Was thinking of heading down tomorrow but considering the huge amounts of rain in the last week how much of a mess is it just now?

Thinking I might be better off heading to Swinley for a blast instead?

Holmbury Hill dries well. Pitch and Leith much less so. There is plenty of xc riding you can do with natural descents which drains well. Can send you a route from Newlands Corner if you wish which mixes natural / bridelway with trails on Holmbury and Pitch which should be dry.

Yes I agree – Peaslake is so sandy, it drains really quickly – actually it feels grippier when a little damp rather than bone dry and dusty.

Cheers guys, I was going to try this route

Coming on the train from London so bike to Westcott and pick up the GPX from there. Been a few times to Surrey Hills but always manage to end up doing 3 hours uphill and about one run down Summer Lightening without finding the rest so going to test out my new Garmin eTrex…

Been a few times to Surrey Hills but always manage to end up doing 3 hours uphill and about one run down Summer Lightening without finding the rest so going to test out my new Garmin eTrex…

If you find your way to Holmbury / Peaslake then simply ask other riders (there will be plenty) – a good start would be Yogurt Pot, Crack Pipe (then back pushing up the hill next to it), Barry Knows Best, Captain Cluncky (El Capitan), Super Nova, Graveyard.

Cheers nickfrog, was hoping to find that area so will see who’s about tomorrow…

Nicks ideas all good but a bit tricky to link in that order. The start of crack pipe is tricky to find but a lovely run. Bit of a pain to get back from.

Yes I might have got the order wrong !!! I quite like the first three YP, CP and BKB but what would you suggest after that in a rational order ? That’s usually the point where I get a bit lost TBH !!!

1 add Tel Road after crack pipe?
2. Spend some time exploring all the trails in the middle of Pitch after climbing up after Barry’s is T trails, Proper Bo, Curley Wurley and then up to the top to go either Eric way or Clunk way.

OP without some detailed research or a guide/leader you are going to struggle with published routes as so much of the trail network is unofficial. Try popping into Nirvana Cycles in Westcott and asking about their shop rides. Also London Calling facebook group ? Also without a car access is a bit more tricky but Dorking / West Humble isn’t too bad. Happy riding

Just do the Nirvana shop ride. Leaves at 11am on the dot.

Is there good riding own Blackheath Forest?
Will be staying at Barnett Hill hotel and have just seen that it’s next to lots of tracks.

IMO always a bit disappointing as the bits that could be good tend to be chewed up by horses. Pleasant enough to spin around though and pretty easy to shoot up via Winterfold (careful) and go to Pitch or back of W’fold

Zippy not really – mostly flat and sandy. I occasionally used to ride through there en-route to SH “proper” but it’s not really a place to ride in of itself

Take a bike by all means but drive to Peaslake / Walking Bottom Car Park

You can do a decent xc-ish ride from your hotel and I can give you some pointers but Peaslake proper is worth the drive or “ride in” via Winterfold

Might take my fatty or my trainers then. I need to kill a few hours while the ladeeez are out looking at gardens.

Zippy – just looked up,your hotel. From there I would head south and then up on to the back of Winterfold rather than Blackheath

You can either pedal yourself to top of St Marthas for view and see the church then a few cheeky trails I can share then back – Fatty good for that

Or park in one if these along Winterfold and do the various trails to the South down the steeper side. 2 hrs of good fun (Charlie Bronson, Northern Monkey, Fly Tipper …) you could take the FS although I ride these on my HT but skip the jumps 😳

Jambas map covers the area I was talking about. You can ride there and join up where the Greensands Way comes on to the map (by Flytipper)

On the conditions – not too bad round Pitch. Dry on Holmbury. Just there are big puddles in some of the berms on some trails. Worst is the second half of Supernova. Ankle deep puddles. Rest of the trail though is dry. A few sloppy bits on Fork Right etc which is usual anyway, but nothing bad.

Blackheath – usually I’m swearing about bloody horses riding through there with the mess they make of it. However there are some routes through that are better. There’s also a long flowy bit Farley Heath to Blackheath I did which links together some natural tracks. Was really nice, but I can’t find it now, so end up back on some horse chewed bloody track.

Still, it’s a nice area regardless. Worth going through if cutting between Winterfold and St Martha’s/Chantries sort of areas.

Whereabouts is the start to crack pipe please, I believe it’s near the crossroads after YP ?? Ive heard it mentioned a few times lately & sounds much better than secret squirrel or flat out fedlay to finish on when parked at Holmbury….

