Well, I haven't managed too many Wednesday night rides lately for various reasons so last night I was keen to get back to basics with a local route on Leith Hill. 10 of us left from Nirvana, myself, Simon, Mark, George, Mike, Huw, Duncan and 3 Matt’s. We took some cheeky trails out the back of Westcott to Logmore Green, cut over to Squires farm then up to the yellow brick road. We headed towards Coldarbour but took a left before getting that far. This took us down through 'The Swamp' then up into Redlands wood where we were disappointed to find lots of logging had been going on. The logging had made the tracks in that area to difficult to navigate with any kind of momentum so we found our way out and on to the road and into Coldharbour. With it being Mikes Birthday he, George and Matt G headed into the Plough where the rest of us would join them later. So onward the rest of us went taking in a little of summer lightning before working our way up past deliverance to Coldharbour Cricket Pitch. From here we did Chicken Skin Review then eventually went full circle and up to Leith Hill tower. This is where the real fun began as we strung together a superb route twisting and turning through the woodland taking in as many roll ins as possible and some of the most popular paths as well as some less well known ones including 'Chocolate Jesus', 'mind the worther' and 'Wildwood'. This of course brought us out at Friday Street from where we made a bee line for the Plough to join the others. The Beautiful South at the Plough was just spot on, a real good batch from Rick bless him so after a couple of pints of that and it was time to head for home. The usual route was taken back to Westcott and the usual high pace once at the start of Summer Lightning. Its a fantastic flowy route, very fast and twisty in places culminating in the decent of the rookery. I had a big off on Wolvens Lane, probably the highest speed crash I've ever had but luckily for me just a few scratches and bruises to show for it and not as funny as Simons comedy 'can't get unclipped' fall earlier in the ride. So all in we covered about 21 miles and 2,300 feet of climbing and loads of singletrack all made better by the virtually dry trails and warm summer evening (about time).