Is the DH track still there at paradise?

ha,of course it’s a climb. It’ll be all down hill coming home. The life spent in Essex thus far has defaulted me to presuming everywhere is flat and therefore all directions take the same time. Oh I’ve a lot to learn. 🙂

And if you finish with triscombe DH tracks you’ve got a big old hill in the way between you and bishops Lydeard.

Triscombe Combe can be a fun way down to that side, Not technical at all but bloody fast.

Is the DH track still there at paradise?

There been a lot of hard work put into it this year.

sounds like a good plan 🙂

the CPG car parks are quite lumpy and not nice to cars. the DWD car park is much better and just as close by. its popular for people starting rides and gives better access to great wood (i’d take “joes path” now that the enduro stage 1 one has been blocked off half way)

lydeard hill might be a good point too? personally not a fan of parking there at weekends and it gets crazy busy but during the week it won’t be too bad.

because i mostly come over from BoS I favour the hodders combe or staple plain car parks. even when i come up from taunton (picking up mates) i tend to drive up the minehead road, over CPG, past DWD and down to hodders combe. starting low means you get a nice descent to finish the day with (i can come up with approx 10 descents leading back to hodders car park, it really is the best place IMO).. and if anything goes wrong you can coast back to the car more easily..

edit: since that ‘flat’ comment.. yes plan your ascents! park low. climb and descend til you drop

you’ve already ridden three of my faves (slaughterhouse, bincombe & smiths).

one in the CPG/DWD area I like is the descent from the cairn on higher hare knap straight into a further descent into the rocky track on the left hand side which brings you out at the junction with somerton combe.

if you do go from CPG/DWD area over to triscombe, on the way back hit the ‘mini chimney’ or ‘rocky shoot’ as its called on trailforks for some reason. its great fun, only done it once, and hope it is the same on a revisit.

post here where you’ve ridden, and what you like so we can help steer you towards similar better stuff. i’m generally an early sunday morning warrior. 🙂

Is the DH track still there at paradise?

yeah.. i’ve seen the local DH riders talking about riding it only last weekend, i thought there was a video but can’t find it.

found the paradise video, filmed this weekend just gone

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4en8NL4zbhw[/video]

noticed jono found my strava 🙂

evening bump..

btw.. seems like lots of locals, especially enduro types are bit west of the tox riding “doris” and friends. going to check that lot out really soon.

i’ve seen a few rides on strava, sounds like theres lots over there. was given a really good primer earlier today in a LBS by a employee who’s a friend of a friend of a friend! (possibly a future enduro event going to happen there soon too)

did the explore near smiths thing – not much but a fast track to skirt smiths. still need to look between there are vinny combe sometime, which i’ll do vinny combe -> smiths rather than the other way.

heads up.. local riders group is doing a dig day, and Narnia is getting a refurb on saturday and sharki+jambo’s is getting a tart-up in the near future 🙂

have had it confirmed that a nasty root at the end of narnia that threw me and a mate off a few weeks ago, and i just found out also badly hurt someone else i know is getting decomissioned during the exit ‘extension’ (softening) work they’re doing

(the general plan seems that they’re working all trail exits on to fireroads to stop them being so direct so they don’t throw people straight out in them at full speed)

Is that the big shiny root near where the new ending exits onto the fireroad? What are they doing with it, changing it again?

pretty sure it is yeah.. i dont know about other prior changes.. but i’m assuming thats similar the work that happened a while back the bottom of The Chimney and what was done about a month ago at “Scriptures Union”.

from what i could glean they’re making the exit slower, by extending the trail a bit. i’m guessing they’ll either go left (where there isn’t much?) or to the right (towards The Bone Yard) and then swing back to run people parallel to the trail, but still close enough to the start of Sharki + Jambos to drop straight in

its about not scaring the shite of people on horseback by appearing like a bat out of hell out of a gap at trail side.

and i think its a case if fix it or lose it… at least there is a good relationship with the forestry getting this done rather than shut down (although i know of two rogue wild trails that have been closed in the last 6 weeks too which aren’t helping the cause apparently)

oh and forgot to mention.. another small section, where that big jump on all the videos is up by the car park is closed now. upside is they’ll be doing major trail making / building on the side thats been closed the longest at some point.

