stapfam

Depends on the type of riding you want to do. I am lucky in that there are the South downs just 6 miles from my door and only a couple of miles of road on the route down to it. The South downs is a ridge of chalk that runs across the South of the UK and part of it involves the South Downs way. 100 miles of track that runs from Winchester to Eastbourne and involves all sorts of terrain. One thing the trail does have is a max height of 800 ft but plenty of dips down to sea level and the climbs can be long- can be steep and can be unridable at some times of the year.

But wide open spaces- wooded areas- singletrack and rooted areas are all there. Unfortunately so are the 15% 1 mile climbs on rutted wet chalk paths or 6" deep mud sections that can make this ride a challenge. Especially if you attempt the 100 miles with 10,000ft of climbing in one day but it has to be on a bike that will do it.