A very fun morning. Ended up with 6 of us (hope I get this right...)
RichieS (1200)
The Other Paul G (R100GS?)
Mike (1150)
Matador + mate (R100GS & R80GS I think)
myself (1200)
I've put some OS grid locations on here which you can look up with Streetmap.co.uk using the OS grid option.
We started off with a whiz up what turned out to be quite a steep hill from Gomshall turning left into Beggars Lane (509250,147750) & up the North Downs.
Here's RichieS getting to the top. It was a bit steeper than I thought, with lots of dry ruts full of fist sized rounded flint nodules. Sorry chaps - it was a bit of a baptism of fire. At least it wasn't raining.
This bike was purposefully laid down whilst they guys helped everyone else up the hill. No crashes today thankfully!
And we finally made it to the top...
...with some smoking stinking clutches
About 500m further on along the same track, we did a left turn onto Drove Rd (510250,149250) and it got a bit muddier. Here's RichieS giving it the berries through the quagmire whilst on Trailmax's
A bit slippy it was.
The route evened out a bit and became a bit more friendly, ending at the top of a single track road to a forestry commision area. The single track road ("Honeysuckle Bottom")came out onto Green Dene leading to Horsley. OS grid 509250,150250
We then blatted over on a road section to Bocketts Farm (515500,154500) where the byway is to be found in the corner of the car park just as you come off the roundabout. This was far more what I was after - very easy and dry with a good surface...
After a bit of wiggling and finding the route got a bit tougher (more loose flint nodules), we popped out on the Ranmore Common road here: (512500,150500)
Another road section took us to Wooton where we found a great byway (well, great if it wasn't for all the sand!). It started here: 512500,147500
It was a nobblies paradise, which was a shame cos I was running a Tourance rear and a Trailmax front (not bothered to change it yet...).
It started off pretty easy:
But got more interesting as we hit the sand. No option but to gun it and let the bike squirm. No keeping up with Matador & pal though as they just zapped the whole section like mad dirt biking loonies
It was a pretty cool route though, with some berms on the corners for those who knew how to use them. There were also some nice smooth bits through some rather lovely forest.
It ended in Coldharbour right next to a rather cosy looking pub here 515500,144500. Just as we got to the end, there was a massive downpour. Really chucking it down. The pub looked inviting but instead we got our waterproofs on and decided to call it a day.
All in all, I think we finished at about 10:30 from an 08:00 start. The first track was a bit tough and not really recommended for total newbies but we all made it up OK. The rest were pretty cool though - taken slow and with a bit less mud, easily passable. The sand was a bit tricky too, but again, a bit of care and it was fine. Road tyres were OK, but knobblies would have been better.
Overall, a top day out. Good to see everyone that came along.
Tobers
RichieS (1200)
The Other Paul G (R100GS?)
Mike (1150)
Matador + mate (R100GS & R80GS I think)
myself (1200)
I've put some OS grid locations on here which you can look up with Streetmap.co.uk using the OS grid option.
We started off with a whiz up what turned out to be quite a steep hill from Gomshall turning left into Beggars Lane (509250,147750) & up the North Downs.
Here's RichieS getting to the top. It was a bit steeper than I thought, with lots of dry ruts full of fist sized rounded flint nodules. Sorry chaps - it was a bit of a baptism of fire. At least it wasn't raining.
This bike was purposefully laid down whilst they guys helped everyone else up the hill. No crashes today thankfully!
And we finally made it to the top...
...with some smoking stinking clutches
About 500m further on along the same track, we did a left turn onto Drove Rd (510250,149250) and it got a bit muddier. Here's RichieS giving it the berries through the quagmire whilst on Trailmax's
A bit slippy it was.
The route evened out a bit and became a bit more friendly, ending at the top of a single track road to a forestry commision area. The single track road ("Honeysuckle Bottom")came out onto Green Dene leading to Horsley. OS grid 509250,150250
We then blatted over on a road section to Bocketts Farm (515500,154500) where the byway is to be found in the corner of the car park just as you come off the roundabout. This was far more what I was after - very easy and dry with a good surface...
After a bit of wiggling and finding the route got a bit tougher (more loose flint nodules), we popped out on the Ranmore Common road here: (512500,150500)
Another road section took us to Wooton where we found a great byway (well, great if it wasn't for all the sand!). It started here: 512500,147500
It was a nobblies paradise, which was a shame cos I was running a Tourance rear and a Trailmax front (not bothered to change it yet...).
It started off pretty easy:
But got more interesting as we hit the sand. No option but to gun it and let the bike squirm. No keeping up with Matador & pal though as they just zapped the whole section like mad dirt biking loonies
It was a pretty cool route though, with some berms on the corners for those who knew how to use them. There were also some nice smooth bits through some rather lovely forest.
It ended in Coldharbour right next to a rather cosy looking pub here 515500,144500. Just as we got to the end, there was a massive downpour. Really chucking it down. The pub looked inviting but instead we got our waterproofs on and decided to call it a day.
All in all, I think we finished at about 10:30 from an 08:00 start. The first track was a bit tough and not really recommended for total newbies but we all made it up OK. The rest were pretty cool though - taken slow and with a bit less mud, easily passable. The sand was a bit tricky too, but again, a bit of care and it was fine. Road tyres were OK, but knobblies would have been better.
Overall, a top day out. Good to see everyone that came along.
Tobers
