[Closed] Singletrack in Kent

Bluebell hill area near maidstone, or bedebury is about 35 mins away. Think shifty mtb site might be able to help with bluebell hill route.

The North Downs are great. My neck of the woods, although im a bit more towards London.
I could recommend some routes but the best thing to do is get an OS map of the area (or google earth if a paper map is a bit too old school 😀 ) and find some trails or likely looking wooded areas. Exploration is a joy 😉

Some sites you might find useful:
[url= http://www.kent-trails.co.uk/ ]Kent Trails[/url]
[url= http://www.mountainbikinginkent.co.uk/ ]MTB Kent[/url]
[url= http://www.jab-ride.co.uk/ ]Jab Ride[/url]

Also consider Bedgebury Forest- its a bit towards Hastings, but its the only trail centre that i know of locally. Pretty good too!

[url=http://]Bedgebury Forest[/url]

Hope this helps 😉

Have a look at Activ, bike shop based in Folkestone with a regular Thursday night ride and several groups riding around the folkestone / Canterbury / Ashford area at the weekends.

[url= http://www.sketchymtb.co.uk ]Sketchy[/url] will help you

Wrotham, Mereworth woods area has some fun stuff. Some of it is BOAT though so not really singletrack. If the silly kents are still active then they do some rides around there. Tunbridge Wells too but that's a bit out from Maidstone.

There's plenty of trails over on the Surrey/Kent border, bit far from Maidstone though. Limpsfield Chart, Crockham Hill, Chartwell, Toys Hill and North Downs Way, Oxted to Sevenoaks, some stiles to negotiate but you get a lovely view of the M25.

Used to be my patch until last year. As above, Mereworth has some fun bits (tight, noodly singletrack) but you really need to go with someone who knows their way around.

Some fun bridleways, including a couple of (relatively) rocky / rooty descents around just off the A25 as you head towards Sevenoaks - if you look at an OS map around Ivy Hatch / Oldbury Hill / Raspits Hill / Ightham Mote it's all pretty clear and easy enough to string a loop together. Long downhill from Wilmot Hill to Mote Farm is a good laugh, particularly the first bit.

North Downs / Pilgrims Way is rideable for quite a distance West of Maidstone - not particularly challenging but quite fast riding in the dry. Again you can string together some decent loops - look at the area around Holly Hill, N of Birling.

Some surprisingly decent riding, really, and relatively little known compared to the more westerly bit of the North Downs - you'll probably not see a soul!

If you've got the legs for it, you can out together a full day's ride taking in most of the above with some planning 😉

I can show you the Darent Valley path that runs from Dartford lakes to Sevenoaks-nice trail, a lot of fences and gates to go through (an excuse for a rest!) and lots of nice villages and pubs. Bit muddy in winter.
Also theres a vast network of trails around the Orpington/ West Kingdown area that i can show you.
Although im not mega fit, so about 20-25 miles is my limit 😥

Guys, thanks a bundle, lots to have a look at and do a bit of planing. I'll fire up the MemoryMap and get my gps looked out. I had a look at the Pilgrims way / Kent-trails.co.uk and with your suggestions I should get on fine. If the weather is exceptionally good I might post up a meeting point although it would probably be mid-day during the week some time.

Thanks again. Steve

+1 for Bear
Contact ACTiV and see if they'll arrange the Sunday ride for "The Wye Loop". It's near Ashfird and is a nice 2-2 1/2 hr singletrack ride with an amusing selection of people! You can find them on Facebook. Debbie led Singletrack magazine round this loop a couple of years ago...
If you want to go fast and not chat, then Kent Trails will be for you and their rides are longer too at around 4 hours.
Bedgebury is OK, but if you park at the site it's £7!!! Also if you go there at the weekend and it's a lovely day, you might be asking to overtake quite a lot...