Summer’s here!

And with all these long, warm evenings we’ve been making a semi-regular pilgrimage over to Pitch Hill, starting from the Peaslake Stores, heading off for some great evening rides and finishing off at the Hurtwood Inn for a sweet pint.

It seems odd that we haven’t explored more of Pitch Hill. In the past, Peaslake has been the limit of our rides over from Holmbury or Leith and we’ve just refuelled at the Stores and headed back to Holmbury via Death Star.

With an ever expanding range of riders and aquaintances though we’ve started to venture a bit further and it’s been a revelation. One benefit of Pitch Hill over it’s more obvious neighbours is it’s relatively lightly trafficed. At least, it’s generally other riders rather than horses or walkers and there’s plenty of room too in the maze of trails out there.

It’s a bit technical in places with some surprising rooty steps and drops, plus it can be arduous especially if you start to wind the pace up, at which point the sinuous singletrack turns into real rollercoaster stuff. The best bit is the same as what unifies Leith, Holmbury and Pitch Hills – free draining, loamy soil that seems to come with a bit of spring built in.

If you haven’t made it to Pitch, we’d thoroughly recommend it but it’s best with someone who really knows the area. It’s easy to get lost in the mazy trails that all seem to spit you out at the same key spots after disorienting you with their twists and loops. After several visits, frankly I’m still pretty clueless but at least we’ve got some riders who know what they’re doing!