Surrey Hills Cycle Trails: Elstead Loop

The Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) has long been something of a mecca for mountain bikers. The most frequented trails are around Peaslake and Leith Hill, but the AONB management team has recently (June 2018) opened a new set of trails to the South West, comprising a set of five interconnected loops (Puttenham, Elstead, Thursley, Frensham, Devil's Punch Bowl). I'm going to give them a test drive. The AONB website has a PDF leaflet showing all the routes, though not really in sufficient detail to use this as your sole means of navigation: so I recommend to download the gpx files from the website and load them into your GPS. The routes are marked by distinctive grey roundels on signposts, and there is a series of information boards at key locations.

I started with the Elstead Loop, from the car park near Shackleford. A map of my track is here (shown in orange: other colours will be used to denote other loops when and if I do them).



My experience of off-road riding in the Surrey Hills has been mixed: the trails around Peaslake are a bit too hairy-scary for me, and elsewhere I have often found the tracks either very sandy or very muddy, or both. However, this ride was neither too scary (it's quite flat), nor too sandy/muddy, though the latter may have been due to the incredible heat wave bordering on drought we have had since June.

There were some short stretches where I did dismount due to sand, but the only stretch I would omit and use the on-road alternative is a short section of bridleway East from the hamlet of Gatwick (not to be confused with the airport) on the northern leg of the route: this was a narrow and sandy path worn into a deep gully, for which I just had to dismount and walk (shown with warning triangles and a purple alternative on the map). I had wayfinding difficulties at only one spot: Broomfields (also marked on the map), where I missed a key sign but I soon recovered my mistake.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable and scenic ride on a brilliant summer's day, with woodland providing much appreciated shade given the 30 degree temperatures.Very quiet too: apart from at Tilford, I saw very few other people. Here is a selection of photos, showing the varied scenery traversed.


Typical information board


Thursley Common

Woolpack Pub in Elstead

It's been hot!

Stockbridge Pond near Tilford

Cricket match on Tilford Village Green

River Wey at Tilford: a great spot for a cooling paddle on a baking day
Watch out for the sign through this gate at Broomfields

Broomfields: check the route across this field carefully

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