Swinley Forest Mountain Bike Centre

Semb.co:

From Seaford East Sussex, Swinley Is a bit of a drive, but after two trips in July I can't wait to go back and have some more. Great red and blue taking in the old and adding some new trail, fantastic sets of berms and some nice flow.

Great well maintained trails, fast flowing Red with some nice technical sections and a sweet blue that keeps a smile on your face.

MarkSmith:

Swinley has now officially become a trail centre. Years of being maintained by hard-working pixies and maintaining a growing popularity eventually took its toll and the Crown Estate had to step in. They've ploughed a lot of money into weather proofing some of the existing trails and building new ones - and the result is fantastic. A blue and red loop that stack on top of each other, with a green loop just to get families started. This has become the perfect place to take your friends and family who aren't sure about how much they love MTBing, and letting them realise they do! The blue has a few sections to challenge newer riders, but is mostly aimed at putting a huge grin on riders of all abilities. The red has a lot of the old favourites in and more technical challenges for better riders taking sections at speed. A remarkable amount has been done with the gradient available and the rumour has it there's more to come, with TrailTeamSwinley taking the reigns on development. For the old-timers there's still trails available in Crowthorne Woods with a more natural feel, but as with the old Swinley: you'll need to know where to look. I don't know if it's worth the long travel times that some of the Welsh trail centres justify, but if you're in the area it's well worth a small detour.

New trails are very weatherproof - the sandy surface will munch your drive-train, but it won't hinder your progress Some signage should ensure you won't get lost any more Brilliant flowing singletrack - the blue will make you look good!

Hummerlicious:

Went this weekend for the first time since the trails have been finished. They've done a good job with the signage and surfacing and both trails take in most of the good bits of the legacy trails. The Blue trail is good for everyone and if you are an experienced rider try riding it as quick as you can for a good buzz. Some really good fun sections on the Red trail, glad to see that the Deerstalker / babymaker runs are still in action too, really good fun.

Well marked Trails well surfaced Cafe

mikeyboyMills:

Swinley Forest Mountain bike trails have been recently restored by Rowan Sorrell and the Back on Track Guys responsible for some of the best trail Centres in the UK such as Afan, Brechfa and the Forest of Dean and I have to say they have done a fantastic job! Swinley was always great but you had to know where to go and in winter it was a bit of a gloopy mess. This changed, when after 4 month of development the new trails opened. What you now have are 3 routes. A green route for young families, a Blue for intermediate and a red for more advanced, with the blue and red being stackable routes so that you start on the blue and then divert off mid way round to do the red, then finish on the second half of the blue. In terms of the trails, what you get is a mixture of natural singletrack on the red, which is largely the older, well known trails such as tank traps and the Labyrinth and a nearly all new blue run which is an all weather, man made hooliganism blast with berms, table tops and lots of flow! In summary I love it! Its quick enough to do a quick lap after work but engaging enough to make you feel like you have had a work out! The facilities are excellent, and only the lack of a bike wash prevented it getting 5 out of 5. With the lack of other traditional trail centres in the South East I expect Swinley to come to the forefront of Mountain Biking in the South East. As our sport becomes more main stream its trails are great for people looking to get into the sport as well as seasoned people already in the know. I recommend that you check it out as soon as you can!

Awesome Blue Trail. One of the best in the UK Fast and flowing sections provide THAT grin factor Great facilities

appleyam:

been using swinley as an all year round centre for the last 8-10 years. great fun all year round. great in the wet great in the frost not bad in the snow sand is out to get you always something new about the ride

trails when wet firm up and offer better grip than the bone dry sand of summer. the wet roots are great for skills/balance development and give core muscles a hell of a work out. wet stuff doesn't really stick to the bike and double the weight. drains pretty quick offering decent riding all year round trail fairies come out and repair damage with hardcore and cut new fun bits too - many thanks!!!!

stumpy_dan:

The blue is a well built trail that is good for novices and families. It has all the hallmarks of its designer Rowan Sorrell and other blues he has designed like the Verderers at the FOD as it is wide, has flow and a few rollecoaster descents with big berms. The Red takes in a lot of the old favourites like tank traps, labrynth and so on and that is great but felt a lot of the new trail was quite flat with too much fireroad. There is one neat new section (15) which is a rollercoaster. Overall though i'd like to have seen a bit more development on the Red and some more gnarly sections. Some of the new sections in 2014 get really muddy and sticky. Lacks a black and at last a bike park is on it's way. When you join the blue and red together as one trail they are a full 24km giving a decent work out.

Flow Berms Drains well Good for family and novices