[Closed] Where to go in the Surrey Hills?

Conditions in the Surrey Hills wont be much better than Kent at the moment.
Otherwise easiest thing to do is park in Peaslake, (car park at Walking Bottom) and ask for advice or tag along with one of the many groups who will be there. A very small number of the trails are holding up to the winter, the rest are a muddy mess like everywhere else.

aim for Peaslake village stores and explore from there but to get the best out of it you really need a guide.

Thanks guys

Yes I know its a long shot with the trail conditions but itd be good to branch out none the less, il just strap my medusa's back on and hold tight.

Move along now, Nothing to see or do here....... 😛

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when are you planning on heading across?

1 sunday morn this month not 100% sure which yet

I would really try and avoid weekends if you can, but if you can't, at least you will be able to find people to show you routes. If you pick the "right" trails you can still avoid mud and get some fast descents in.

op if you can let me know in advance you can hook up with us and can show you some of the stuff..might mean an early start for you but it avoids the droves if it's a sunny weekend

away over 1/2 term but email in profile

Look up flow tastic bikes. They offer guiding and are great. It's worth paying the money as they will give you a great intro.

Google Strava heatmap if you can't find a guide. It's pretty illuminating.

Noticed this post so instead of starting up a new one thought I'd jump in!

I've just moved down this way (2 Months ago) from Aberdeen for work, based in Sutton and finally managed to get the bike down. Planning on getting some transport sorted out soon as it will definitely be a case of travelling to get to some decent trails I think. Looking on Strava around the Peaslake area, looks like plenty of trails. Is it a case of them being relatively easy to find? And if so would there be a certain 'loop' as such anyone could recommend?

Cycled to Box hill one weekend...... lot's of road for a MTB and couldn't find anything off the paths either! Any help would be great.

sean, give me a shout, I'm in Ewell, just down the road.

I'd avoid it for a few more weeks, its utterly ruined up there at the moment.

daver27 - Member

I'd avoid it for a few more weeks, its utterly ruined up there at the moment.

I've not been down in a few weeks - have conditions got worse? I was planning on a ride tomorrow.

Hello Garey

Where abouts in Kent are you...

I am Maidstone way and ride at Surrey regularly, drop me a line and we will sort a trip over.

@MTB-Idle can't seem to find a contact for you? If you could give me a shout that would great

Mbnut - Member

Hello Garey

Where abouts in Kent are you...

[b]I am Maidstone way[/b] and ride at Surrey regularly, drop me a line and we will sort a trip over.

I thought I was hard done by travelling to Peaslake from Bromley every couple of weeks.

If it stays dry for a few days it should be OK, the minute it rains it just awful.

Sean, I'm not far from you, I ride Epsom downs to Box hill regularly when the conditions are better, also ride Surrey Hills and Swinley occasionally, email in profile.

I'm going there tomorrow and so can post a conditions update but I think it is just a case of picking the appropriate trails.

bubs - Member

...... but I think it is just a case of picking the appropriate trails.

Some trails definitely fare better than others. Stuff on Holmbury seems to be rideable pretty much all year round, Pitch slightly less so.

Sofabear... Surrey is almost local.

I'll be riding the mighty Bedgebury tomorrow, Surrey Sunday, Dartmoor Monday and giving Cwmcarn a visit Tuesday.... after that I haven't decided yet!

Mbnut - Member

Sofabear... Surrey is almost local.

Agreed, I haven't found anything comparable any closer.

[quote=MBnut]]I'll be riding the mighty Bedgebury tomorrow, Surrey Sunday, Dartmoor Monday and giving Cwmcarn a visit Tuesday.... after that I haven't decided yet!

I was at Cwmcarn last weekend, the Cafall trail is bloody good fun IMO. At least you're doing Bedgebury before the good stuff. 😉

seanst89 - Member
@MTB-Idle can't seem to find a contact for you? If you could give me a shout that would great

Sean, email me at muddyfox at gmail dot com.

What's the latest on W'fold?

