The map reference given is the centre of the village. Park on the road and meet at the main junction in the middle off the village. The general plan is probably to head northwards to the area bounded by West Tytherley, Pitton and the Winterslow villages and discover the bridleways and woodland tracks.
Danebury Hill can be reached from Stockbridge by following the High Street westwards through the town (A30). Just as you leave the town boundary, the road turns sharp right and climbs a steep hill. Just as the hill starts to swing round to the left, the road to Danebury Hill can be taken off to the right for a mile or two. The venue is clearly signposted off to the left of this road. We
can ride around the eastern perimeter of Middle Wallop airfield before heading westwards via Kentsboro, Oklahoma Farm and Georgia Farm and then turn southwards at Over Wallop. Following on will be a sharp rise up Whiteshoot Hill near Broughton and then it’s Kings Somborne (Horsebridge) and the Test Way all the way to Fullerton where on a hot day a call at the Mayfly pub is a must, and on a cooler day is still a possibility. Then it’s a mere jaunt up Hazel Down and Charity Down to return to the car park.
Alternatively we could ride off in the opposite direction towards Longstock, Stockbridge Down and Chilbolton. A grand outing.
(ref SU 326 377)
Boxing Day Ride
This ride starts from the tarmac car park adjacent to the pub and there is ample free parking available so there shouldn’t be any problems for those of you arriving by car, but please do not park in the gravel car park area which is exclusively for the pub patrons. From here we can go through Woodlands, on along to Lyndhurst, Boltons Bench, Denny Lodge area and back by a circular route taking us through Deerleap or of course go in the anti-clockwise direction taking in “the Wire” and other interesting trails. Whichever way we choose, at the end of it all will be a visit to The Happy Cheese.
This is an opportunity to sample yet more delights of the Moors Valley and Ringwood Forest area by starting from the Woolsbridge Industrial Estate. You will find the start location by taking the road to Three Legged Cross, and you will find the Woolsbridge Industrial Estate in close proximity to the entrance to the Moors Valley Country Park.
We will use the Woolsbridge Industrial Estate general kerbside parking and the turning into the industrial estate off the Ringwood Road is at SU 096 051.
There is a pub called the Three Legged Cross Inn on the main road at the turning point into the industrial estate but please do not use the pub car park and abandon your car for 3 hours, it will be frowned upon by the pub management.
There are some terrific tracks in this area. Parnholt Wood has a great downhill run which leads to Kings Somborne. From here it is possible to take the Test Way up to Stockbridge and circle out around Crawley almost reaching Wherwell not far from Andover before heading back via Sparsholt and West Wood. For anyone looking for a shorter trip, you could do worse than ride around the many trails in West Wood itself perhaps linking up with some sections of the Clarendon Way.
Swinley Forest is an area of Windsor Forest located between Bracknell and Bagshot to the west of the A322. The car park is at The LookOut Discovery Centre which has toilets and a cafe (with outdoor seating for a drink and cake after.) You will need to pay for parking - we try and park in the car park to the far right adjacent to the road. Meet up either in the car park or at the start of the trail (blue) by 10am.
There is a blue and a red trail and we normally combine the two trails to make one big circuit. To get an idea of the riding have a look at this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jsm320gWyk Everything is rollable or has a non-jump line. It is a great place to ride and we have had some great rides here over the years. A lot of the single track is gravel but there is some mud, and the tank traps may be full of water!
Tea/coffee and cake after in the cafe!