Name: Summer Lightning
Rating: 3.9

Mountain Bike

← Activity Beta

3 miles

Distance

210 ft

Climb

-502 ft

Descent

00:28:31

Avg time

Summer Lightning Details

Activities
- Mountain Bike
- Hike
- Trail Running
Riding Area

North Downs
Dorking
AKA

Waggle Dance, Moonbase, My Cousin Vinnie
Difficulty Rating

Blue rate
Voted Difficulty

Blue (1 vote)
Trail Type

Singletrack
Bike Type

AM, XC
Trail Usage

Biking Primary
Direction

Downhill Primary
Popular direction shown
Climb Difficulty

Green
Physical Rating

Moderate
Season

Jan-Dec
Dogs Allowed

Yes
eBike Allowed

Yes
Global Ranking

#19895 in Mountain Biking
Local Popularity
70 in Mountain Biking [+]
- 5 in Trail Running
- 85 in Hiking
Land Manager

National Trust, Forestry Commission,

The extended Summer Lightning trail on Leith Hill combines the original Summer Lightning Trail (now the end part of the full trail, starting near Wolverns Lane) with the new trail sections (April 2014), that start at Leith Tower and link to the original trail.

The trail starts near the Tower at the top of Leith Hill on the North side just below the green and starts with a great fun swoopy, bermy, jumpy descent down the steep side. The trail keeps mountain bikes segregated from the hikers and horses climbing or descending the main track to Leith Tower.

At the bottom of the 1st section at the gate, take the track up to the right and then cut off to the right onto the next section (currently signposted) which roughly follows the original “moonbase” trail with its bombhole dips

At the end of this section, carry on down the track past the cricket pitch on your left and then take a left into the next section (signposted) through what was originally known as Cousin Vinnie’s Strange Garden. This section has lots of dippers and a big step-up towards the end if you see it and have the skills!

Follow the signposts into the woods below Coldharbour lane and hook up with the original trail (Waggle dance and regurgitator sections) at the end turn left on the bridle path and look for the signposts into the last 2 fast descending sections.

Link up with Wovens Lane and the Rookery descent to get back to the A25 at Westcott.

More Stats for Summer Lightning bike trail

Altitude change

-292 ft
Altitude min

630 ft
Altitude max

949 ft
Altitude start

922 ft
Altitude end

630 ft
Grade

-1.892%
Grade max

-23.688%
Grade min

11.197%
Distance climb

4,570 ft
Distance down

2 miles
Distance flat

2,465 ft
Avg time

00:28:31
view trail stats

Status:

on Oct 13, 2019

Wet

Avg: 3.85 (12 votes)

Trailforks scans users ridelogs to determine the most popular direction each trail is ridden. A good flowing trail network will have most trails flowing in a single direction according to their intension.
The colour categories are based on what percentage of riders are riding a trail in its intended direction.

Trailforks scans ridelogs to determine the last time a trail was ridden.

The intended direction a trail should be ridden.

Colors indicate trail is missing specified detail.

Trailforks scans ridelogs to determine which trails are ridden the most in the last 9 months. Trails are compared with nearby trails in the same city region with a possible 25 colour shades. Think of this as a heatmap, more rides = more kinetic energy = warmer colors.

Trail Difficulties

Access Road/Trail
White
Green
Blue
Black
Double Black Diamond

Trail Report Status

Clear / Green
Minor Issue / Yellow
Significant Issue / Amber
Closed

Land Owner Overlay
Wilderness (typically no bikes in USA)
BLM (public)
USFS (Wildlife sanctuaries darker than usfs)
State land
Indigenous
Military

Trail Conditions

Unknown
Snow Groomed
Snow Packed
Snow Covered
Freeze/thaw Cycle
Icy
Prevalent Mud
Wet
Variable
Dry
Very Dry

Past Week

4 rides
14 miles avg distance

6 Months

179 rides
21 miles avg distance

Photos

222 |

Mar 6, 2018 @ 3:19pm

Mar 6, 2018

152 |

Mar 6, 2018 @ 3:18pm

Mar 6, 2018

23 |

Dec 14, 2017 @ 12:23am

Dec 14, 2017

44 |

Oct 1, 2017 @ 1:19pm

Oct 1, 2017

Routes with this trail

title	rating	distance
Britain's Best Singletrack: Surrey Hills on GPSies.com		19 miles
Jeroen Summer		7 miles

2 Reviews & Comments

Score Time

Natyork (Jun 28, 2019 at 13:05)

Pretty cool trail for midway things
,Deliverence is pretty gnarly

[Reply]

Eddyd42 (Oct 7, 2019 at 10:05)

Excellent trail for a beginner like me. Loved it

[Reply]

Videos

the garden 1,742 ft
toad 2,116 ft
caspers 3,468 ft
windy willows 3,825 ft
route 66 3,848 ft

North Downs

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status	date	description
	Oct 13, 2019 @ 1:18pm 2 days	Giant puddles and pretty thick mud in most of the dips. Most of the berms and corners still in good shape though.
	Aug 20, 2019 @ 3:28am Aug 20, 2019	Wet first half, pretty good after the rooty section. Tree down after the drop at the end, right turn to go around.
	Jul 27, 2019 @ 1:31am Jul 27, 2019
	Jul 9, 2019 @ 3:42am Jul 9, 2019
	Jul 6, 2019 @ 12:49am Jul 6, 2019

Summer Lightning