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I usually ride Peaslake but am thinking of heading up to Leith to ride Summer Lightning for a change in the next couple of weeks as only ever done it once in the middle of winter years ago.
Given it's quite a long trail from point to point, I was wondering where it's best to park and how to loop back round once the trail is done? It will be on a weekday evening so hopefully less busy for parking.
Also any pointers on where there are other 'must do' trails in the area to pad out the trip?
Starveall Corner probably gives you the easiest ride to the top but the others will also suffice.
There is a return route which is waymarked back to the top of the hill. You can take a more direct route along Whiteberry Rd but I'd rather take the gentler climb.
I would just head downhill from the summit northwards to explore some of the off piste stuff, trailforks and strava segments will give you an idea.
Great thanks. Is there any time restriction on parking that you know of?
Restrictions?
Starveall usually has a height barrier, but if that causes you problems then there is another smaller area about 50m south along the other side of the road.
It is a National Trust car park, a few other ones in the area have had machines installed and started charging but as of Jun 2020 there is no machine.
Or you could just park whereveryou normally do for Peaslake area and ride over, it really isn't too far. Just follow a trail down to Holmbury St Mary village and take the bridleway that links across to Leith via High Ashes Farm, then up through Starveall car park to the tower. Only takes about 25-30mins from Holmbury summit to Leith summit.
Cheers, will drive to Leith as on tight timelines and would rather have time to explore than transition from another area.
i ride surrey whenever im in he area for work but personally wouldnt put 'summer lightening' and 'must do trails' in the same sentence ever. the fabled summer lightening must be one of the biggest disappointments ever as an outsider. fortunately i did find some good stuff to the north of the tower, a handful of trails starting all starting from roughly the same spot. superflow iirc, donnie brasco? couple of others.
once i discovered redlands i never went back to leith...
Summer Lightning is sanctioned, unlike Redlands, so compromises have to be made when it comes to the features on it. It's sometimes nice to ride a long, unbroken and waymarked trail that you can follow even if you are unfamiliar with the area. It's worth doing but you should have realistic expectations.
We're lucky to have Redlands but they may not exist forever if the FC cracks down on them. There's a reason why Summer Lightning is 'fabled' and Redlands isn't - they are kept quiet for good reason. I agree though that there are better trails for gravity/downhill riding than SL.