Loop out from Ightham, more byways and bridleways

Loop out from Ightham, more byways and bridleways

10:31 on Friday, 4 July 2014    18 miles, 2100 ft climbing

From the car part at Ightham Village hall (free parking), we take the route to Oldbury

Hill, (see previous posts for this), and up through the woods then out and over the

A25 and around Raspit hill, taking the bridleway along the hill top through Raspit woods

and then redhill wood, these are great sections if you keep left or right of the actual

trail and take the detours.

It's a good flowing set of trails, with a great downhill at the end onto Grove Road.

The aim of this trip was to get out to see some of the trails I'd not visited before, so

I took the road down to Godden Green and found the entrance to the bridleway past the

pub, its on the left, and at the end of the drive to the hospital/clinic.

Its a good farm track, leading out along the woods and out to the road.

Here I took a left to Bitchet Common and then out to Fawke Common, the restricted byway

runs from the common out to Carter's Hill, and is a good run, nice and long and varied,

all the way down to the A225.

A quick dash along the B245 to Bank Lane to head back up towards Underriver, to take in

the bridleway at One Tree Hill, this is a nice trail through the woods out to the road,

on the right just out of the exit of the trail is the next on a long track and trail over

the fields towards the national trust site at Ightham Mote, here you ride alongside the

house and get a good view of the gardens too, up to the hill.

On the left is the next trail, a gravel track, nice and steep with plenty of spinning

wheels, out to the road back at Raspit Hill, this bridleway is very steep, and nothing

but a push was possible.

Then we're back through the woods and out to the A25 and back to the car park.