to England. In my experience it's just all inferior to my yardstick, which is Scotland.

Reasons? The access laws, the overcrowding, and the smaller area of hilly terrain. This opinion is based on cycling in the North York Moors, Exmoor, Snowdonia National Park (I know it's Wales) and the waste of time that was Epping Forest. Oh, and the Lakes, nice trails ruined by the stupid access laws and thousands of pensioners tottering.

To be clear though, some MTBing in England is great. Just Scotland is greater.

There is only one divide North/South in Englandshire for me, and it is based on visits to London to be honest. That is that folk are decent everywhere in the world but London. Spiteful place.

Maybe I'll get a flaming from Londoners? Hopefully!

and thousands of pensioners tottering.

they're paid to obstruct Scottish people - an obscure codicil of the Domesday Book...

Wun-hunderd!

Plenty of good riding in southern england. It's just no-ones found it yet 🙂

TBH as waderider says, its not bad, it's just not as good as other options. I ride out my back door into some great hills and return to a small village with 3 pubs within 100 yards of each other and pints at <£2.50, a small bakery and no access problems. Hard to beat that in southern england.

Waderider - Member
That is that folk are decent everywhere in the world but London. Spiteful place.

Maybe I'll get a flaming from Londoners? Hopefully!

Having lived in London for too long I would not say that true, I'd say most people everywhere are ****ers, it's human nature, Londoners are no different. The worst London trait is the "London is the center of the universe view" and everything outside London is backwards because ... (usually some bull shit reason to with some pretentious crap).

To be fair, for a mountain biking site, I have to admit there are no mountains in southern england.

[b]Representing the North[/b] well just one county Yorkshire (ish)
Pace, Orange, On-One, Ragley, Hope (border bandit now Lancs country though)

[b]Representing the Sarth[/b]
Whyte

5-1 nuff said

A few points...

- I used to think Epping was crap too, but there's lots of very good singletrack there if you know where to look. It's not as good as the Surrey Hills, but I'm very glad I've got it local-ish.

- A lot of us southerners have been biking in the north so we know how good some of the riding is. I bet fewer of you northerners have ridden down south.

- The "Londoners" that you provincial types hate so much are actually the annoying tossers from your home towns who've moved to London and think it makes them special. Native (Greater in my case) Londoners don't actually go on about the city that much, do we?

Now, I think all types of riding that I do are perfectly served by the south east

So no actual mountain biking then? 😛

chakaping - Member
A few points...

- A lot of us southerners have been biking in the north so we know how good some of the riding is. I bet fewer of you northerners have ridden down south.

I submit that this is because the riding is better up North and us Southerners want to see how much better.

The fact is that there are a) not enough decent sized hills so trails are unavoidably limited in length and gnarliness b) too many people and too many rich people in the South (East at least) who have the power and the inclination to prevent the riding being really good (notwithstanding the lack of hills) and c) the combination of a) and b) above means that there are too many competing interests on the land that is available, and where rich people and massed people dominate then horse riding and dog walking will prevail.

I will be moving north when the opportunity presents itself to take advantage of more space, fewer people and more & better riding 😀

Representing the North well just one county Yorkshire
Pace, Orange, On-One, Ragley, Hope (border bandit now Lancs country though)

Representing the Sarth
Whyte

5-1 nuff said

I make that 5 all

I submit that this is because the riding is better up North and us Southerners want to see how much better.

I'd tend to agree with you there, but my point is still valid - and was aimed at the chippier northerners and scots above.

let's just face it, it's grim up north.

On the balance of it, the North gave us: Cheryl Cole.

The South gave the North: An economy.

100-0 to the south.

pk-ripper - Member
let's just face it, it's grim up north.

On the balance of it, the North gave us: Cheryl Cole.

The South gave the North: An economy.

Tough call as to which is the less screwed though... 😆

The South gave the North: An economy.

Ooooooooooooooooooh, suits you sir!!

and the banking crisis ??

Middleburn! Hampshire
X Lite - Cornwall??
USE - Sussex
Thorn - Somerset

I'll give you Middleburn the rest well ya shandy drinking, moisturising, long haired, vegetarian, dry chip eating, no sugar in ya' tea, bonsai trees worshiping metrosexual type!! just make a sentence out of these words...

( those clutching I straws was with )

I definitely prefer my outdoors to have woods, my views to have more than bleak moor, my tracks I like better smooth and fast than boggy or rocky...

let's just face it, it's grim up north.

Yeah, it's really bleak up here...

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

Middleburn! Hampshire
X Lite - Cornwall??
USE - Sussex
Thorn - Somerset
I'll give you Middleburn the rest well ya shandy drinking, moisturising, long haired, vegetarian, dry chip eating, no sugar in ya' tea, bonsai trees worshiping metrosexual type!! just make a sentence out of these words...

