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By
Bex Hopkins
From WhatMountainBike MagazineWATLINGTON,
CHILTERN HILLS
ESSENTIAL
INFO
RATING: Moderate
DISTANCE: 24.3km (15.1 miles)
TIME: 1.5 to 2.5 hours
BEST TIME TO GO: Spring through to Autumn is best
for fast riding, avoid the base of the hills after heavy
rain as the clay tracks are tyre-cloggers.
GETTING THERE: Junction 6 of the M40 then to Watlington
along the B4009. In town take the first left before the
clocktower signed 'car park'. At the T-junction
go left up Hill Road and Watlington Hill. The start/finish
is the car park at the top.
FOOD AND WHERE TO STAY: Food is easy to come by
in the area, most villages have pubs that serve food at
lunch and dinner. The Fox & Hounds at Christmas Common
is the most handy for the start/finish, but there are
more pubs and a take-away chip shop in Watlington. B+B
is the cheapest and most accessible type of accommodation
in the area, Tower Cottage, Chinner Road, Aston Rowant
is close to Watlington (01844 354676) and rooms start
from £35 for a single. Wallingford is about 8 miles
away and on the Ridgeway, it has more B+B's to choose
from, try Little Gables, 166 Crowmarsh Hill, Wallingford
(01491 837834) prices for single rooms from £35.
TOURIST INFORMATION: Wallingford Town Hall, Market
Place, Wallingford 01491 826972, open 9.30am to 5pm everyday
except Sundays, Bank Holidays open 10am-4pm.
YHA: Oxford YHA 2A Botley Road, Oxford OX2 0AB
01865 727275 prices start at £19 per night in this
brand new city centre hostel next to the train station
but it is about 20 miles from the start of the ride. Streatley-on-Thames
YHA is located on the Ridgeway near Goring, with prices
from £11.50 per night but this is also about 16
miles away - but you can ride along the Ridgeway to the
route.
WHAT TO TAKE: All the off-road sections are close
to roads in an emergency. Generally it's a sheltered area
but prepare to get wet if it's rained heavily, the chalk
drains badly.
BIKE SHOPS: Rides On Air, 45 St. Mary's Street,
Wallingford 01491 836289. Further away, about 16 miles
is Beeline Bicycles 59-65 Cowley Road, Oxford. 01865 246615.
MAPS: Explorer 171 Chiltern Hills West, Henley-on-Thames
& Wallingford.
The Chiltern Hills are strewn with bridleways interlinked
by the ancient and long distance track the Ridgeway. Being
so close to London, Reading and Oxford you'd expect the
trails to be throbbing with walkers, and riders - but
you'd be pleasantly wrong. You rarely see more than a
handful of either.
We've been in the Chilterns area a couple of times this
last year and still there are miles of woodland trails
and numerous chalk escarpments left to climb and explore.
It's well worth a weekend visit with time to link a couple
of our routes together or just enjoy exploring with a
map. The Henley-on-Thames route (WMB issue 19) is to the
south east of Watlington and both routes share one section
of singletrack near Christmas Common -
a great descent, steep and technical in places too, so
worth covering again, and a good point to extend either
ride if you like.
The ride starts near Watlington, in the car park at the
top of the steep Watlington Hill near Christmas Common.
Watlington itself is an old market town with a pretty
centre and a few friendly pubs, three miles from the M40.
The Ridgeway, one of the UK's oldest known ancient roads
runs from Ivinghoe Beacon to near Avebury in Wiltshire,
it passes along the base of the Chilterns and Watlington
Hill and there's a triangular White Mark there too, so
you'll know when you've found it. The Ridgeway is diverted
underneath the motorway at the foot of the escarpment,
then this wide and pretty flat track follows the line
of the Chiltern Hills with a few technical sections, mainly
due to the deep ruts and off-camber rooty sections, which
are only really tricky when it's wet and slippy. Watch
out for other trail users as it can be a popular route
for motorbikers, walkers and horseriders. There was a
time when the 4x4 brigade used to come down from London
too and cause traffic jams in the deep ruts, but thankfully
they seem to have found somewhere else to go these days.
