Swinley Forest. Some confusion explained ...

[Steve Kish]

... or further confused!!

I've seen a few YouTube videos for various trails, all near the southern end and mostly of riders getting lost! I'll take the time as best I can to explain what I believe to be the right trails and how to find them.

The best trail (IMHO) in the forest, even marginally more so than The Full Nine Yards, is the Labyrinth. This is at the southern end and the quickest way to reach is is to go to the Surrey Hill crossroads and climb the steep and wide hill up to the Surrey Hill Reservoir. From here, carry straight on with the reservoir on your right and drop down a slight hill and climb a sandy and not too steep one. From here, straight on again down a rocky wide trail and a much steeper up hill (keep to the right, unless you like walking). At the top, you're on a plateau and avoiding the downhill on the left, you'll see a cut-out in the right-side fence to MOD land with a huge radio mast. Ignore these and follow the trail to the left until after 100 yards or so you come to a (usually there) small pile of sand.

From here, there are 3 small trails all leading downwards.

Two together are Left Left and Left Right. You start between a couple of bushes and within a few feet, you turn sharp left on both. After another few yards, you have the choice of either going straight on (Left Left) or turning right (Left Right). Both end up at the same place and have their own characteristics but Left Right has a very nasty switchback a short way down where there's a f'in big groove that has thrown me off a couple of times. I tend to do Left Left, as it ends in the same place.

The Babymaker starts at the same place but one bush further down. This is a great trail with a few nice table-top jumps that can be rolled down nicely as well. This also finishes in the same place as the other two, which is at the bottom.

Whichever one you take, you'll finish at the bottom, deep in single track country where a load of trails all come together. Whilst there is a quick 'escape' route on the left, the Labyrinth starts where there is a pink/red mark on a thin tree.

With this on your left, you'll see a straight-ish first bit, single track and well enclosed by small trees. This trail has twists, short sharp hills, short sharp descents and a final nice drop at the end. From start to finish it's about 200 yards as the crow flies but with the twisting, it will take about 10-12 minutes to do. If you ride in a group and anyone gets slightly dropped, they will sometimes see the others riding the other way with a single line of small trees between them and the front riders - it's well named, as it really is a maze and labyrinth, except you can't really get lost in there!  

Left at the end and up a slight hill takes you back towards where you came from.

So, to summarize, the Labyrinth proper starts at the bottom of the combined downhills of Left Left, Left Right and the Babymaker.

Enjoy!!

[domesticated ape]

I don't think I've ridden the Labyrinth, but I've definitely ridden the other three from the top of the hill on bike and unicycle (not at the same time), they're great fun. The climbs back up to the top are a good challenge too. I really need to get myself up to Swinley sometime soon, I only live 30 minutes away and I haven't been there for over a year!

[Tim]

Some of the nearest things to trail maps I've seen are GPS tracks posted online by riders. I don't know of a formal trail map. Given the number of people there of a weekend you can generally find someone to point you in the correct direction should you need it.

[tom_e]

OSM looks like a decent start for a map of it.

[Tim]

Oooh that's better than anything I knew existed for Swinley.

Ta.

[Steve Kish]

Unfortunately and AFAIK, all the good trails are un-mapped and rely on local knowledge.  However, to help anyone, here's a leaflet that I handed round when I organised a GO50 ride there last year - take a compass to help along with this map:-

http://www.gorrick.co.uk/downloads/swinleyforestmap.pdf

Proposed route for Swinley Forest on 30/11/09 is as follows:-

This is a ‘figure of eight’ course based around the Lower Star Post and takes in some wide roads and some good single-track trails as well.

From the Lookout, we head south and uphill towards the Crowthorne Reservoir and from there to the Upper Star Post.  Lovers of water sports will enjoy the next part as we take the normally well-puddled road south-east towards the Lower Star Post but just before we reach this, we turn right onto our first purpose-built trail, the Seagull.

The Seagull is a two-part trail and has a nice ‘camel-hump’ part of the way down on the first section.  From there we cross over to the second purpose-built trail, the Stickler.  This terminates at the Devil’s Highway.

From here we go straight across with a slight fork right to Caeser’s Camp where we turn left and after a few minutes arrive at the Corkscrew, as requested.  We’ll probably stay here for a few minutes with a short break for anyone wishing to play slalom there.

From here we’ll retrace to Caeser’s Camp and follow through to Forest Pond where we turn left and sharp right up a slight climb.  This has several drop-offs from it that anyone can try (I’ll show you the best one) as well as a technical trail that runs parallel to the climb and meets up with it at the brow.  From here we continue to Lower Star Post again where we take the road towards Wishmoor Cross (blue water pipe) and proceed uphill towards the Surrey Hill Reservoir and then on to enter the expert mountain bike trail (non-experts welcome, of course) to choose one of three descents.

First descent is known as Left-left and is nice and twisty.  Second descent is known as Left-right and has a couple of sharp downhill bends.  Third is the famous Babymaker, not too difficult but with a couple of tabletops that can be jumped, if you wish.  All three converge at a crossroads marked with a red paint smear on a tree that marks the start of the Labyrinth, a superb single-track technical trail that twists and winds up and down small hills until it eventually comes out just south of Vicarage Lane.  All three descents and the whole of the Labyrinth include purpose-built and maintained tracks with excellent berms and bankings.  Part of your £2 day-licence fee contributes to this. 

From here we climb again to the Surrey Hills Reservoir where we descend another trail (CJ’s trail) to the Jump Quarry and our proper banana break.  Some tempting stuff here if you like BMX-style riding.

From here it’s a short climb to the concrete inspection cover and then a right along The Full Nine Yards.  This is in four parts (one of which is very short) and is again a purpose-built trail with banking, excellent short rises and descents and lots of nice twisty bits.  This terminates at the top of Pudding Hill from where we return to the Lookout just a short ride away.   

Depending on the weather, our speed and how long we stop for at the Corkscrew and Jump Quarry, the ride should take between two-and-a-half and three hours.

Many of the above highlighted features are on YouTube so that you can have an idea of what the ride’s all about.