I’m a Devon boy but work is taking me to within half an hour of the above for a day – is it worth chucking the bike in the car if I can sneak in an hour or two on the bike? Don’t recall ever hearing anything about it?

Alternatively I’ll be close to Winchester / Crawley if anything there is worth a trip.

Anybody? Has nobody on here visited?!

Surely you have seen WCA’s posts?

Always looks like a fun place, never been myself though

If you are in Crawley then it’s easy enough to drive a tad further up (40 min drive) to Peaslake

I went about a year or so ago, it was pretty much just a 4X track in the park – good fun with mates, but I wouldn’t go just for that. Lordswood is just up the road which has some fun trails in and worth an explore, otherwise maybe Tidworth bike park

http://www.southamptonbikepark.com

There’s quite a bit of riding between Winchester and Crawley.  for starters: Red/Blue trails at QECP, DH/jumps at Rogate, DH and XC at Hindhead/Punchbowl/Blackdown and around, XC on the SDW, trails/XC around Peaslake/Leith Pitch/Holmbury Hills.

Depends bwhat kjind of bike you’ve got and what you fancy.  If you have a jump bike you fancy riding dirt jumps for an hour or two, So’ton bike park looks like a good bet.

Thanks all, great info.

Forgot – more dirt jumps (inc. proper big pro line, if that’s your thing) at Milford S4P, just off the A3 on your way (a way) between Winchester and Crawley.

There is a Crawley close to Winchester!

Hey stu, unless you particularly like jumping, it’s not going to keep you entertained I don’t think.

There are a few runs down which literally take a few seconds and they have some little berms and jumps. Easy ride back to the top on a tarmac path.

Good place to go with my son, but I wouldn’t go alone.

Depends what you’re into really!

Winchester / Crawley

There’s a good few miles between them! Ah, just seen C_G’s post, wasn’t aware of this other Crawley! 🙂

Me neither! Thanks cg, sorry stu! Ignore all of mine except SDW and QECP. And SDW for an hour and back from Winchester doesn’t get you any of the good stuff really. So you can ignore that too!

Lots of jumps and 4x and 2x … @Southampton

If that’s your thing then easy to spend a couple of hours.

QECP or Rogate are both in the same direction …. not too far.  You need the B1ke free membership for Rogate.

If you want to do some DH runs then Rogate… QECP would probably be a bit rushed if you don’t know it… or have a route to follow.

If it’s Crawley nd Winchester, and you stay love, to Southampton bike park  Lordswood just behind and there is a fair few trails there – you may need a love, to show you but you can’t go far wrong if you don’t cross a road and stay inside the woods.

If it’s Crawley, Sussex then ^^ am, applies

Work for Arqiva possibly?

If you want ease of access to marked trails Swinley isn’t that far (45 mins?)

Plenty of nice offroad and road in the area … grab an OS map and poke around, Stockbridge or Wherwell for a pint and supper?

Bit of the South Downs way might make a nice loop just to get out.

Never heard anything of arqiva brassneck but no I don’t work for them!

Some great shouts  here and along the lines of what I was hoping for so thanks for the input everyone. I have half a day max so some easy to follow routes from SO22 postcode work best for me, which is leading me to QECP or Swinley for ease. Appreciate better routes maybe available but for get out and just ride these look best bets.

Yep I guessed Crawley, Winchester!

I’m local, couple of miles from Crawley and most of my local rides go that way.

There’s fun fast singletrack around Crawley if you’ve brought your pedalling legs, but don’t expect much gravity assistance. Couple of great loops around Winchester if you string together all the good bits, including the A272 down from Crawley to the city and back out via Farley Mount and Sparsholt.

But if you’ve got half a day and want more fun, head to QECP – that’s what I do! So your plan seems like a good one.

Thanks OwenP, not been to QECP so will probably head there

OwenP – a cheeky pointer to some of that singletrack would be nice – I’m not far north, but mainly hit the area on the road bike, and have pondered if it might be worth a half hour drive for a look round some time.

There was one of those Hants CC routes around Cheesefoot Head. I think you have to buy the route maps now, but I bet someone has it on a routes website somewhere.

Quite a big loop iirc

If you are in Crawley then get over to West Wood/Farley Mount and explore the woods.  There is only a bit on road our of Crawley and then you have to bridle path in to the bottom of West Wood. There are quite a lot of tracks in and around there that I still don’t really know and just pop on and off the fire roads and see what I can find. It is kind of like being a kid again and just exploring somewhere close to home.

Dez – they’re on the website, link below.

Cycle routes, you may need to play around with the map layers, scale etc:

http://localviewmaps.hants.gov.uk/LocalViewmaps/Sites/ROWOnline/#

Edit: there’s a lovely beech wood in Crawley.

Winchester is really well based for XC riding.  You can lap the city staying off road 90% of the time.  Crack out OS/ Bing maps and string some bridleways together.

SBP is definitely worth a play, and Lordswood is 2 mins down the road. LW can be tough to navigate without a guide though…

Dez – they’re on the website, link below.

I see a lot of purple and green lines! Bit comperlikated innit?

Ah, worked it out, then found this:
http://documents.hants.gov.uk/countryside/cycling/Cycleroute-CheesefootHead.pdf

Well if this old girl can work it so can you seeing you’re in IT I think?!

(See above 😀 )

I’m “in” IT, doesn’t mean I’m any good at it! 😆

lol  now you’re being modest!  I’ve done that route a few times, long time ago now.  Hampshire County Council sell waterproof sets of their routes, I’m selling 2 in Classifieds.  It was their original sets that got me started on exploring away from where I lived.  Will always be grateful!

Yep, me too. Still do the East Meon one occasionally, mainly because it’s the only loop my goldfish brain can actually remember 😀

(link to your ad C_G?)

I have half a day max so some easy to follow routes from SO22 postcode work best for me, which is leading me to QECP or Swinley for ease.

QECP it pays to research first… if its a couple of hours vs 4 hours… and you have a fixed time you need to get back to the car.

Swinley of course you can just turn up and follow the marked trails…. and never be too far from parking if you have an option to take a fire road back.  If you can do this mid-day/week Swinley is at it’s most pleasant and the usual caveat’s don’t apply (other than of course it’s still not hilly).

Ah, that starts at Butser Hill doesn’t it.  Here’s the link, the A4 sheets are waterproof with decent mapping on one side, description on the other with useful info.

Sorry, linky not working.  Hampshire Off-Road Cycle Trails, 18 routes. £5 PPG posted.  One set is Alton, the other Winchester.  On new Classifieds, page 2.

Does anyone on here fancy a ride round any of the routes that cinnamon_girl has mentioned? I’m in Fair Oak and getting back into riding MTB. Currently razzing about on a Specialized Chisel.

Cheers,

Ben