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By
Steve Thomas, from WhatMountainBike? Magazine Issue No.30Godalming
Greensand - Surry Hills
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Route
Stats
| Distance: |
22.7km
(14.2 miles) |
| Time: |
2-3
hours |
| Rating: |
Moderate-Hard |
|
Essential
Info
| Best
Time To Go: |
The
drier the better – these tracks get filthy after
rain – and the warmer the weather the smoother
the slopes too. Might be best to avoid bank holiday
weekends so you don’t clash with ramblers. |
| Getting
There: |
The
Surrey Hills are ideally positioned in the south east
for easy access for Londoners, and from the west too.
The best way to get to Goldalming is, from London,
to come down the A3 past Guildford, and take the signed
turnoff (B3000), then go right on the A3100. Come
through Godalming on the bypass, and follow the sign
right to the train station, and our chosen starting
point. By train it’s generally easier to travel
into/out of the central London stations. |
| Food: |
The
White Horse at Hascombe halfway round is a perfect
resting place, while Godalming high street has several
nice cafés and bars for food and drink. |
| Where
To Stay: |
For
overnight stays try B&Bs at Little Pollstead in
nearby Compton (Tel 01483 810398) or there’s
High View in Godalming itself (Tel 01483 861974). |
| Tourist
Information: |
The
nearest tourist office is in Guildford, 14 Tunsgate,
Tel 01483 444333 or log on to www.guildford.gov.uk
– useful for accommodation. |
| YHA: |
Hindhead
(call 0870 770 5864) lies at the bottom of the Punch
Bowl 12km southwest. Holmbury St Mary (call 0870 770
5868) lies 16km further east along the Surrey Hills. |
| What
To Take: |
This
is not a remote route, but you will need a repair
kit in case of thorn punctures, and snacks for sustenance. |
| Bike
Shops: |
There
are Halfords to be found in both Godalming as well
as in nearby Guildford. |
| Maps: |
OS
Landranger 186 Aldershot & Guildford. |
Case Study
This
is a nice moderate ride for a Sunday morning or afternoon
through greenest Surrey, that will still have your legs
throbbing pleasingly afterwards. In hard-pack conditions,
such as the Australian summer of 2003, you’ll fly
round, wishing/being glad you had/ have full suspension,
but in the muck of winter, things can be a little slower.
Considering there are no major climbs, and we didn’t
get lost more than the average amount, we couldn’t
believe it took us the three hours it did. And we didn’t
even stop at the tempting White Horse in Hascombe half
way round!
The route follows the well-trod Greensand Way along the
side of one of the Surrey Hills’ minor humps, east
of Godalming but safely away from the more severe slopes
of Holmbury St Mary and Leith Hill to the west. It’s
good for determined beginners or the sort of day out when
you can’t summon your strength, but you still crave
the smell of country air in your nostrils. There are two
short, serious climbs which you have to push up (and envy
the descent in the opposite direction). And there are
sections of mud, which sometimes means spinning through
in low-gear, and other times make you crash through the
hazel bushes beside the track to avoid them. Some of the
mud is fun to negotiate, even, dare I say, quite technical,
as you balance speed with traction.
Starting from Godalming (a twee Surrey town, not Godawful
at all) we run past the retail park to reach the bridleways.
Don’t make our mistake of climbing the black dashed
line to Unsted Park: make sure you ascend on the bridleway.
Thereafter, the first half of the ride is on hearty rideable
dirt tracks, past farms and cottages through the clement
Surrey hillscape. The tracks here are not technical, but
they do keep your wheels occupied. The most interesting
parts come from just before halfway and in the second
half. After leaving the Greensand Way (because it turns
into footpath for a while) you’ll mount steep Hascombe
Hill (beyond Scotland’s Farm) from the east, pushing
and puffing up a gully to the wooded top. Anyone who’s
really keen can double back down for a technical downhill
and re-push back to the top, also, 1.5km before Hascombe
is a lovely piece of dirt woodland singletrack with swoops
and woops that’s worth doing again.
Emerging at Hascombe is like returning to civilization.
