Christmas Common - Chinnor

Christmas Common – Chinnor, Chiltern Hills

Distance:                   18.1 miles
Climb:                        1935 ft
Duration:                    1.5-3 hrs
Rating:                       Blue/Red
Grade:                        3/5

Chinnor, near High Wycombe, sits on the edge of the Chilterns. This little hill packs a lot of riding in to a relatively small area. Mostly consisting of good natural singletrack, there are lines criss-crossing the hill in all directions - no two rides ever need be the same.

There is a circular bridleway around the foothills called the Ridgeway, which gives good access to a number of different climb points. Our route saw us head west from Chinnor to the locally named feature, ‘Widow Maker’.  The steep incline provides a fast and furious descent on many other route configurations but on our ride it was a steep and moderately technical climb.

There is a long and fast descent to follow (Kidney Breaker) down some single and double track.  The trail up to this point is generally chalky mud with loose flint and pine debris. It holds up reasonably well in the wet and sets quite hard in the dry. However, considering the excessively wet year we’ve had you’d best come prepared with skinny mud/winter tyres. When even the base layer is sloppy you know you’re in for a rough time.

A few kilometres of singletrack through low-level woodland precede another long and steep climb, this time up a farm track towards Turville Park Estate. The trail surface, at this point, changes to loose stone and flint gravel.

An opening in the wood at the top of the climb provides a welcome place for a quick break before you head back down through the feature locally known as ‘The Berm’; a fast and loose descent with a massive natural berm about 2/3 through the descent enabling riders to hold a huge amount of speed around the left hand corner. The trail surface and incline make this section the most technical part of the ride up until this point and, although over pretty quickly, is a highlight of the route.

The following climb is pretty standard bridleway stuff. The descent that follows this, however, is much more interesting. Starting off as a wide track through the immensely open forest floor of Great Wood, the trail quickly narrows and enters a natural half pipe. The sidewalls are high and in very close proximity to your pedals so commitment and concentration are required to navigate through the feature with pace and a smile.

The final climb is long and, on the particular day we rode, very wet and sticky. A quick stop was required to clean the tyres before embarking on the final descent in to Chinnor – ‘Route Finder’. It follows a familiar pattern to the previous descent in that it starts with a wide open fire track, this time along the edge of the wood, before taking a sharp right in to the wood using a huge rock slab berm. It allows you to carry good speed in to the following fly-off’s before a flat out race to the bottom.

Despite the appalling weather conditions the country has been dealt in the past few months this area of Britain has fared pretty well. There are patches of mud around, even some deep mud in places but nothing that would put you off riding the exact same route again.

Generally the bridleways and the Ridgeway have a good stone base, which limits the impact of the weather on these trails.

As we rode it, the trail around Christmas common in Chinnor offered a very satisfying ride. It has a good balance of singletrack and forest road (hardly any road riding at all).  The technical content is low but there are elements of interest. It is a good ride for most skill levels and an interesting place to ride in any case.