Micheldever Wood / Black Wood near Winchester – worth exploring?

I live near there and was wondering if it is worth having a look to see if there is anything fun to ride in those places. I am sure I have heard of people running XC races in the area. Anyone local with knowldege?

local but no knowledge, interested as well, there's a bit round farley mount etc but i'm sure you've already explored that

yes both are good fun.

micheldever has a criss cross of paths, some are quite flowy singletrack type affairs – made nice by the fact that the whole thing is on a gentle slope.

black wood has a motorbike enduro course. which is long and almost entirely singletrack. i think it's 11km (could be miles) but definatley a good ride.

Have you had a look on the Hants CC web site. This takes you through the woods.
Was going to do it myself a few weeks ago but never got around to it so can't tell you what it's like.

Brilliant news! Yes, I have explored a fair bit of the countryside round here but it's always difficult to find the best bits without some good local knowledge! Singletrack can be surprisingly hard to find round here, and 'technical' riding just as scarce. I think I will have to catch a train to Micheldever then wind my way back down South through the woods…

@Mulletus Maximus
I have done that route before actually, it does take you to the wood but you cycle through it on a road before joining a bridleway to Arlesford if I remember correcly.

Can you know what it's like if you find any, it's only about 7ish miles from me and have never ridden there.

Gorrick held a race there a few years ago it was the stickiest mud I have ever encountered, good fun though…….

"Those of you who missed our first visit to Black Wood last September, you can look forward to masses of excellent technical and flowing single track through beech woodland, with the odd bomb hole thrown in for good measure! We have reduced the lap length from last time to our normal length, and the field has been mown for our visit so trackside parking is on offer.
Unfortunately Black Wood is a private forest so please do not ride there outside of our races as this could jeapordise future use."

That's a bummer. Micheldever is FC land as far as I can tell though.

so is black wood.

there is a car park with one of those green wooden signs….

dunno about bridleways though…

No cycling is allowed in Micheldever Wood. There is a bridleway that runs along the northern perimeter. Really odd, so close to the motorway but it feels rural.

You can ride opposite in Itchen Wood, I reckon there is some little secret singletrack in there. Have had a little nosey and ventured off piste. There's very little in the way of technical riding in that area although there is an interesting track through Hampage Wood towards Ovington.

There is some stuff in Farley Mount and I believe there is some top secret single track. Don't forget that generally the area is chalk based and like a skating rink when wet.

I used to live in New Alresford and have a pretty good knowledge of trails in Hampshire 🙂

No cycling is allowed in Micheldever Wood.

Are you sure? I found this website:

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/Recreation.nsf/LUWebDocsByKey/EnglandHampshireNoForestMicheldeverWood

Which states:

There are no waymarked cycle routes but cycling is permitted

Which got me all excited! 😥

Well, it must have changed in the last few years but would assume that you can only use the stony track. Can't ride over the tumuli 😯

In Spring, the bluebell display is fantastic 🙂

Oh and I would be a bit nervous about parking there too.

Oh and I would be a bit nervous about parking there too.

Plenty of places to park in Kingworthy and there's a bridleway that leads you to the woods.

Actually, I don't really want to ride in that area again cos I broke my collar bone close to Itchen Wood 😥

The Woolpack at Totford serves mighty fine coffee on the terrace. It's a bit posh inside 🙂

Ah the Woolpack. New the pevious landlord and his son quite well. Best mates parents lives next door too.
Had many a forgotten night after hours drinking there. 😆
It's a very good foody place now. Highly recommended.

Black wood is marked as Forestry Commission Access Land on a 50K OS map – not sure what that means.

As for Micheldever wood, IIRC it is full of tracks and trails, but I haven't ridden there since before that section of the M3 was built!!! (It had even more of a rural feel in those days!)

if my understanding of access land is correct, it's and set aside for the general public to wander freely on. There's an area i've been looking at that would make a cracking downhill singletrack (with a bit of riding in)

Poppa, the answer to your OP seems to be yes and maybe report back on your findings.

Rumour has it there is a SouthernXC race in Blackwood next year just before the motorbike enduro. How muddy does it get?

will have to check out that area sometime, sounds interesting

M_M – it looks lovely inside, totally different to how it used to be. Was surprised that it closed down but even more surprised when it reopened again.

Not the sort of place to go after a muddy ride?

Which bridleway from Kings Worthy do you mean? The Drove Road?

dobo – has anything happened up at Farley Mount re new trails?

wasn't the trail centre plans supposed to be approved by now?

C_G, The last landlord had a good offer for the place and retired with a very nice pension. It was completely gutted and refurbished and turned into a more foody place, it's getting a good reputation. I believe it's been bought by the Heineken family.

The bridleway is on Stoke Charitry Road opposite Alresford Drove (Wallers Ash), it's about a mile out of the village.