Had a great ride yesterday guiding a club from the mendips area. (6 others)

quick summary

hodders combe, up to ladies combe. The streams must have seen a huge amount of water down them because they’ve eroded a serious amount. the normally calm shallow crossing at the wide crossroads clearing where horizon/frog combe/old devils/holford edge meet has carved itself deep.. and further down the steam is running a new split course over a section that used to be always dry.

through the wall single track to bin combe / bin combe / up the road / higher great bear crossing / up to Dead Womans Ditch / off down to the left and over a gate, then down and left again into “Joes Path” / up the fire road and cut across to st the st davids well area via “attacked by gorse”,
after going down that up to narnia rode the new bit, which spits you out about 20 foot to the left of the old route.. / back up round to the bone yard, then up through “the meadow” / puddles to route 66 (sometimes called upper great wood dh?) , hoping to follow on into scriptures union, which had an closure which hadn’t been announced, then up to the start of the chimney, did the chimney, one lost his rear mech on thhe sharp rocky right.. lost 2 as they had to make their way back.. rest of us went back up the fireroads back to roughly where we’d branched ealier.. into the “mini chimney where I came off at speed and tumbled down into the pines.. thankfully didn’t hit a tree and only have minor scrapes.. back up the fireroad to crowcombe park gate, up to near black hill trig, over to frog combe, then down the northern / singletrack side (the good one!) back down to hodders combe, and done!

(doh.. new narnia exit spits you to the RIGHT of the old one.. so sharki+jambos is now to the LEFT about 20 ft. its 2 new berms and a optional drop (of about 3 feet?) which i can’t see how to hit without dieing during/after :D)

went off on my first go at exploring the trails at dunster wood (hopcott/east exmoor) above minehead this weekend just gone so didn’t ride the quantocks.. but jonostevens did his first since moving down here

we’ve both got permission from our other halves for a ride. I’ve suggested riding sunday morning from holford at 10. not confirmed. don’t know how much time he’ll have yet but am assuming a couple hours.

if anyone else fancies a ride you’re welcome. theres no plan, just filling in gaps and a general orientation thing based around avoiding whats already known for jono. I’m not a ninja up hills, so don’t worry about holding us up!

going to assume frog combe singletrack (north side) and higher hare knap cairn -> rocky horror on the way back are strong possibilities. as well as pointing out everything we go past

still exploring, but there’s not much left. been mucky, and theres a lot of deadfall so trying to focus on fitness/climbing and avoid going too deep getting stuck in soggy places with no way out 🙂

i’ve done all of thee great wood side of triscombe. i think theres more in the seven wells wood area, i found one awesome man made trail i’m waiting for better weather to ride again.

couple weeks ago was with a colleague (who’s been riding the tox for 20 years and knows the name of nothing..) did a descent from wills neck trig point to the blue ball inn.. i went stupid fast..and somehow got away without dieing

did short combe, willoughby cleeve and stert/somerton last week. route to somerton is a peat-y mess, and the rest is quite damp.

weacombe today was very soggy at the bottom, spoke to some lads up there, and did “sideslope bob” on the way back, its the more direct slaughterhouse route. i think i went down it a few years ago with a mate (pre mapmyride/strava) and turned back.. theres a nice little that can be done at a decent speed.. kind of like first the one in stert, but as big as the second, and with a softer landing. following that theres a ramp/drop over a log.. and after that a log to hoik the front wheel over. then it joins slaughterhouse after the ‘normal’ descent through the woods i’m used to taking over the moorland. i noticed another trail coming off the top from the right as well.. so thats another to seek out the top of..

so there’s the other rocky horror dibbs (RIP) mentioned that i was going to find today, but figured conditions werent good for rocks.

theres something i think is the trail that comes out in holford where concrete block/DWD does. if not i’;m going to have to go up it and find out. (its not old devils)

(*nice little drop)

Canopy, that trail you describe (coming in to the right of sideslope bob) is the one I tried to direct you to on the first page.