Riding up to the top of the escarpment is a steep tough
climb, and really quite challenging in the wet as the
chalk and clay soil gets slippy. The flints are like razors
to your tyres, too - luckily it's not too long and the
climb leads to pleasant beech woodland beyond. On top
of the hills the terrain is well drained and more flowing,
with lots of woods and bridlepaths to choose from, the
climbs and descents are more gentle, yet fun and fast,
especially the singletrack decent into the valley at Wellground
Farm. A few Tarmac sections link the ride together, but
nothing too long or boring, there are plenty of other
marked tracks if you feel like a deviation and the villages
all seem to have a quaint pub/or duckpond if you need
a little rest/want to cool down.
The start: This short circuit begins from the car
park at the top of Watlington Hill, near Christmas Common,
map reference 7095,9358 on Explorer 3.
1. 0.00km (0.00 mile) From the car park turn right
on the road until you reach a turning on the left, take
this road past a footpath on your left and the mast on
your right. Look out for the next trail on your left,
a bridleway between two hedges.
2. 0.75km (0.47 mile) Continue along the narrow
bridleway, watch out for nettles, roots and hanging down
branches. As the path enters the trees it descends gradually
at first and then steeply before spitting you out onto
bumpy grassland with a tight and twisty singletrack section
which takes you onto a gravel farm road, go straight along.
3. 2.23km (1.4 miles) Take the Ridgeway track,
or Swan's Route as it's locally known, to the right and
stay on it for 6.8km. The track is heavily used by off
road and farm vehicles, the ruts get really deep and are
often hidden in the long grass, so beware! The Ridgeway
goes for 85 miles, so use the roads and criss-crossing
paths to locate yourself. Once you've gone under the M40
motorway bridge you'll cross three roads, each time going
straight ahead, the next intersection is a staggered crossroads
with bridlepaths, take the first right straight up the
escarpment.
4. 9.07km (5.6 miles) The steep track gets narrow
and really steep up through the woods, stay high on the
sides of the gully if you can, it's a lung buster and
technical too. Continue to the road at the top of the
climb.
5. 9.9km (6.2 miles) Take the road to the right
and continue on Tarmac until you reach Crowellhill Farm
and the first bridleway on the right. Continue straight
down this track until you reach the T-junction with a
main bridlepath.
6. 11.45km (7.1 miles) A gentle climb on the bridlepath
through the woods until you reach the road, stay on this
main bridlepath which runs along the edge of the woodland.
7. 13.1km (8.2 miles) At the road turn left, and
at the staggered T-junction do a left then immediate right,
almost straight on. Cross the M40 motorway again, this
time over the bridge, and keep an eye open for the bridlepath
on your left, it's immediately after the Armco finishes.
8. 14.65km (9.16 miles) The bridlepath takes you
back towards the motorway alongside the Armco barrier,
this singletrack passes through woody sections and then
starts to descend rapidly. As you enter the woods look
out for the gate, just after the first tight right-hand
bend, it's usually closed. Continue through the gate,
preferably opening it first! Descend to the bottom of
the hill and join the gravel road.
9. 16.43km (10.3 miles) Take the road to the right
past Wellground Farm and continue straight on picking
up the bridlepath beside open fields. The bridlepath splits,
stay low and to the right continuing along the base of
the escarpment and fields until you reach the road junction.
10. 18.5km (11.56 miles) Again keep straight on
climbing up the steep bridlepath until you reach a gravel
road, keep climbing and you'll eventually reach a five-bar
gate and then a proper road, by Northend Farm.
11. 19.5km (12.2 miles) Turn right along the road
to Northend village, take the first bridleway on the left,
past Launders Farm descending into the woods and the junction
of bridleways and footpath.
12. 21.3km (13.31 miles) Turn right along the Oxfordshire
Way, climbing steadily through Fire Wood and picking up
Hollandridge Lane and finally the road by the mast at
Christmas Common.
13. 23.4km (14.6 miles) Continue straight ahead
along the road, ignoring the first left you come across,
which goes into Christmas Common and the pub, take the
second left turning along Hill Road and towards Watlington.
The car park is about 0.5km on the left.
Total distance 24.3km (15 miles)
This route was provided by WhatMountainBike? magazine.
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