3 miles
Distance
210 ft
Climb
-502 ft
Descent
00:28:30
Avg time

Summer Lightning Details

  • Activities
    • Mountain Bike
    • Hike
    • Trail Running
  • Riding Area
    Surrey Hills
    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
    80 in Mountain Biking [+]
    • 5 in Trail Running
    • 5 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.

Local Trail Association
More Stats for Summer Lightning mountain 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
    00:28:30
  • Avg reverse time
    00:51:22
  • view trail stats
Status:
on Aug 2, 2020
Dry
Avg: 4 (14 votes)

view (1,224)
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  • Layers  w
  • Basemap 
  • Trail Style 
    • ?
  • Activity Type  
Trail Conditions
  • Unknown
  • Snow Groomed
  • Snow Packed
  • Snow Covered
  • Freeze/thaw Cycle
  • Icy
  • Prevalent Mud
  • Wet
  • Variable
  • Ideal
  • Dry
  • Very Dry
Trail Ridden Direction
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.
  • > 96%
  • > 90%
  • > 80%
  • > 70%
  • > 50%
  • < 50%
Trail Last Ridden
Trailforks scans ridelogs to determine the last time a trail was ridden.
  • < 2 days
  • < 1 week
  • < 2 weeks
  • < 1 month
  • < 6 months
  • > 6 months
Trail Ridden Direction
The intended direction a trail should be ridden.
  • Downhill Only
  • Downhill Primary
  • Both Directions
  • Uphill Primary
  • Uphill Only
  • One Direction
ContributeDetails
Colors indicate trail is missing specified detail.
  • Description
  • Photos
  • Description & Photos
  • Videos
Trail Popularity ?
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.
  • most popular
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  • less popular
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ATV/ORV/OHV Filter
Max Vehicle Width
inches

LEGEND
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
  • Ideal
  • Dry
  • Very Dry
  • Map Markers
  • trail Trail Head
  • photo Photo
  • place Directory Listing
  • region Riding Area
  • TTF TTF
  • Parking Parking
  • Viewpoint Viewpoint
  • Information Information
  • Warning Warning
  • Directions Directions
  • Sight Sight
  • Restrooms Restrooms
  • eBike Charging Point eBike Charging Point
  • Water Fountain/Source Water Fountain/Source
  • Gate Gate
  • Trail Sign Trail Sign
  • Table or Bench Table or Bench
  • Ladder Ladder
  • Stairs Stairs
  • Bridge Bridge
  • Camping Camping
  • Cabin Cabin
  • Lodge Lodge
  • Bear Cache Bear Cache
  • Dock Dock
  • Ranger Station Ranger Station
  • Summit Summit
  • Other Other
      Directions to summer-lightning trailhead (51.176430, -0.370740)
      update trails status or condition

      Summer Lightning Trail Reports

      statusdatedescription
      Aug 2, 2020 @ 5:10am
      2 days
      Jun 28, 2020 @ 12:17am
      Jun 28, 2020
      Jun 24, 2020 @ 10:33am
      Jun 24, 2020
      May 30, 2020 @ 3:40am
      May 30, 2020
      May 20, 2020 @ 2:58am
      May 20, 2020
      view all reports »

      Recent Ridelog Activity on Trail

      Past Week
      • 15 rides
      • 20 miles avg distance
      6 Months
      • 243 rides
      • 20 miles avg distance
      All
      • 910 rides
      •  

      Photos

      more »
      272 |
      Mar 6, 2018 @ 3:19pm
      Mar 6, 2018
      194 |
      Mar 6, 2018 @ 3:18pm
      Mar 6, 2018
      42 |
      Dec 14, 2017 @ 12:23am
      Dec 14, 2017
      79 |
      Oct 1, 2017 @ 1:19pm
      Oct 1, 2017

      Routes with this trail

      titleratingdistance
      Britain's Best Singletrack: Surrey Hills on GPSies.com
      		19 miles
      Jeroen Summer
      		7 miles
      Westcott Leith Summer Lightning Loop
      		10 miles

      3 Reviews & Comments

      • + 0
      flag Natyork (Jun 28, 2019 at 13:05)
       Pretty cool trail for midway things
      ,Deliverence is pretty gnarly
      [Reply]
      • + 0
      flag Eddyd42 (Oct 7, 2019 at 10:05)
       Excellent trail for a beginner like me. Loved it
      [Reply]
      • + 0
      flag gepn20 (Jul 30, 2020 at 4:04)
       Excellent. An easy blue.
      [Reply]

      Post a Comment



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      Videos

      more »
      Summer Lightning Trail Re-visited 27 10 19 -...
      9:54 | 637 | Nov 1, 2019 , Dorking
      Summer Lightning Trail Leith Hill Surrey
      13:18 | 708 | Mar 19, 2019 , Dorking
      When you're blocked in...
      0:40 | 260 | Jan 22, 2017 , Dorking
      Kelly's Heroes
      4:27 | 165 | Dec 28, 2016 , Dorking

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