This year's POR, as always, could only take place with the kind permission of several local landowners, for which we're really grateful. They are:

• Janet Miller, of Loseberry Farm, who generously provided access for riders across the entire farm — including through the farmyard!
• Barwell Trustees, who provide the TREC venue, as well as access in Sixty Acres Wood.
• The Crown Estate, who provided access to Prince's Coverts and Great Oaks.
• Birds Hill Oxshott Estate Company, for access across the private residential estate south of Fairoak Lane at level 2 (and with thanks to its managing agents, Huggins Edwards & Sharp, and its development liaison officer, Gary Blunden for arrangements made at short notice).

Hypertext links in the report below are to geolocated photographs in Geograph.org.uk (some taken by me, some by others).

Riders at both levels 1 and 2 set out along the bridleway towards Claygate Common, turning left and south along Common Lane across Claygate Common, and joining Holroyd Road on the south side of the common. A left turn into the byway New Road, closed to vehicles, took them over the A3 and south under the electricity transmission line (ETL) which was a key navigational feature at both levels. Shortly after passing under the ETL, riders needed to spot a gap in the fence on the right, pass through it, and double back just inside the field. Continuing along the field margin, riders turned west parallel to the A3, crossed a wooded ditch, and continued west towards a tunnel under the A3, known locally as Graffiti Bridge.

Level 2 riders took a short detour here, turning left into Birch Wood down a recently cleared track, and past an ETL pylon where a ticket was displayed (in both directions: level 1 riders came this way later in the opposite direction), before turning right into Birchwood Lane and right again down the margin of a field in the north side of Birch Wood.

All riders continued through Graffiti Bridge, with a diagonal left across the field beyond, to reach a gap in the hedge a little short of the far corner of the field. The route continued across the next field to the far left corner, and so under the railway accommodation bridge.

A right turn parallel to the railway line brought riders to the enclosed public footpath between Claremont Road and Arbrook Common: a good number of riders turned left down the path, but had to turn back at the narrow footbridge (or worse, the barrier beyond at the entrance to Arbrook Common). Riders should instead have gone through the open gateway opposite, and turned left along the margin of the field. A right turn along a grassy strip marking the boundary between two fields brought a ticket attached to a cattle trough halfway up the field, orientated towards the right hand side of the strip. Riders on the wrong side of the strip would not have seen the ticket. Nor indeed many riders on Sunday (level 1), because the ticket had detached and fallen to the ground: the ticket was therefore regrettably suppressed at that level. The route continued into Loseberry Farm yard and checkpoint 2.

Leaving Loseberry Farm, riders followed a series of farm boundaries south towards the entrance onto Arbrook Common. It was essential to follow the route marked on the master map, as there are few opportunities to cross the ditches on the farm except at the specified crossing points. Here, your traceur has an admission to offer level 2 riders: the marked route was wrong, and showed a route across the ditch which ceased to exist many years ago but which is still marked on the map as a field bridge. The true crossing point was about 300m further along. The truth is that we missed out inspection of this field, having sent riders this way in 2011, and I mistakenly recalled this as the crossing point used then. I'm particularly sorry for the couple of riders who bravely attempted a far from pleasant crossing.

Riders should have found their way onto Arbrook Common through the only gate, and looked for a clear path heading due west. The master map instructed riders to turn south only after the barrier, to bring them onto the horse ride heading south. This soon brought riders to a confusing T-junction of horse rides. The crossing horse ride is NOT the public bridleway marked on the map, which required a left and immediate right to reach it. Indeed, the crossing horse ride is not marked on the map (and the horse ride which leads up to the junction has deviated from the original straight alignment). However, the level 1 master map did particularly draw attention to the ETL which here runs parallel to and almost adjacent to the bridleway. Riders who appreciated that the wires of the ETL were not crackling overhead at the T-junction would have pressed ahead another 70 metres to reach both the bridleway and ETL. And here, the two levels went their different ways.

Level 1

Level 1 riders turned east along the bridleway, still parallel to the ETL, shortly to arrive at a junction of paths on the east side of Arbrook Common, and into checkpoint 3 (photos). The checkpoint, manned by your traceur, was intended to verify arrival along the bridleway: about three quarters of competitors got this wrong, arriving along the horse ride (or in one case, north from Arbrook Farm).