I’ve just re-read all 4 pages of this thread to get some route inspiration now I’m not working away and can get out more often 🙂

If anyone fancies meeting up for a ride, give me a shout.

hey, not been on here much lately, but been out every weekend this year, bar one!

yeah sounds like it now! have been filling in a few final gaps..

still have to find the other rocky horror dibbs said was between the dead womans trail/concrete block and old devils galloping. theres an obvious right turn as you head into old devils, and if it keeps off in the direction it looks it ends up exactly where dibbs said.. unless old devils is the 3rd rocky horror on the quantocks, which would make sense too (as its more rocky than the other 2).

there’s a definite trail/path exit just down from the exit from the DWD/concrete block trails in holford combe that goes up the hill side.. i’m hoping thats also related. there isn’t a strava segment though, or a sign on heatmaps (strava or trailforks) so its possibly rarely touched.

other main focus at the moment is a man made trail in seven wells wood that we’re liking. drops you out the opposite side of the valley from the chimney.

quite liking looping out down DWD, down through “joes path” (which brings you out at a fireroad junction where mini chimney ends) down the road a bit and climb back up to seven wells wood )(follow fence line to a gate just down the trail from the sandy beds car park), then after blastingthe fireroad and doing the trail back up the fireroads to mini chimney (aka rocky shoot) and up to CPG.. its possible to add in narnia/sharki+jambos in the middle of that loop too by going up the old coach road (did that sunday)

oh and hitting bincombe regularly again now.. the tree at the start isn’t going anywhere soon (its mahoosive), i guess traffic will carve the track round into a trail in the end. its running fairly slow, still not carrying enough speed to scare myself on the two ‘bump jumps’ at the end. once the ground hardens and the leaves in the trenchy bits are gone it’ll be awesome

Sadly you won’t get any more postings/updates from Dibbs 🙁

couple weeks ago was with a colleague (who’s been riding the tox for 20 years and knows the name of nothing..) did a descent from wills neck trig point to the blue ball inn.. i went stupid fast..and somehow got away without dieing

starts steep, gets steeper, gets stupid steep? done it once, not been back. and its a footpath.

Sadly you won’t get any more postings/updates from Dibbs

indeed. still sad about this.

yeah i already ref’d the sad news about dibbs further up 🙁

i’ll explore that section next time its dry-ish, and i’m out alone. i’m now thinking that if i go up what i think is its ending near holford edge, i’ll confirm that too, two birds one stone n all that.. if it looks any good i can do it on the return trip, or sack it off. pretty sure it must be as there seems to be a lot rocky ground in that whole area.. with it falling between old devils and concrete block and the DWD trail which are all rocky its gotta be it. there’s also a definite crease in the topo map with possible stream in that area at exactly the right place

starts steep, gets steeper, gets stupid steep? done it once, not been back. and its a footpath.

that’s the one, you won’t go there unless you either parked at the blue ball inn (like i had) or lived that side of things.

its called “keep calm and scream arrrgggggggggh” on strava

probably going to explore seven wells further at the weekend, found a mostly singletrack path (‘more fun than jps’) that cuts out the fireroad and makes it more interesting, it pops into the proper trail about 1/3rd in, missing a few small bump/jumps at the start. there are hints there may be more on that hill, just have to do a loop of the fireroad in that section looking for ways in / out.

pictures speak..

1. is the trail exit that i don’t know..
2. is where concrete block and the DWD trail come out
Fork. is where i saw a trail go the right when i rode down old devils recently
Dibbs #ref – roughly where dibbs OS ref put a dot
crease – where there is a crease on topo map and possible stream

click for bigger: https://s8.postimg.org/4k30m6fb9/dibbsrockyhorror.png

never done that.

interested to know where trailforks get there heatmap from. strava seems the logical choice but it doesn’t seem to have the coverage of the strava one.

doesn’t look like many have! the end looks interesting from the bottom though.

i believe the heatmap is their own from the people that do link their trailforks and strava 🙂 (which isn’t a huge amount)

Just looked at Trailforks for the first time, and finally I can start associating the trails i’ve ridden for the last 6yrs with some names on here.