CG, not seen any new trails appearing at farley yet, i'm starting to think i'm looking in the wrong area, have seen more bikes recently though

Plenty of places to park in Kingworthy and there's a bridleway that leads you to the woods.

Surely youd be better off parking at Micheldever or Micheldever Station and riding from there, as it's quite a drag uphill on the road from Kingsworthy to that bridleway and the bridleway itself was always heavily rutted and underwater IIRC.

Regarding Farley Mount, here is the proposal:

http://www.newforce.org.uk/pdfs/FarleyMB_Proposal.pdf

Plus there is a group on Facebook with info:

Andy T has had more meetings with more big wigs and more progress has been made.

It is looking like there will be designated trails running through ancient and new woodland, some path ways will be re graded as cycle routes, Sparsholt post office will quite possible open on sundays as a bit of a rest stop….tea and chocolate bars etc etc.

The council are interested in getting kidz envilved by offering some sort of educational experience (or some sort of ting!), possible a centre.
Ian warby (i forget which society he is from…but one of the biking jobbies!!)has been down for a look and is very excited by the whole affair….reckons that he could help to design (as he has had envolvement in some major ones) and get funding etc.

This is all good news…….'but' I have to say that this is all a little more professional than perhaps I had anticipated when setting up this 'gang'. I hope that it will still remain a riders trail and not turn into a bit of an undulating treasure trail to avoid famillies on……please don't get me wrong, i am a family man and love family outdoor activity; but we need some serious trails as well as that.
To all you riders out there ……don't panic i will be trying to put in your views so PLEASE PLEASE speak out …….what ever you have to say – apart from just abuse aimed at ME!
Still no fixed dates i'm affraid……but hey the council are involved so!!!!!!!!

But the most recent coment is:

Well, no news. As you'd expect FC are strapped for cash and have mothballed all projects. I have a reliable source that tells me it's worth bangin on their door come the autumn, so I will.

I'll keep you all posted.

So i'm not holding my breath.

MM – we are in danger of getting a reputation for being pub know-it-alls in the North Hampshire area. No prizes for guessing What we wasted our time doing in the late 80's / early 90's.

Farley Mount proposal looks promising, if it ever happens.

FC seem to be ploughing lots of cash into other places still, i.e. Gisburn, Llandgla, Haldon, so they seem to have cash to spend still.

Poppa,

Was having a trawl on the NewForce website and seems they are riding Micheldever Wood at the end of Nov. Might be worth tagging along.

http://www.newforce.org.uk/rides.php

I could be completely wrong here but Farley Mount appears to be chalk downland just like QEP, and look what has happened to the trails there.

What happened to the QECP trails then?

Haven't been there for ages but when wet the chalk is lethal. Also the turns were too tight but I will happily admit I'm a rubbish rider!

The proposal highlights this pitfall and talks about importing material to "weatherproof" the trail.

I don't believe that was done at QECP.

I believe Andy T was contemplating using 'Hampshire Hoggin' (similar, I think, to the stuff at Swinley) for armouring the trails at Farley Mount though Ian Warby reckons its the decaying leaf matter that makes its slippy, not wet chalk per se. Keeping the leaf mulch off the trails is another matter though…

There is an entrance at the northern edge of Micheldever Wood accessed from a bridleway from the old Basingstoke road which gives you a bit of singletrack before you hit the main fire road.
There's more stuff in Itchen Wood (where the bluebells are) and it can be linked up with tracks over Abbotstone Down and the Oxdrove that runs parallel(ish) to the Candovers. It's also links West to tracks towards South Wonston and then onto Crawley/Farley Mount.

Tim

Completely off track for a second.
UnderTheWood, your're not an ex Testbourne pupil are you. The name is familiar!

Hi Mulletus Maximus
Nope, Winchester born and bred!

T

Do you think we're the only ones on here Mulletus?

<useless info>
It's not the chalk or even the wet – it's the tiny amount of clay that inevitably comes with chalky land that gets wet and lethal. Can't re ember where I learnt that, I'm from the North Wessex Downs, have long experience of chalk putting me squarely on my arse. Or head. Or shoulder.

Whatever it is, its lethal. There is a rutted track down from Butser hill that is almost all chalk. If it is even slightly damp you can have both brakes full on and still slide down uncontrollably.

The first Gorrick there in the dry was awesome, really fast, very very bumpy, swoopy trails, excellent venue. Then we went back the next spring in the wet and it was horrendous, just a dull boggy, muddy mess. Probably the worst Gorrick course I've done in 9 years. Considering all the other Gorrick venues are largely unaffected by adverse weather I guess they gave up on it!

It would be great for a summer race though when it **should** be much drier.

OK, what we need is a pub ride led by Mulletus and Rusty in mid-Hampshire, ones that they haven't been banned from naturally 😉 I personally would like a cream tea 8)

I thought that you could not "import" materials to FC/AONB's?

There is a fun single track descent (Beacon Hill) from Farley Mount.

Underthewood – yes, I know exactly where you mean 🙂