[Closed] Marlborough MTB - does it exist?

you have the marlbrough downs,ridgeway right on your doorstep, also salisbury plain not too far away (some routes are closed most of the year due to it being mod training grounds).

you also have pewsey vale/wandskyke for offroad riding too.

there will be others who can tell you other places too.

definitely plenty of offroad riding to be had.

edit i live in devizes not far from marlbrough.

Some tap notch gravel riding when dry. Not sure about mtb but expect there's some fun to be had. Road riding is top class.

Loads if you like big skies and downland! Savernake Forest, West Woods and there's a nice ridge from Knap Hill to Martinsell Hillfort. Fyfield Down with the Ridgeway close by, Smeathe's Ridge for great views and lots of options, Cherhill Down with lots of options there. Further afield you can pick up a ridge that leads to Combe Gibbet, Inkpen Hill, Walbury Hill.

And of course just a short trip north takes you to the Mecca of trails behind the Nationwide building in Swindon, sweet times

Thanks all. Really useful. So for these ridge and trail routes are we talking about bridleways and byways? Or if not how would you go about identifying them on a map?

Swindon… I feel I am having a leg pulled!

Have a look on Bing for the OS map, there is a huge amount of RoW's.

So for these ridge and trail routes are we talking about bridleways and byways? Or if not how would you go about identifying them on a map?

Swindon… I feel I am having a leg pulled!

OS map, and follow the dotted lines 😁
I grew up riding the Berkshire downs around the Wantage/Lambourn/Newbury area. There are miles and miles (and miles) of BWs and of course the Ridgeway.
A lot of it would today be classed as gravel, but there's a lot there. Claggy in winter though 😉

I have a few gpx routes / ride with GPS links I could send you OP if you want to get an idea? (having asked this question myself on here before, only right I pay forward). Marlborough downs, West Woods, Salisbury Plain. Msg me if that would be useful.

I used to live near Marlborough, hence the moniker. As previous posters have said there are loads of trails on the North Wessex Downs. All you need is an OS map and a sense of adventure. There's also a bit south of Hungerford around Inkpen Hill.

Enjoy the riding in spring and summer because in winter the sticky wet clay makes most routes totally unridable. However the road riding round Marlborough is good for when the trail sare too claggy.

even nice gravel routes

It's epic for gravel. Miles and miles of beautiful byways all over the place, you've got bucolic beauty, low or no traffic, gorgeous secret places, peace and tranquility, ancient ruins, quaint villages, it's magical.

Absolute shit-fest in winter though! Fortunately the road is almost as good.

Source: I spent some time working in Swindon. My colleagues hated it, I loved it.

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It might not be your thing OP, but two of the 'b1ke' Park sites are pretty close - they are, err, bike parks. Wind Hill isn't that far south west, Tidworth is just south (but not open in winter). 417 bike park just up the road (ish) north of Cirencester. Appreciate not everyone likes driving to ride, but these are options and pretty good ones too.

The woods behind Nationwide in Swindon are the "Croft MTB trails" - regarded on here as 'expert only'.

Marlborough itself is quite nice too.

Here's a website with blog set up by two photographers who live in Wiltshire. Although it doesn't cover cycling it does have lots of interesting walks, along with maps, incorporating plenty of history. Pics are fabulous.

https://www.hiddenwiltshire.com/

Marlbourgh Country, big wide open desert vistas, cowboy hats, 40 a day 🙂

Marlborough itself is quite nice too.

Except for the people. Friendly as long as they thought you could do something for them. I found the Swindonians much more geniuine and less up themselves.

Also, dip into savernake forest, a less cultivated version of Swinley. Mind the range rovers.

Molgrips picture pretty much sums it up for me. I was up on the Ridgeway the other day thinking it’s exactly the riding I enjoy. It not miles of ‘mountain biking’ like you’d get elsewhere but there is beautiful rolling hills and a great expanse of outdoors. If you go in with the right expectations it can be fantastic. But for me, it’s more gravel/adventure territory, and I’m fine with that.

There are (were) some excellent trails not far from Marlborough....I shan't name here but a good study of an OS map should reveal.

Savernake must have potential plus Tiddy & Windhill nearby.

The downs are a bit miserable in winter!

The Ridgeway from the A4 London Road , accessed by the Herepath above Avebury is now closed to motorised traffic, which means it’s no longer being turned into water-filled ditches by convoys of muddy 4x4’s.
I used to do a great 16-mile ride from Avebury that was roughly a figure-8, taking the path alongside the Winterbourne towards Silbury Hill, onto the main road for about a mile to pick up the Ridgeway. Also gives you a chance to visit West Kennet Longbarrow. Then along the Ridgeway to the point where the Herepath meets it, onto the Sustrans Route across Fyfield Down, towards Marlborough, turning off onto a fairly steep track down into Rockley, where you go right and follow the road until you get to a sort of junction where a byway joins on the left. That has a challenging climb up to a great cross-country byway to Barbury Castle where you pick up the Ridgeway to take you back to Avebury. The Sustrans route goes across to Marlborough, so it’s quite possible to do the route from Marlborough and make a day of it. The Red Lion in Avebury is a great pub, too. There’s masses of byways, bridlepaths, canal towpaths, the Kennet&Avon, which can get you to Reading and London, or the other way to Devizes, Bath and Bristol, the Ridgeway will take you to Ivinghoe Beacon, taking in Uffingtom White Horse, and Wayland’s Smithy.
Just masses of rides, there’s also Stonehenge and Salisbury accessible across country as well, and someone mentioned West Woods, which are filled with bluebells in spring, and is the source of the Sarcen stones used for the Stonehenge Trilithons, and there are still Sarsens in among the trees. Enjoy, it’s a marvellous part of the British Isles.

This is where the Sarsens are from in West Woods…

…and here’s the Herepath from just outside Avebury leading up towards The Ridgeway and on towards Marlborough.

We moved to Salisbury couple of years ago, so not too far away, similar terrain. I quickly ditched the MTB and bought a gravel bike! Only time I ride MTB now is with my kids, messing in the woods.

The area is gravel bike heaven (when dry!!), just miles and miles of beautiful rolling countrside. Lot's of old roman/drove roads, interspersed with gorgeous little villages. Stunning scenery and big open skies. Lots of it is chalk and clay, so a f**%king nightmare when wet, but fast and fun when dry.

When I first starting riding out, looking for routes, I found it quite eerie at how quiet it was, having come from a large town where the riding consisted of a lot of urban MTB routes. You can go for a long time and not see a person of vehicle. That freaked me out. Now I adore it! I'll often stop and sit for a bit just soaking up the solitude and watching some Red Kites soar.

There's a few bit of singletrack here and there, but nothing much. Rooty single track is fun on the gravel bike!

When I lived in that area I was a member of the Downlanders mountain bike club, don't know if they're still going but there's a club in Swindon that seemed friendly when I bumped into them. Would be worth contacting them to find out about local trails etc, http://www.mbswindon.co.uk/

They look after the infamous trails behind Nationwide, http://www.mbswindon.co.uk/croft-trail/

Depends what you're used to, Swinley is only an hours drive down the M4 and Wales isn't too far.