The route out of the checkpoint lay along Birchwood Lane, but with a detour through Birch Wood, past the ETL pylon and ticket seen by level 2 riders (the previous day) in the opposite direction (about two thirds of level 1s missed this ticket, presumably turning right too soon to rejoin Birchwood Lane), and along the field side of Birch Wood to rejoin Birchwood Lane. Riders continued straight across the junction with New Road into Great Oaks, and so into Sixty Acre Wood. The route through the latter required careful mapwork, including a particularly tricky turn off the main north-south path just before the ETL (riders by now should have noticed the relevance of the ETL to route finding!), a PTV ride up obstacle near the charcoal kilns, a ticket (only one individual, but eight pairs, missed this), and finally the last checkpoint 4 just at the northern exit from the woods. The checkpoint was at 10.3 km from the start: from here, it was a one kilometre walk and over the A3 back to the venue.

Level 2

Level 2 riders turned west along the bridleway, shortly joining the drive to Arbrook Farm and into checkpoint 3. One level 3 individual, and the pair, wrong routed, presumably along the horse ride vice the bridleway, as did about two-thirds of the level 2s.

On leaving the checkpoint, riders performed a dogleg off the farm drive to the west, before rejoining the drive to arrive at a crossing of Copsem Lane, the A244. On the far side, the route lay across Esher Common and some faster work. Initially along the horse ride on the south side of Meadway, a turn south into the second horse ride on the left was called for. This took competitors over a ridge and down towards East Bridge over the A3. However, before reaching the bridge, a right turn along a sandy track offered an opportunity for a fast canter, passing the sculpted wooden bench which featured in the level 3 grid references test, before doubling back just short of West Bridge to follow a less frequently used horse ride adjacent to the dual carriageway and back to East Bridge. The route then lay south, over the bridge, past the pond, crossing the manorial boundary onto Oxshott Heath, over Sandy Lane, and continuing south to a junction with Blundel Lane and a left turn into the public bridleway east towards Oxshott Station and along the foot of the Heath. Riders passed the cottages on the common, shortly after encountering a bifurcation: which way? To the left was the horse ride, to the right the public bridleway. The master map showed left to be the correct choice, and those who got this right immediately right routed into the checkpoint 4 at Oxshott Heath car park near the station. Surprisingly, only one level 2 individual, and one level 3 pair, wrong-routed, although rumours have been abroad that some riders managed to turn back from the car park having realised their error, and right route without penalty.

Leaving the checkpoint, the route continued up the corkscrew next to Warren Lane, before a minor path turned off to the right, shortly to emerge at the side of Warren Lane. This crossing was stewarded, and took riders across to a seldom visited area of heathland. Careful adherence to a slightly defined path led down to the one-way Heath Road, leading down to a bridge under the railway and so out to the busy Fairoak Lane. A stewarded crossing of the main road, and passage through the specially open electric gates took riders into the private Birds Hill Estate, courtesy of Birds Hill Oxshott Estate Company. Heading down Broomfield Ride, some riders were confused by the first turning shown on the map leading to Montrose Gardens, and assumed that the correct turning into Leys Road was in fact the wrong first turning. However, the first turning is virtually invisible, and as is clear from careful study of the map, is no more than an alleyway. We did plan to route level 2 down this alleyway, but excessive overgrowth from neighbouring hedges over a short stretch made it unsuitable. Once the turning into Leys Road had been identified, a right turn at the end brought riders into Prince's Drive, and shortly through a gate on the left into a track leading to paddocks and into Prince's Coverts.

As usual, route finding in Prince's Coverts called for careful map reading with possible use of compass. Shortly after entering the woodland next to the paddocks, a right turn was needed down a narrow but frequently ridden path which kept roughly parallel to the field boundary. This emerged on the main west ride, with a turn right and so southwards. The west ride continued past the recently felled Stoke Wood: a path across here was used for the 2011 POR but the growth of brambles ruled it out this time (a pity, since the entrance off the west ride is particularly well hidden). Instead, riders took the first practical path on the left beyond the felled area, opposite a well defined track on the right. Just down the path was a ticket, which remarkably everyone scored.

Riders then headed east, then south, along several rides west of d'Abernon Chase and past some difficult crossing paths, before turning west again along the main ride to Prince's Gate, and looking out for a new track (not marked on the map) south through the woodland below Horns Hill. Here lay a particular challenge: the track emerges at the top of a heathy slope (again not marked on the map), where a clearly defined path dropped down to the south east along the east side of the heath. However, use of a compass would have demonstrated that the marked route lay down the west side of the heath, alongside the woodland margin, here to reach the flags of checkpoint 5, before proceeding east along the path along the southern perimeter of the forest.