Still trashed?

Winterfold Was pretty knackered when I was up there sunday

daver27 - Member

Winterfold Was pretty knackered when I was up there sunday

I don't know Winterfold that well, just the popular trails and they seemed to hold up quite well I thought. The only bit that I can remember being a PITA was the really muddy rooty bit where Summer Madness and Charlie Bronson merged. Saying that, I'm comparing it to the slop on Pitch.

Just the trails are not getting the break they need given how wet it is.

That little section always seems to be a boggy mess!

Is Evian still a no-go area?

I rode to the top of evian 2 weeks back. Trees down over the entrance. I didn't go any further.

Top of Redlands Woods wasn't too bad last week, although sections at the bottom were sticky. Tend to go to Swinley instead if it's been raining. I'm in Epsom.

Was down there yesterday but limited my ride to Holmbury and Pitch.

Holmbury was fine in my opinion, a little muddy but way better than it's been recently. For example, the first section of Telegraph Road had a few puddles, not the 20ft long oceans which hid all the tree roots.

Pitch was slightly muddier but still better than a few weeks back (though I didn't ride Fork Right which has been a quagmire recently).

Of course, it's raining now so all of the above could be moot.

On a separate note, HTF do you ride the top section of Thick and Creamy? I *really* struggled to get going after walking the bike through the tight channel cut into the hillside. 🙁

Anyone ridden there this week?

Is W'fold still messed up on the evian/3 amigos side?

Guess Holmbury is the driest?

West side of Winterfold was fine on Monday but Evian etc is a complete no go (they did a pretty impressive job of trashing it). Holmbury was largely fine, main Pitch runs were ok'ish. It has rained a lot since then but today and tomorrow are supposed to be dry and sunny.

Thx

Any guide recommendations, not too expensive? I am thinking of visiting the Surrey Hills for the first time tomorrow, my email is in my profile if anyone wants to get in touch.

Late afternoon ride today. Stuck to Holmbury, expecting it to be drier up there. Wet at the top especially going up to the hill. Yog pots fine and surprisingly no puddles and surface was wet but not zippy. Telegraph road got better as you went down, Top 1/3 quite wet, middle section ok, and bottom third dry as a bone, so dry I did it four times in a row. Forgotten that you can get a decent speed up down there and the one little drop near the bottom has an interesting second root to clear.

Rest of the area all fine considering the rain. Decided to have a final blast down BKB and that was as dry as a bone. Amazing!!

Very cold to start with but warmed up once the rain had gone!

Expect to get v muddy. Dirtiest I have been all winter and a bugger cleaning the bike in the dark with a hose and cold water.

Not around tomorrow Tom but if your head to pitch or Holmbury you won't be on your own!!!

Was up on holmbury hill last night. Very muddy in places. Yogs was pretty dry and fast, as was barries. Secret squirrel wasn't too bad either, but with the rain we had today it won't be any better. I would imagine pitch to be much sloppier.

Quite a lot of rain since my post and i can confirm that pitch is sloppy in places (downhill trails particularly) but it is nice mud and there are a lot of dry bits still around.

teamhurtmore - Member
Is W'fold still messed up on the evian/3 amigos side?

That stuff is gone for good. That was the intention. Strict instruction to the loggers to trash them all.

Still, we move on and other things about, new things will turn up. Though the heavy popularity of the areas around Peaslake at the moment I suspect will mean some formalisation will occur. It can't sustain the traffic, especially in this weather, or the industrial scale unauthorised digging. Not that I'm against it as such, but I can see where this will end up.

After the loops on T Rd was riding back up to the top. Just past the open area near top of squirrel, went right and stumbled on very narrow route with a few jumps built on it. Could be fun in the dry but was sadly a bit gloopy today.

Had a slight technical and popped into P&S (apparently not linked to C'leigh shop anymore?) and nice guy inside who helped me told me that there are some concrete posts appearing up on pitch. He reckons there wil be some fencing coming. Shame if it's got too popular. 🙁