After YP, right at the bench, and it’s on the left further along just as the path splits. Preferably do the proper entrance further up to right that hops over log on left and across path up bank then down. Not the lazy shortcut that has developed as entrance 😉

Will dump you down on the road fair way to the right of Holmbury. Left on the road, maybe want to climb back up to the cricket pitch area and head on trails towards Holmbury, or otherwise you’re going back on the road.

Nice trail _ only downside is its a bit of gaff getting back from it. But worth it still. Took me three times to find it on my own. As DK says, but look for obvious fork in BW. You can take the RH fork for DK’s proper start, the LH to miss the first bit and neither for the lazy shortcut, just look for the little track heading off into the trees.

Did you make it?

Thanks @teamhurtmore & @deadkenny, I’ll hunt it down next time I’m out that way.

Glad I took my Fatty. A few quagmires but the mud stuck to the sand and fell off. Got hopelessly lost but enjoyed Ride Lane and the Downs Link from Blackheath to Lockner Farm was best.
Did loads more superb looking downhills but unfortunately I was pushing up them!
Will definitely explore more once I get a Garmin.

I rode from Epsom to Brighton off road on Saturday, mainly on bridleways and simple singletrack but we crossed Ranmore Common (North Downs) and Leith Hill, Holmbury Hill and Pitch Hill in that order and all were very dry.

I rode from Epsom to Brighton off road on Saturday, mainly on bridleways and simple singletrack

MTB -Idle….I live in Epsom and would love to do that, don’t suppose you’ve got a gpx file for that route??

Fantombiker – Member
I rode from Epsom to Brighton off road on Saturday, mainly on bridleways and simple singletrack
MTB -Idle….I live in Epsom and would love to do that, don’t suppose you’ve got a gpx file for that route??

Hi mate, yeah of course. It’s a great route; can you access this? saved as a ‘course’ on Garmin connect so assuming you have a Garmin device you should be able to download it.

I’m aiming to do it again before the end of Summer with a separate group of mates than those who rode on Saturday. Give me a shout at muddy fox at gmail dot you know the rest

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/course/16059410

Tennis off tomorrow so might nip over to Peaslake – any update on conditions. Assuming W!fold still v much OoB. Does that include S side we summer madness etc?

Pitch or Holmbury or both??

THM – South side of winterfold is fine. Flytipper is no more but everything else is still present and ok to ride. Summer madness is a bit overgrown at the moment although someone had cleared Pop Goes the Weasel so maybe they’ve done summer madness now as well. Evian is also still running but there’s an unofficial request to climb back up to winterfold by turning immediately left at the bottom rather than going up the steep fire road and then along dog sh1t alley. They’re going to change the end of the trail at some point to keep it off mcallister’s land.

I went out during the rain on Weds and it wasn’t too bad considering so I suspect it will be mostly dry bar the odd splodgy patch by the weekend.

Thanks Gotama

fly tipper!! I am v much a wheels in the ground rider/mincer. The bomb hole on summer madness is more me!! don’t know Pgtw at least not by name.

Glad to hear about Evian. I tended to turn left anyway and head over to N Monkey if riding those parts

Should have kept quiet. Crack pipe has clearly seen more traffic recently 😉

Yes conditions good but rode up to top of pitch only to find rear brake was buggered. Ride a lot faster than normal which led to one early crash – first corner on T trails right ( or something like that)!!!!

Otter than that faster and a bit scarier’ graveyard was extra fun but fortunately dry!!!

Crack pipe has clearly seen more traffic recently.

Really? It rode perfectly well last weekend.

OTH the mental menagerie of old skool trails on Ranmore were proper sketchy after the midweek rain. Muddy leafy cloggage not exactly confidence inspiring.

Crackpipe is getting very worn and gullied. I think thats what was meant. Still rideable but different.

@Gotama what’s happened to flytipper ? Jumps all flattened ?

I’ll see your

very worn and gullied

and raise it to the level of those seen on Granny’s Roots. Have never been able to ride that without dabbing several times.

@Jambalaya flattening would be an understatement. You’d be hard pushed to ride a bike down it now where they’ve churned it up so much. It needs rolling to compact the soil and a good bit of single track cut into it.

spacemonkey – Member 
Really? It rode perfectly well last weekend.

Like Bronson at the bottom. Mass of breaking bumps, hard baked.

alextemper – Member 
It needs rolling to compact the soil and a good bit of single track cut into it.

Would be nice to restore it to the old singletrack it was before big gnar gaps. Flowy from top footpath to bottom roll down.

CPipe fine and as above rode it with no rear brake. Just a bit more worn thatn last time I road it.

I really like it as a run. Shame some people have started a short cut at the end though – bloody strava??

In you honour DK I made sure I used the proper start over the log 😉

Haven’t been on FT since the big gaps The old trail was fun as was the end!