( those clutching I straws was with )

And I give you Dialled Bikes. Born out of a need. 😉
And, err, Charge.

simonfbarnes - Member

The South gave the North: An economy.

Ooooooooooooooooooh, suits you sir!!

and the banking crisis ??

banking crisis? what crisis? That was due to everyone overstretching themselves, and nothing to do with specific regions.

and the banking crisis ??

I like riding my bike, different areas offer different challenges.

Much of the woodsy singletrack in the South I find difficult cos I am used to the rocky tracks around Calderdale/Pennines/Peak - wtf is that rear tyre spinning when you stand up thing about?

Also find the really rocky steep stuff of Scotland and the Lakes a challenge-again cos I'm not used to it.

Northern Rock
Royal Bank of Scotland

bang to rights it seems 🙁
Perhaps you lot should build Hadrian II from Bristol to King's Lynn ?

Waderider - Member

...and it is based on visits to London to be honest.

There's your problem already. People complain about everyone in London being in so much of a rush, but the people complaining are the ones who go down for a visit, and stop dead in the middle of the street while everyone else has to move around them to get where they're going. No wonder London gets a bad rep!!

I work down there from time to time, and I'm beginning to really like it as a city (although I've not taken a bike down yet). Edinburgh is better, but that's not the point 😀

not enough decent sized hills so trails are unavoidably limited in length and gnarliness

That's just blatantly not true. Speaking as someone who lives in Wales, I know my hills.

The dark peak is pretty cr4p really, when I leave home on a sunday morning and ride 400 yards down the road to the bridleway that takes me out of sheffield and don't come home till dark having not ridden the same trail twice all day, I often wish I was able to load the bike onto the car and drive for an hour or 2 to get to a car park in a forest with a visitor centre and toilets so that I can buy a map of the trails and then follow other people round the same 10k route back to the car park, that would be so much more fun. 😛
I'm just so jealous of you guys in the south east

I'm just so jealous of you guys in the south east

yes and your trails are full of narsty rocks innit ?
[url= http://www.bogtrotters.org/rides/2009/29mar/DSC_0188_.jp g" target="_blank">http://www.bogtrotters.org/rides/2009/29mar/DSC_0188_.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

and not a tree in sight:
[url= http://www.bogtrotters.org/rides/2009/29mar/204p.jp g" target="_blank">http://www.bogtrotters.org/rides/2009/29mar/204p.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

more like going to a skatpark

I live in the SW... which although realistically speaking is a seperate entity entirely from any North/South discussion.. I have to admit to being completely unaware of the existence of skatparks!

Sounds very European to me

he's the skatman!

They have more open access land up there and in Wales and Scotland. So there's more big skies and bridleways. Down here the riding is more contained and concealed. But there's probably just as much.

I live in MCr within pretty easy reach of the peaks e.t.c. But got to say I much prefer the riding in the Chiltern hills where I grew up and get down to as often as possible. Just mile upon mile of singletrack down there. Oh and trees as well [as many have also mentioned].

Allot of the Iron-Age tracks on and around the Ridgeway have had over a thousand years to bed in and that adds to the experience somehow and your mind gets transported in a way that I haven't felt riding anywhere else. Although it may not have the elevation, it has a flow beyond design and alomst any bike will do, as long as you don't go over-biked.

Agree that Surrey Hills are a bit bijou but still prefer them to many a trail centre, [which they are quite like, what with the Peaslake store and Leith Hill Tower standing in for trail-centre cafe's] Epping Forrest and Swinley don't really do it for me though, like mountain biking with stabilizers or something A bit boring and more than a bit boggy.

If I lived in Scotland though........................?

There are plenty of good trails in the South. Thinking about next weekend say I don't fel short of options.

But come the winter my universe will contract as the clay covers the chalk to the South of me in glue

So in the summer the South can compete. But in in the winter its harder to say that

To be fair, for a mountain biking site, I have to admit there are no mountains in southern england.

Wrong! 2000 feet is the height in this country to be classed as a mountain .Dartmoor just gets there with Yes Tor at 2031 and High Willhays at 2037

Are you sure Edric? I have always been told that it's 3000ft to officially be called a mountain.

Edit

'A Mountain in England, Wales & Ireland is defined as being a high point over 610m (2000ft) above mean sea-level with 30m (approx 100ft) of 'prominence' or 'ascent' on all sides.

English and Welsh mountains are also sometimes known by the acronym Hewitt which stands for Hill in England, Wales or Ireland over Two Thousand feet.

There are currently 527 Hewitts in the British Isles - 178 in England, 138 in Wales and 211 in Ireland.

