This circuit uses NCN22 to ascend from the NT Whitehill car park near Mickleham to Epsom Downs and Racecourse, then returns on bridleways via Headley Heath to the start. There is an optional excursion to the Box Hill viewpoint and cafe, popular with cyclists (perhaps too popular for its own good). Here's a map.
NCN22 uses a variety of quiet roads and bridleways: the latter, over Epsom Downs, are rather stony and, after rain, quite muddy, so need care. They are also not well signed as NCN22, so a GPX file is useful.
For the sake of making a circuit, I tried a number of ways to cross Headley Heath: the bridleways shown were the best of a bad lot. Some of the tracks over the more open parts of the heath look quite tempting, but it is easy to get lost, and many are stony and descend steeply into a deep valley from which escape is difficult. The chosen tracks stay mainly in the woods, which are a bit gloomy. As you can tell, I was not in a good mood after all these difficulties: I am sure on a nice sunny day after a dry spell it's all wonderful: and the views from Epsom racecourse make it all worthwhile.
For another variation on this ride, using the Stane Street Roman Road, see this post.
For a ride from Surbiton to Leatherhead including Epsom Downs, see this post.
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Destination: Epsom Racecourse
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Lodgebottom Lane on NCN22
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Sheep Walk bridleway on the approach to Epsom Downs: reasonable at present, but can get quite muddy
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Branch point: which way for NCN22?
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NCN22 ascending Epsom Downs
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NCN22 crosses the racecourse
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Instead of taking the direct route you can go round the perimeter road
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View over London
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The stands
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| A good track completes the circuit across the racecourse |
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A good track descends to Ebbisham Lane....
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.... but a muddy patch must be crossed to reach .....
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...........Ebbisham Lane
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A good bridleway descends to .......
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... an underpass under the M25
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Bridleway towards Headley village
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One of the bridleways I tried on Headley Heath: it looks OK but was steep and stony, and descends into a deep valley with no easy exit
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One of the bridleways I finally used
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The bidleways over the Heath are well posted, but there are lots of them and it is easy to get lost
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Optional excursion to the Box Hill viewpoint
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Box Hill cafe
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Start of the path to Juniper Bottom
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Gloomy woods
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Track in Juniper Bottom
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Watch put for groups of fast roadies!
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