The Mountain Bike Routes in
Chilterns & Ridgeway Mountain Biking
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Click on a marker for route information. The markers mark the approximate recommended starting points for each route as indicated in the book.
 RIDGEWAY MOUNTAIN BIKE ROUTES
Fast tracks up, down and over the spine of the Ridgeway take you back and forth in time as you pass hill forts, take in the White Horse at Uffington and collapse at a pub exhausted but satisfied!
Grade: Easy. Distance: 23km
Climb gently on broad chalk and flint track, cross the gallops and through the amazing field of Sarsen Stones. Then down to Rockly, up to Bradbury Castle, over Hackpen Hill and on to the finish.
Grade: Easy. Distance: 24km
An easy introduction to the tracks around the area, linking a section of the railway path that runs from Marlborough to Chiseldon to other good quality stone based tracks.
Grade: Eas.. Distance: 28km
The bike route boasts a fine long open climb up Smeathe's Ridge and two cracking descents: one wide and grassy, and the other rootier and narrower.
Grade: Moderate. Distance: 22km
Climb out of Aldbourne then a fast descent to Hilldrop Farm followed by a fine bit of woodland singletrack. Climb again before a grassy track leads downhill to join a short stretch of road back to Aldbourne.
Grade: Moderate. Distance: 28km
A lovely mountain bike circuit around Aldbourne, Baydon, Chilton Foliat and Ramsbury.
Grade: Easy. Distance: 30km
This is the first of whole series of rides that can be used to the adjacent ride to create a much longer day out. This has a good mixture of tracks with a belter of a descent about half way round and ends with a blast on a good stone based track back to Lambourn.
Grade: Easy. Distance: 23km
Most of the height from Lambourne is gained on a quiet lane so that the final uphill section on rough grass is kept to a minimum. Then along the ridgeway on a fine undulating track. The descent from Uffingham Castle is designed to eke out the most from a 120m of downhill, letting gravity help you down the slower grassy tracks. Finish with a good woodland blast.
Grade: Easy. Distance: 18km
This ride finishes with a rollercoaster of off road trails which have a bit of everything and should leave you with a grin on your face.
Grade: Moderate. Distance: 33km
A section along the Ridgeway and a fine mix of quiet lanes and woodland tracks to make a circular route.
Grade: Easy. Distance: 19km
This short mountain bike route from East llsey gives you a taste of Ridgeway country, small villages, big fields, open views and broad tracks of grass, chalk and flint.
Grade: Easy. Distance: 28km
Climb from the off on a broad chalk and flint track. Reach East Ilsey and then you soon have a choice of a singletrack section, or one on broader tracks with fewer nettles and brambles! Either way you go past the laugh-a-minute Banterwick Farm, descend to cross the infant River Peng, then climb to the highest point on the ride to set you up nicely for a snake-bite descent to the finish.
HAMPSHIRE DOWNS MOUNTAIN BIKE ROUTES
The scenery is stunning and the riding tough, proof once more you don't have to be in the mountains to be mountain biking.
Grade: Moderate . Distance: 27km
Along gentle lane climb gives you plenty of time to warm up for the challenge, up through woodland to the mast on Coombe Hill. Good views. Now enjoy a fine descent from Inkpen Hill down to the dry valley towards Linkeholt. Good wide stone-based tracks are followed back to Ibthorpe to rejoin the outward route.
Grade: Hard. Distance: 38km
A long ride with a lot of ascent, this route has two of the best climbs and two of the best descents in this guide.
Grade: Moderate . Distance: 20km
For such a short bike ride this has good highlights, such as a tough singletrack climb, two long fast descents and a good pub at Upton!
Grade: Easy . Distance: 23km
This is the Watership Down of Fiver and Bigwig fame, a huge chalk and grass expanse to be enjoyed at the end of the ride.
 CHILTERNS MOUNTAIN BIKE ROUTES
Sail through sweeping woodland, negotiate tricky singletrack and blast along fast chalk tracks in the idyllic Chiltern Hills.
Grade: Moderate. Distance: 36km
This mountain bike route takes in lots of beechwood singletrack and a superb riverside section to the finish.
Grade: Easy. Distance: 24km
Stoke Row is quite a hub for mountain bike routes in the Chilterns, with a plethora of good singletrack that starts almost as soon as you leave Stoke Row.
Grade: Moderate. Distance: 28km
Leave Henley to negotiate a couple of kilometres on-road before the first short steep off-road climb past Harpsden Church. The pattern is soon set for a bit of off-road followed by short sections of tarmac on quiet lanes or no through roads, linking to the next bit of singletrack through woodlands.
Grade: Easy. Distance: 21km
This mountain bike route offers some fine singletrack and a belter of a descent on a broad stone path at the far eastern end of the ride and a rattling final descent off the escarpment to Ewelme.
Grade: Moderate. Distance: 27km
A bike ride with plenty of short steep climbs and long gentle descents.
Grade: Hard. Distance: 30km
This route links two of the area's toughest climbs with one of its best descents and a very high proportion of top-grade woodland tracks giving you an excellent taste of what sort of riding the Chilterns has to offer.
Grade: Moderate. Distance: 27km
A long warm up then a very tough climb onto the escarpment. Easy woodland singletrack then a long easy descent through Wormsley Estate are your rewards - appetisers for the final fireworks from Christmas Common back down to Watlington.
Grade: Moderate. Distance: 25km
A varied mountain bike route around Chinnor, Piddington, Radnage and Crower Hill, finishing with a cracking descent back to Chinnor.
Grade: Moderate. Distance: 31km
Good use of lanes link together long stretches of woodland tracks, aiming to maximise time spent on earth and stone. Some of the best climbs and downhills come in the final third of the ride as you drop back down to Risborough.
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Aldbourne & Littlecote
East Ilsey & Scutchamer Knob
Ewelme, Nettlebed & Park Corner