Beyond the checkpoint, riders continued along a pleasant and partly open path along the margin between the forest and the golf course, kept cleared of trees because of the adjacent ETL, then bearing north-east and through a gate (the one on the left) into d'Abernon Chase. The Chase is a clearing in the forest, with a former forester's cottage. The route continued out the other side, through another gate, and immediately right along a grassy ride (the map shows two rides off to the right here: only the correct, more clockwise, ride is obvious). After passing an electricity pole, there was a left turn onto the new ride, which continues north-west across the forest, parallel to The Avenue. However, there was a brief detour onto The Avenue itself in the vicinity of Upper Gravel Pond, with a ticket immediately following, in order to avoid a fallen tree on the new ride. Two-thirds of level 2s, but no level 3s, missed this ticket (though I'm not entirely clear how, since the fallen tree obstructed passage along the new ride!). Riders may have noticed that the ticket was framed with foliage, to conceal it from those who approached along the New Ride (notwithstanding the fallen tree), and to reduce its visibility to those on The Avenue: it seems to have worked!

Returning to the new ride, competitors might have assumed from the map they continued north-west along it until reaching a T-junction: however, notwithstanding the map, the ride does continue north-west to join the drive to Fairoak Lane at an acute angle, and those who missed the left and then right turn into the drive would also have missed a ticket. About half of level 2s, and one individual at level 3, did indeed miss it.

Riders left Prince's Coverts through a gate and crossed over the busy Fairoak Lane at Highgate Cottages, into New Road, which was encountered earlier. Level 2 riders rejoined the level 1 route by turning right into Great Oaks, but with a modest variation in the route to be taken through Sixty Acre Wood, and a different ticket number 3 to be collected: two pairs and two individuals missed this at level 2, with no misses at level 3. Level 1 riders completed the POR at the same checkpoint (numbered 6) as level 1, on the northern side of Sixty Acre Wood, at a distance of 21.8 km.

Conclusions

This year's PORs seemed to go pretty well, and be received well, with the obvious exception of the unfortunate error at Loseberry Farm. I started very late on the planning this year, and would like to thank the TDs, Joy Taylor and Gemma Marriage, for their tolerance in surveying and approving the route very close to the wire. Indeed, there were some elements which were only resolved in the week before the POR, including arrangements for access into Broomfield Ride (through no fault of the residents' board, I should add).

The POR has been described by some competitors as 'technical'. In the sense that the route was almost entirely on undesignated paths and tracks, that is true: that is the nature of the locality, with few public bridleways, but many horse rides and ubiquitous forest tracks. So the route was bound to be challenging to copy out, particularly at level 2, where with hindsight we might have allowed more time. And Prince's Coverts is and always will be an exceptional navigational challenge, with some new rides unmarked and old rides vanishing through disuse. Indeed, with onsite management of the Coverts having ceased some years ago, as each year goes by, fewer rides remain practicable for use.

I had wondered whether we would be able to adopt routes which were sufficiently distinctive from those of the Barwell Court Farm BHS TREC 2011, but I was quite pleased with what we were able to do. Level 1s took full advantage of the access generously provided to Loseberry Farm to avoid a repeat of the 2011 circuit via Esher Common and Oxshott Heath, while level 2s reprised the 2011 level 3 penetration to the very southern edge of Prince's Coverts. Compared to 2011, we were also able to take level 2s across Copsem Lane on a different alignment, afford an opportunity for a good canter parallel to the A3 (dog walkers permitting), take them round Oxshott Heath in the opposite direction, and use a more direct route between the Heath and the Coverts with a straight over crossing of Fairoak Lane. The tickets proved to be a good challenge, with many misses, although we lost one for the level 1s. And as always, some of the checkpoints managed to catch out a good few — except at Prince's Coverts, where it caught out everyone, level 3s included!

This year (unlike the Swanworth POR), everyone seemed to be enjoying the ride and the challenge. Perhaps that's because at level 1, the opportunities for getting really lost were fewer (although some had a good try round Arbrook Common). Whatever, that's the reward for me (well, that and wrong routing riders into my checkpoint!).

Barwell Court

Barwell Court is part of the hamlet of Barwell which has been here since at least mediaeval times. There is the house itself, subdivided into three (still very large) units, together with the farm and livery stables. Despite the location on the border with Greater London, Barwell remains sequestered from the ever expanding suburbs, and can be reached only down a country lane (Barwell Lane) from Chessington, or along the bridleway over the A3. (Not counting of course the A3, which slices through the estate.) We have been fortunate to hold two TRECs at Barwell Court, and grateful to the trustees, but sadly there will be no more. The Barwell Court estate has been on the market during the summer, and is now understood to have been sold in a number of lots. See these links for particulars of the house and land (1) and land (2) while they last.

Hugh Craddock