Teflon Trails on Leith Hill

Following the fun we had last weekend at Leith Hill we returned there today. Our objective was to navigate and map any trails in the areas we did not have time to ride last week. The autumnal weather has resulted in heavy rain during the past two weeks and anticipating a muddy ride I took the hardtail / Rohloff hub combination, my buddy was on his nomad.

We explored and as expected we found many trails together with some of the usual Leith Hill drop-offs that were new to us. One trail in particular that we discovered seemed to be the main artery east to west through our chosen area as we inadvertently found ourselves on it at least half a dozen times as we explored, how come we had never found it on previous visits? No matter, it was an excellent trail with dips, drops, rollers and fallen trees. I prefer very tight a twisty singletrack with roots and obstacles to negotiate, Leith Hill has plenty of this and today we found an absolute belter. The trail was old and little used as it was quite overgrown, it was the highlight of the day for me. By chance we found ourselves on top of the drop-offs for what we used to call the ‘Caspers’ trail, straight over the edge, across the bridleway and straight down the hillside to emerge on the rocky climb to the bridleway junction at the bottom of the rutted climb to the tower.

The roots and tree stumps were hellishly slippery and the soft loamy soil was the consistency of ketchup and provided the same amount of grip! The trails required maximum concentration in order not to bite the dirt, spin out on climbs or wash out on corners. We were pretty successful although I had a number of very close calls as my handlebars clipped trailside trees. At times our progress was comical as we spun out on climbs and roots, pedalling while completely stationery with the back wheel spinning round.

4 hours on the trails, two new areas mapped and some fantastic singletrack discovered. A successful day.