In Scotland it is more complicated. A Mountain in Scotland is defined as being a high point over 915m (3000ft) above mean sea-level with 30m (approx 100ft) of 'prominence' or 'ascent' on all sides (known as Murdos) or a high point over 610m (2000ft) but under 914.9m (2999ft) above mean sea-level with 150m (approx 500ft) of 'prominence' or 'ascent' on all sides. These lower mountains are called Corbetts (between 2500ft and 2999ft high) and Grahams (between 2000ft and 2499ft high).

Munros are Scottish Mountains over 915m (3000ft) high that have been 'elected' to Munro status by the SMC (Scottish Mountaineering Club).'

OK well that just p****d on my bonfire 😳

That's the classification for a Munro and a Corbett is 2500 I think.If it's 3thou All the mountains on the 3 peaks cx would be hills.I'm pretty sure it's 2 thou.

You edited whilst I was typing!!

A Mountain in England, Wales & Ireland is defined as being a high point over 610m (2000ft) above mean sea-level

Depends where you live I suppose.A Tibetan won't be impressed that's for sure!!

Swinley's up north as far as i'm concerned! Much further South and i'd be in France. Plenty of hills and roots and rocks and sand and chalk and.... here, and it's sunny.

Nothing against the North, but can't be bothered to drive hundreds of miles to get there when there's plenty here.

[i]Nothing against the North, but can't be bothered to drive hundreds of miles to get there when there's plenty here.[/i]

& quite right too but Vice Versa. Why on earth would I travel to the Quantocks or the Sarf Darns when I've got 'T'Dales on't doorstep, North York Moors 30mins & 'T'Lakes 90mins away? (& Fort Willy's only 6.575 hrs)Givvower man, yer taalkin bollix.

it's good if people can be happy riding near where they live!

I live in Oxfordshire. The riding is pretty shite in my experience. I drive in excess of an hour every week to find some hills.

Would love to know if it's worth reading the rest of this thread to see if there are good places closer to home.

Ha Ha, Poor troll. Move up north you shandy drinking puffs!

Ridgeway is close to oxon

Has there ever been a north/south forum weekend ride thing (a kind of cultural exchange). I'm sure we could rustle up a van or two of southern softies.

it's all my fault cos I said the sarf was all Tesco carparks 🙂

As someone said earlier, Oxford is up north, so change your name yeti 🙂

rusty - I wish I could. I think Yeti's are crap and now I don't live in the South wtf is a man supposed to do?!

ST ran a North/South exchange feature a while back. It didn't light my fire.

Tescos!! Waitrose old bean 🙂

We do have some rocks (Exmoor):
[img] [/img]

But we major on singletrack (Mendip):
[img] [/img]

and also on tight, woody trails (Mendip):
[img] [/img]

Thats right you lot think Yorkshire is the North. There`s a fabulous bit above it just before you hit Scotia. But I wont bore you with it, you may come and try to ride it.. God it would be like the Peaks on a weekend, heaven forbid!

Thumbs up to molgrips for not dissing the Southern riding. 8)

As a Welshman and non-Southerner, he could have joined in with some of the moaning Northerners. But no, he was completely open-minded and able to say nice things. 8)

I'm not long in from a 36 mile cross-country ride in Hampshire, only saw 2 walkers. 😉

On the very positive side, within an hour or so's driving, I can enjoy a huge variety of riding/scenery/terrain.

The Southern Yeti - have you ridden around the Lambourn area, heading west?

Lambourn... no. If I'm not hitting uplifts I've been travelling to trail centres as West Ox is just really quite flat and boring. If you can recommend a route that'd be great.

On music advice... loving NY, can't get enough of the Bonnie Prince and will be ordering some Van at the LRS tomorrow. Ta1

* laughs at all the Englanders arguing about which bit of their country is the least shit *

I can send you some gpx routes, haven't been over that way for a couple of years. Added attraction - Ashdown Park - now bought by Pete Townsend, guitarist with The Who.

Pleased that you're enjoying NY but who is this Bonnie Prince? Currently into Rory Gallagher 'Irish Tour'. 8)

Seem to remember that possibly play.com were selling a Van album really cheap?

druid - shut it 😉

People still ride on Hilsea Lines?

Yep, think that's part of some of our routes.

Being born to a southerner and a geordie, and living in North Yorkshire, I'd have to say,"Hey-up there yeh canny lot it all be lovely jubbly, shut tha gobs wi yer pointless bickering an geh oot an ride me owd muckers!"

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blast the rubbish URL thing not working

shut tha gobs wi yer pointless bickering an geh oot an ride me owd muckers!"

cod Yorkshire ?

cod Yorkshire ?