Are you looking for a great mountain bike route that is a just short train ride away from London? Then look no further! This route is over 43km long, starts in Guildford, goes beyond Box Hill and its vast majority is in the forest. Just be aware that it can get really muddy so it’s better to go after a few days of no rain.
Once you get off the train in Guildford there’s nearly 4km ahead of you on the road – most of it is be a climb so think of it as great way to warm up. You’ll finally hit the trail at Merrow Downs park and the next 21km take you through The Roughs, Barnet Wood, Hook Wood, Dick Focks Common, Ranmore Common and Ashcombe Wood. It will be a nice forest ride where you don’t meet many other cyclists and there’s a fun longish descend just before joining the A24 for a short bit.
Once you hit the forest trail by Juniper Hill the next 4km are shared with another MTB route on this blog (Epsom to Box Hill). After that you’ll pass by Tyrrells Wood Golf Course, Cherkley Wood, Cockshoot Wood, Headly Heath to finally arrive to Box Hill and Salomon’s Memorial. From there it’s not even 3km to get to Box Hill and Westhumble station to take the train back to London. Btw. one of my favourite bits of this route is the short but somehow cool descend from Box Hill to the bottom of Zig Zag Road. Enjoy!
If you decide to do this MTB route please let us know it the comments below if you enjoyed it. You can download the GPX track for your GPS device below the map – just click on the “download” button.
Great site guys! Almost impossible to find a site with routes as well as pictures and descriptions. I’ve just bookmarked it!