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Which is riding better anyone been to both in this recent good spell? Swinleys an extra half hour in the car so thinking QE...
Anything closed / routes under repair?
Qecp is riding well right now. Swinley is fine in any weather so I would go to Qecp and make the most of the great conditions. Nothing shut I think.
QECP is as hard and dry as I’ve ever seen it.
Frankly it’s a dusty rooty whizzfest, perfect for running.
Watch the dogs.
At swinley the only closure on the official trail is red 2 which is no great loss. Red 20 (deerstalker / labyrinth) is now open (though the tree thinning has ruined a little of its charm for me). The rest of the Clubhoise DH runs (babymaker etc) are still closed as need to be cleared after thinning. Other sections have been patched recently. Was dry and dusty on Saturday.
Hot dry day. QE over Swinley always. More so off-piste QE but not sure what's open there. Was a load of logging going on a while back.
Logging has finished now.
QE over Swinley, every time 🙂
Warm up on the loops, go off piste, ride a shed load of trails & climb a huge amount for the south of England.
Or ride around something about as interesting, and challenging as the New Forest fire roads.
QE is mega dry. Bit loose in the turns though, you’ll want something grippy on the front!
QE is running really well at the moment. Over the back to Buriton is bone dry but I think their is an archery competition on Sat in Head down plantation.
QE over Swinley, every time
Opposite of that... I wasn't even slightly impressed with QECP, it was OK, but meh... .
Its a shame the off piste stuff cant be signposted for non locals as it really is excellent. As for swinley, the most uninspiring place to ride a bike in the south of England, although some seem to think its a mecca for some reason!
Opposite of that… I wasn’t even slightly impressed with QECP, it was OK, but meh… .
Were you on the legit marked stuff or off piste? Also, how long ago? I used to be pretty anti QE which is a shame as it is 3 miles from where I live but it has got better over the years thanks to the hard work of the trail collective. Still too much of it is a slippy rooty mudfest at the wrong time of year that I can't be arsed with. No different to the surrounding area I guess and basically down to geography. It's at it's best about now.
Were you on the legit marked stuff or off piste?
Marked trails mostly. I did some riding around the area too, but nothing in the 'park' other than the designated trails.
Agree, I was going to say the only thing Swinley has over QE is the all weather ability to ride there, but the weird ginger paste it turns into when it rains is just a different kind of horrible.
<span style="display: inline !important; float: none; background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">As for swinley, the most uninspiring place to ride a bike in the south of England, although some seem to think its a mecca for some reason!</span>
Strange isn't it. I guess it's because its a marked out route, it's so easy to ride you can do it blindfolded & people know it takes a couple of hours & that's it? The off piste stuff is better, but the runs are so short it gets a bit repetitive & climbing is borderline non existent.
Why anyone would go there when they can go to the Surrey Hills, I have no idea. It's the last place in the south I would go to.
Why anyone would go there when they can go to the Surrey Hills, I have no idea. It’s the last place in the south I would go to.
Weird as it may sound to you... I didn't massively enjoy SH either. I did all the usual trails all the known ones, but nothing massively jumped out at me as amazing and must go back for.... I did go back again, i had another nice day out although was a bit of a mud-fest that day.... but they seemed a bit 'straight' compared to Swinley for example. More like your Afan trails i guess rather than your BPW trails.... SH was OK, but nothing that makes me want to drive past Swinley to get to.
Horses for courses I guess... I find swinley mind numbingly boring and the off piste doesn't warrant the hour plus drive to get there. Surrey hills, for a 20 min drive further offers so much more variety for me, there's a mix of all sorts, but can understand if you've only riding the "famous" trails like Barry knows best, telegraph and yoghurt pots I would be a bit put off too
Have never riden Qecp, so in true STW style I have nothing relevant to comment!!
QE over Swinley, every time
+ another. Rode there last Sat. Really impressed by the work that's gone into it. Will definitely return.
Swinley to me is a bit of a wet weather venue when all the fun stuff is waterlogged.
I love QECP - very fond memory of cutting my teeth there in the 90s and like to ride it whenever i can get back. In this sort of weather its a full on speed blast. The first third (the initial climb/traverse up to the grasy meadow is quite technically challenging if ridden at speed. I can't really understand you not liking it weeksy as the red trail is bascally a classic XC race track. Try riding it at race pace as a 'race sim' and it is fantastic imo.
Never ridden swinley or the surrey hills.
Yeah the red is a proper redline all the way kind of outing with some fun tech. Nicely re-creates the xc race feel of trying to descend well whilst not being sick. Blue is lots of high speed bermy-jumpy fun and the off-piste is in great condition now. Don't park at Halls Hill though - there's been some bother there recently. Pay your money at the main carpark and have a brew and cake at the café after.
Don’t park at Halls Hill though – there’s been some bother there recently.
Interesting - what kind of bother? Break ins?
Have not been able to use it since they put the height barrier in place and the van won't fit.
Yeah, break-ins - see the QECP Mountain Biking facebook group.
It's a good facebook group generally too as logging closures, archery etc all get reported on there so you can avoid any trail closures.