Might have a go uploading some tracks if it would be useful. Will be out again tomorrow 🙂

awesome 🙂

do it! i’m a regional admin for the quantocks on trailforks(along with the Triscombe Riders Collection user group) so i can approve / adjust / link to strava etc.. i got frustrated with the amount of editing/adding i was doing taking so long and made my case. generally i don’t touch things in the triscombe/cockercombe/great wood area.

as long as the issue i’ve got with my rear brake isn’t made worse by me fettling on saturday on sunday i’m planning to go UP the trail that i keep seeing before the holford edge/ladies combe climb. if it seems fun, i’ll loop back down it and make a segment (which will then pick up anyone else thats ever ridden it..)

flavour of the month amongst my lot is the seven wells wood trail

you can use this site: https://www.doogal.co.uk/strava.php to export a strava segment to a gpx, which you can then import to trailforks.. (or you can draw by hand in tf..)

you can link strava to trailforks to import all your old rides (as ridelogs) and if linked it will auto-import a few hours after each ride too.

Not a strava user, but sounds like a good tip.

If you’re going up the trail I think you mean (pretty much from the oak tree clearing at the bottom of frogs Coombe, but on the other side of the stream, and heading north), then my recommendation would be that once you are just past the tree line, turn right straight up the hill for a 20m slog, and then turn right again, along a very narrow singletrack that runs South(ish) and traverses the fort. This will put you in a perfect spot for linking to five lords and Bin Coombe. This is shown as a dashed ‘path’ an OS, and is visible on satellite photo.

man that confused me for a moment! 🙂

– if i understand you correctly.. go up the holford edge climb (which goes north up to the fort/greenway) then instead of going all the way to the greenway there’s a trail to the right. i’ve gone all the way up it maybe once, but can’t remember spotting that trail but it is there on the map. can just about make ut the start on open ground on the satellite map. if i’m right it looks like the first half of this (badly done) strava segment : https://www.strava.com/segments/4130541 and joins a not so exciting descent from the fort i’ve done a few times.

definitley sounds like something to add variation (i hate riding the same route over and over..). i’ll do it and add a better made strava segment and a trailforks thingy

i’ll try orientate things here, as thats the other side to the trail i was talking about 🙂

– standing in the clearing at end of both frog at the stream that come from frog combe. looking up frog combe. the next track around to the left an up a bit is the end of old devils galloping path and round to the right behind you is “horizon” the climb up to higher hare knap, and the route down to holford.

– under the tree branch to the other side of the other stream. to the left is the climb up to the fort (holford edge) or follow up the rocky trail to the right (ladies combe), if you keep going you end up at the clearing for five lords/bincombe.

– the trail i’m planning on exploring is the first right after the rocky bit going up ladies combe, and then goes up to the right towards old devils. so the opposite side to the fort. the second right going up ladies combe is the trail exit from doing either the dead womans ditch trail or concrete block. it bears south, to south west.

Sorry for the confusion, but yes, the start of that Strava segment. You were originally talking about a different trail.

hah. i knew what i meant, still not sure where it got crossed 🙂

(possibly when i was talking about a trail into holdford edge off of hare knap that goes behind combe houuse hotel, which i’ve done a couple time now)

just try talking to people on the ground about stuff. everything has different names amongst different groups of riders, very hard to communicate! for example, in my group “snakebite corner” is the end of the drove by crowcombe park gate, due to an incident there. i picked up “tadpole corner” from strava and others, makes sense as there is a pond there full of spawn right now! but until recently it didn’t make that much sense. some triscombe trails have multiple names

e.g.
rocky shoot aka mini chimney,
or route 66 aka great wood dh aka sams trail
or dark tunnel aka steep turns aka witches cauldron
or puddles vs meadow

in case of any doubts.. I’ve ridden almost everything i’ve listed previously

a few little gaps to fill in when I can fit them in.

