I was recently treated to a guided loop of the Surrey Hills and I’d like to return the favour in FoD. The Obvious spots are PABA, Dowies, Shutcastle and Mallards but I don’t know a fun way to get between PABA and Mallards without retracing my steps. My plan is to meet at Mallards and head over to Dowies & Shutcastle, then on to PABA via Wasteland/Cliffhanger/Dans/Y2K do Countdown and Launchpad then head back to Mallards to session the trails there until everyone has had enough. It’s just the heading back to Mallards that has me stumped. Can anyone offer a route?

If doing a loop then you can always go across the bridge at PABA to Beechenhurst then head over to the Spruce ride bike path and that basically takes you all the way over to the cottages at the top of Mallards?

It’s a big old circular you’re doing though, lots of fireroad and doubletrack to get to loads of places without much time to do any of the tracks?

Going round i take it you’re nipping over from mallards towards the stoner side and then over to oakenhill and over towards shutcastle that way, big old circular of FoD that!

Going round i take it you’re nipping over from mallards towards the stoner side and then over to oakenhill and over towards shutcastle that way, big old circular of FoD that!

That’s the plan and it may be a little ambitious. It’s all milk floats so the distance isn’t too much of a worry but herding all those cats may be problematic depending on how many actually turn up.

If doing a loop then you can always go across the bridge at PABA to Beechenhurst then head over to the Spruce ride bike path and that basically takes you all the way over to the cottages at the top of Mallards?

That’s the sort of info I’m after. Thanks.

I’ll have to go out there and ride it beforehand, just to see how far the transitions are.

“Milk Floats” 👌

There isn’t anything over that way ‘proper’ but there are a load of old forest paths you can link up – not exactly easy though.

Does sound like a lot of ‘commuting’ time Vs trail riding time – when you can easily do a whole ride at Mallards on the three hillsides?

Either that or I would just park at the Stoneworks and ride Barnhill & Bixlade (although you might end the average EMTB Forum rider on the Tramway trails 😆), but there is plenty of easier stuff on the rubber duck side.

It’ll be a brave group hitting the steep bixslade stuff with the upcoming wet weather

Best time of the year to ride them! They get way less traffic because people find them too hard in the wet, so there is a chance to fix them up & ride them. Personally I don’t find them any tougher in the wet than the dry.

Certainly not compared to something like Inbetweener at Staunton in the wet Vs dry 😆

Yeah, it’s not as bad as Staunton, inbetweener/widowmaker/etc are horrific even in slight damp, but then when the bad weather does come i’m just sticking to basic stuff at Mallards or Dowies!

Dom, check my strava… https://www.strava.com/activities/5991028132

That was a route I did with Graham from Slam69 on Monday, he was exploring a route for upcoming Fat Bike ride. Wasn’t exactly highly technical, but we rode stuff from Pedalabikeaway up to Mallards that I’d not done before, and it broke up the monotony of fireroads or the Family Trail at least…

although you might end the average EMTB Forum rider on the Tramway trails

😆

Oi! I’m the average EMTB Forum rider and I can ride them.  😀

Thanks to everyone for their input, I’ve decided to stick to the trails near Pedals and the Tramway, possibly heading over to Dowies as well, if time allows. I’ll try and tempt them back for a day at Mallards next year.

Oi! I’m the average EMTB Forum rider and I can ride them.

Then you can be the one in charge of the GoPro when you punt them down slip & die/Waka/etc to record the carnage 😆

That was always my plan. 😀

Yeah, lots of fun that side of the hill, Waka is the least painful in the wet, but it’s the one next to it that i struggle on, the one next to the quarry fence that has the chutes and so on is a good one though, very weird how it changes from one type of trail into another, some good work done by someone there!

One trail i keep trying to find again though is Ceris 2, not sure why i can never find it, i do the stuff at Dowies, over to Fetter and towards the likes of Wakachangi, but can never find it, anyone know the start point for it (via message if keeping it off forum)?

Yeah, lots of fun that side of the hill

I think it’s one of my favorite hills on the forest to ride. It doesn’t get much traffic anyway as most people stay the rubber duck side, where pretty much all the trails are easy by comparison (apart from Fraggle Rock).

Waka was there as the least spicy trail, although I really like the next couple along, but then steep, rocky stuff is what I enjoy.

Drop me a message ref Ceris.

Certainly keen