After yesterday's frustration of being stuck in the office when it was superb riding weather outside, today I put that right with an afternoon off work but on my bike 😀

As some of you are aware I had a high speed Dartmoor granite facial back in June & today was my first time back to the scene of the accident. Anyway I took things easy going round & I stopped to take a load of pics. It was so hot & sunny I even had to put on sun screen at the start 8) The trails were mostly dry & running fast – just right. I did encounter some 'silver' red sox going down the widowmaker but they got out of the way with no complaint – I think they were secretly hoping I was going to make a right ****t of myself & bin it in front of them but I managed to stay upright. My legs didn't quite make the full distance & I had to pass on the second descent of the widowmaker, I did however do the Ringmore Cottage/Meavy descent instead which was great fun. I only saw two other riders out on the loop so had the trails to myself.

Here are a few pics for your delectation & delight 😆

The trail from South Hessary Tor towards Nun's Cross & the widowmaker

The widowmaker

Burrator reservoir in the distance – not far to go then

the bridleway below Sheepstor

the Ringmore Cottage/Meavy descent

the ford at Meavy & no I didn't ride across (I'm a wimp)

Burrator reservoir with Leather Tor in the background

Burrator reservoir

Eylesbarrow to Nun's Cross trail complete with Dartmoor ponies

the return journey South Hessary Tor going towards Princetown with the TV mast in the distance

anyone else get out for a ride today?

nice!

Looks lovely – jealous! Not been out biking for a while now due to illness 🙁

Where is the meavy descent from/to?

from ringmore cottage down to the ford by the looks of the photos.
just hop across the road in front of the house and follow the stone wall down, and it spits you out by the ford

Jam bo – fmh is spot on.

If you are coming down Jobbers Row past the scout hut you pick up the tarmac road, at the end you probably carry on down to Sheepstor village, however turn left & follow the road up the hill, past Ringmore Cottage on the left & over the cattle grid then immediately turn right & go down the hill following the stone wall.

It starts quite wide, then goes into two deep ruts, then down to a singletrack gully & a fast downhill. At the bottom follow the road, turn right at the T junction & down the hill to Meavy. It's worth the effort to get to the start & it's a stonkin downhill just be careful of the low tree branches on the way down.

I got sunburnt up at Okehampton too 😀

Least your pics are linking .o.k.

Just looked at your pics Shinythings & it looks like you had a good time too 8)

Shame I didn't know you were going out or we could have ridden on Dartmoor together rather than billy no-mates 😥

Don't know why it's called "Widowmaker". I've bombed down it on my old HT and I'd call it "Smashedmechhangerandpinchflatmaker" 🙂

A granite face plant sounds awful BTW. Sounds like you're fixed now.

Looks great. Will have to make it down there one day.

Thanks for posting the pictures 🙂

Jealous. If only you'd got stuck in a tree or something? 😉
Glad you had a good day. I have bike repairs to do this week before we can ride. Grrrr.

Didn't know anyone was about, sorry.

Coming off on the 'Widowmaker' always hurts! No soft landings.

fantastic pics ! I love that route.

thanks for the heads up on that meavy trail, never knew it was there. we've been putting a few new bits and bobs onto that route as it was becoming a bit stale. have you tried the secret valley ? turn off the railway, heading nw on a bw that links via a road to another bw heading up to merrivale quarry ? superb techy trail, more east dartmoor than west. then there's the cuckoo rock decsent which is the bw around the back of the plantation, accessed from across sheepstor common. great stuff.

TM – let me know what you think of the Ringmore descent when you get round to doing it, as it would be good to get someone else's perspective on it.

Yes I have done the secret valley, sadly it was when I was just starting out on my MTB career & it was a bit too techy for my meager skills at the time so I haven't been back, plus that climb up Merrivale hill back to P'town was a killer 😥

did that the other day – was a bit rainy then but brings back memories – I do love that circuit esp the widowmaker!

Crispy – the ringmore descent is long and fast and looooovely!

I think there is a DH track In the vicinity of that ringmore descent. I think it's called wizards cuff…

cheers Foxy®ider – I'm glad I'm not the only one that likes the Ringmore descent then

gets a little tricky with the washed out gully and that low branch 🙂 – but more ridable now than a few years ago IIRC 🙂

"Widowmaker" ?

LOL – most inappropriate trail name award 😆

I've had a few hairy moments flying down there FR apart from the gully & low branches.

I once encountered a dozen 'silver' red sox ambling slowly up the hill as I was flying down there at warp speed & then on another occasion I met two horse riders coming up 😕 luckily managed not to hit anybody on both occasions.

Not sure where the Widowmaker tag comes from as I believe it's proper name is the Abbots Way. I've also heard it referred to as the Bike Breaker for obvious reasons.

widowmaker gets it's name from being a trail that you really wouldn't want to stack at speed on. anyone doubting it's potential for hurting you either hasn't ridden it, doesn't ride it fast enough, or is just rad to the power of sick.

that is all.

its a bugger alright , always breck 2 spokes going down it. but huge grin factor , when your safely down the bottom.

awesome

widowmaker is fast but its hardly technical….

the nutcracker on the other hand I think does deserve its name….

Widowmaker is gay.

No, you is gay.

Widowmaker isn't at all technical. In a lot of ways, it's not a difficult trail at all. It's just quite fast (so long as the wind isn't in your face) with lots of very loose, jagged granite boulders, which incidentally, aren't really on show in the op's photo, hence the crtiticism. It's name comes from its potential to really hurt if things go wrong, not from it being a difficult trail to complete. I've crashed numerous times on Nutcracker and just walked away. I've never seen anyone just walk away from a stack on the WM.

BTW, Widowmaker is a made up name given to it after crashtestdouggie smashed his face and helmet in on it once. Nutcracker isn't a made up name, it comes from there being a Logan stone at the top of the trail. 8)

The Widomaker's like a freshly laid gravel drive in the Surrey stockbroker belt, nice and smooth with a small chance of a gentle skid if you slam on the brakes….. 😉

Nicely put Trailmonkey 🙂

What makes the widowmaker tricky is that you can belt down it at silly speeds and lose your front tyre just as quickly.

I had a rather pleasant bimble around Cann, although there doesn't seem to be much there for xc oldies anymore.

Ah ha that's Widowmaker…. slightly disappointed now! However tis an awesome decent not technical just hold on and pedal! We've been calling it "rim wrecker 2!"

I prefer the decent down to the scout hut, or "The Wizards Cuff" but that defiantly doesn't exist does it Jam Bo?!