– haven’t done the higher route into sideslope bob you mentioned
– or the straight over instead of right into slaughterhouse
– or the straight into the corner of somerton bypassing the first log drop

so basically none of the ‘on the top’ areas between ladies edge/slaughterhouse or between slaughterhouse and stert/somerton

there are a few new looking ones over int the chimey area on that fireroad that drop down the side, at least 2 maybe 3, and a possible one on the coach road too.

(i’ve been all round higher and lower hare knap though)

still can’t find what the “esses” is, or know what knotties trails is/was.. (from something in an old post, possibly something in staple plain before it got felled?)

I think I had a look at “steep turns” aka “witches caldron” on Tuesday, and I suspect “Dark tunnel” is a different route.

From the end of Sharki and Jambos there are at least three routes downhill…

depends where you count the end 🙂 i’m only going by segments online, which differ a bit..

from coming downof sharki + jambos, part way when you cros the fireroad there is “rocky horror #1”, if you follow all the way to the chimney midpoint and go straight, thats steep turns? (jono and I went down that, and both slipped on the same root near the start) and left there is obvs the bottom half of the chimney

dont know any more down’s from there though?

Up in the air but its looking like a 50/50 chance i’m doing the explore tomorrow (depends if my mates out or not, otherwise it’ll be a different mission,probably in seven wells wood)

I hope in 100yrs time people wonder who those pioneering quantock trail builders sharki & jam bo really were…

lol. the combined segment for narnia & sharki+jambos is already called hart hill woods downhill. so probably not.

the quantocks sessions video on the other hand..

btw triscombe is being dug again now, third dig day is tomorrow

Ha. Been threatening to drag sharki out of retirement for quantock sessions 2 for some time. Maybe a ten year revisit…

In fact just pinged him for 7th may. That’ll be ten years since we filmed it…

jam bo
I hope in 100yrs time people wonder who those pioneering quantock trail builders sharki & jam bo really were…

As a Quantocks newbie local and mostly STW lurker, I know you as the Quantock Sessionsing, trail building mate of the bloke who punctured his lung in Frog’s at sunset ha. I’ll be sure to pass that on to my kids. 🙂

canopy
from coming downof sharki + jambos, part way when you cros the fireroad there is “rocky horror #1”, if you follow all the way to the chimney midpoint and go straight, thats steep turns? (jono and I went down that, and both slipped on the same root near the start) and left there is obvs the bottom half of the chimney

Oooh that one was steep. 2017 bucket list includes cleaning that trail…

🙂

Ha. Been threatening to drag sharki out of retirement for quantock sessions 2 for some time. Maybe a ten year revisit…

In fact just pinged him for 7th may. That’ll be ten years since we filmed it…
narnia seems to have changed a lot in the last 6months, especially the ending, that new ‘drop’ at the bermed ending may catch you out, i’ve nearly accidentally sent it over a few times. there was a sign a while back saying something had changed around the gulley area too, but i hadnt ridden it prior to what that change was. i seem to remember passing some little jumps on the LHS i havent noticed lately too.

today i did:

the zig zag route up the fort countour path that the00 said about (made a segment for the bit that didn’t exist ( https://www.strava.com/segments/14384946 )

explored the seven wells wood trail system and found that there are 2 ways in, showed two guys the top route in (as its more fun, due to some little jumps) and found the left branch out. so there are two ins and two outs.. actually theres a third ‘in’ just up hill from the top entrance which has a bigger jump, but its not a used trail by the looks of things.

didn’t find anything in old devils galloping area.
went ‘up’ what i could see from the bottom, its a fork off the concrete block/dwd trail part way down.
followed the fork to nowhere, rejoined after a ram ran across and stood in my way. ended up going down old devils galloping again, then back up holford where i chatted with a big group from taunton for a bit (explained what i had been looking for, one of the blokes knew dibbs)

also nearly had a run in with a horse in slaughterhouse combe that may have just foaled.. a day for animal aggro!

also, someone who came over to me in holford said the dwd trail has logs across.

btw the00, seen/auth’d all your trailforks additions! 🙂