39 Mountain biking

Leith Hill, Surrey

Enjoyment - 75%

Success - 60%

Will try again - Yes

First timer’s recommendation – hire a decent bike, wear a helmet, stick to trails and stay safe.

There’s a shortage of mountains in the south; something that restricted my training for the Man vs Horse marathon a bit, and means that for mountain biking, you have to search more for a large hill. The Surrey Hills offer some of the best mountain biking in the south-east, and Leith Hill is the most popular trail. The road going up Leith Hill and nearby Box Hill are part of the Surrey Classic, and have proved almost too popular for weekend racers, with the locals often complaining of the speeding cyclists on the local roads, no doubt slowing down the speeding motorists. I know what I would rather have hitting me at 30mph.

I hired a bicycle from Pilgrim Cycles, located in the original station building at Box Hill & Westhumble, have basic mountain bikes for hire, as well as their own hand made bicycles for touring. It’s a friendly, family-run business and they offer guided rides over the mountain bike trails nearby, so are well worth a visit. The main downside to mountain biking here is that there is no uplift service, as you would get on an actual mountain. Think of it as more like cross country skiing than downhill skiing, as you wouldn’t get much of that done without a lift pass.