The White Horse pub has outside tables and is a charming
spot in summer – without flogging the point, they
weren’t so attractive in the gloom of a January afternoon,
but the golden glow of the lounge bar certainly was. Shortly
after there comes the second push-up – and may you
have solid ground for this. It’s tough, but only
short and still strangely satisfying. At the top on the
Hurtwood plantation, the tree trunks hem you in, but you
can soon cut loose for a nice descent down to Juniper
Valley. This is a prime place for getting lost; remember
to go left up the minor gully, not straight ahead in the
main valley. However, there are so many enjoyable tracks
round here, you’ll find your way back sooner or later
anyway.
Wherever you are in the Surrey Hills there is a feast
of off-road, and a good place to take MTB beginners so
they can marvel at the quality of some of the riding close
to London. It’s not just the contours and secretive
pockets of idyllic farming that’s here either, it’s
the number of bridleways. In just this small area southeast
of Godalming there is a much longer section of Greensand
Way bridleway west to Hambledon and east to Shamley Green,
sections of shallow trail on Hydon Heath, and two other
bridleways on the steep slopes of Hascombe Hill. For a
quick joining ride to Guildford, the Downs Link lies slightly
to the east too. Should you wake up one Sunday and miraculously
find you do have the epic courage and strength for an
all-day route, you could flounce your way around these
trails for eight hours before getting bored or totally
exhausted. So, never say sorry for Surrey, or not until
you’ve biked all its brilliant bridleways, and that
will never happen.
Nicky Crowther
Route Guide
| The
Start: |
Godalming
station car park (grid reference 966439) |
| 1. |
0.0km
(0 mile) Turn right out of the station and head
up to the main road (A3100, town centre by-pass).
Go left on that, then downhill as far as the traffic
lights with the road right for the superstores. Go
right, and right again at the mini-roundabout, on
to Woolpack Lane. At the end, go left on Cotteshall
Lane. Stay straight ahead 800m, then where the road
curves left go straight ahead on the lane. Stay straight
ahead for 550m, then continue on the track for 250m
to a crosstracks with a white house on the left. |
| 2. |
3.1km
(1.9 miles) Go straight ahead (out of sight the
track curves right uphill), don’t go directly
right uphill. Climb up the gully and continue on the
bridleway (Unsted Park on right) for 1km to minor
road. Go left, and after 400m go right on a bridleway,
signposted between cottages. Continue to a minor road,
then go left again, 500m to the roadway right beyond
the pond. |
| 3. |
4.6km
(2.9 miles) Go right, up to the buildings –
the bridleway goes right behind the right-hand building.
Continue onwards for 1.6km, on the Greensand Way,
through fields and up the slope to the track junction
beside the farmhouse. Go right, and continue on the
bridleway through-route, in more or less the same
direction, to the roadway at Gatestreet Farm. Follow
the road (by-pass the Greensand Way which turns into
footpath for a while) for 1.1km until you come to
a T-junction. |
| 4. |
9km
(5.6 miles) Go right for 600m, then go off-road
again on signed bridleway doubletrack. Continue for
1km, then, just after a narrow piece of woodland,
go acute right up a gully. Get ready to push and/or
ride steeply uphill as best you can to the top of
the woods. At the track junction at the top, go left,
along a fine piece of up/down singletrack, to another
crosstracks below. Go right, on a clear bridleway
alongside a field, and continue down to the roadway
that emerges in Hascombe beside the White Horse on
the B2130. Turn left and after 100m, turn sharp right
on bridleway between houses. Continue across the field
(back in front of the White Horse) into the woods
(don’t go left uphill on a mapped bridleway –
doesn’t seem to exist in situ). In the woods,
turn left, steeply uphill to the top. At a major crosstracks,
go straight ahead on the flat for 750m, to a big crosstracks.
Go right, and continue 700m to the roadway. Continue
straight ahead 1km to where you meet the B road curving
round from the right. |
| 5. |
16km
(10 miles) Go left on bridleway downhill and continue
to the bottom 1km. Don’t take the sharp left,
but the less sharp left at the bottom, up the side
gully – not straight ahead along the main gully.
Climb up the doubletrack to the road at the top. |
| 6. |
17.6km
(11 miles) Go right, and after 200m go right again
(sign posted Godalming). Continue 1km, then go right
again (sign posted Busbridge). On the outskirts of
Godalming, go right once more, briefly to the main
B2130 road. Go left, and descend down into Godalming.
At the traffic lights, go straight ahead to ride back
through the high street to the station, and your original
starting point. |
|
Total
Distance:
|
22.7km
(14.2 miles) |
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