Me & a few mates went out on Dartmoor yesterday from Princetown down to Burrator & back. It was chuffing freezing at the start & the trail was rock hard with a few sections of ice where the streams had frozen.

The sun came out & it warmed up slightly, this thawed out the trails which then turned into a granite slime paste with a very high drag factor on the way back 😥 It was great to get out on Dartmoor again & ride the trails 🙂

Crossing the stream on the Widowmaker/Rocky Road
[img]http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5168/5381790242_dae4c4ebbf_b.jpg[/img]

Dropping into the car park at the end of Groundhog Day under Sheepstor

A view of Burrator reservoir

That’s a nice ride from the top down to Burrator! One of my favorite ‘quick rides’ – do you continue on from Burrator and go back via the old railway line (back to the car park in Princetown – making a loop)?

I ride a few alternatives to get back from Burrator to Princetown.

At Sheepstor continue through the village, take a left past the cattle grid towards Nattor & then up past the scout hut to Eylesbarrow Mine. This trail flows really well & you can fly over the granite water bars on the way back.

We sometimes ride down the hidden valley which pops out at Merrivale dip, up the hill to North Hessary Tor TV mast & then drop back down to Princetown.

Yesterday we rode round Burrator on the bridleways then back to Leather tor bridge, we then rode back up the Widowmaker/Rocky Road – Yeah, bizarre but fun riding up when everyone else is riding down.

PS – we tend to avoid the old railway line as it’s bit tame.

I love Dartmoor 😀

I really must make an effort to get down there more this year.

Thats VERY interesting! I don’t really know any other routes back to Princetown (you’re right – a bit tame!), but I love coming down the widow maker! I can’t believe you go up it…. 😯

Do you store a GPS of your loops anywhere? And would you mind me having them if you do?

Was going to go up there today, but didn’t fancy the wind and cold.

Slugwash and I did a bivvy up above Avon dam on friday. Now that was cold!!

Sorry mate I’m too old for all the GPS malarkey & I’m strictly an OS map & highlighter man, yep I’m still firmly in the 20th century 😕

If you get OS map 28 covering Dartmoor then you should be able to see the routes mentioned above.

If you want a guide sometime then email me & I’ll see if I can come out to play – addy in profile.

Hiya Shiney how are things mate? it was icy cold Saturday @ 10am when we started & not that much better at 1pm when we finished.

crispy bacon – Member

If you want a guide sometime then email me & I’ll see if I can come out to play

Nice one! I will definitely take you up on that. I having to get into some serious training from February onwards, as I’m away in Sept for 3 weeks of glorious riding and due to injury & Christmas its taken its toll on my weight/fitness – so I would like to try some new places to help the motivation. Cheers. 😀

Friday was icey around Bovey Valley and Houndtor/Haytor Down… I was quite glad really or it would have been very boggy in places..

There was still a thick frost at sundown on the higher shaded parts.. ACE!

I’ve been wondering about the location of the notorious Widowmaker.. What sort of distance is the route described above.? If it’s pretty long I will take the car rather than riding over to Princetown..

I think I will head out that way next week for a mooch around.. anyone else free Tuesday or Friday morning..?

The loop that I take is 14.34 miles, it includes the ‘Widow Maker’ down to Burrator, but it does include the ‘tame’ bit going back up to Princetown (about a 1/3 ride).

What time do you plan to ride on Friday? I might be able to do that one?

Yunki – I would suggest you drive to Princetown rather than riding over.

If you take the bw between the two pubs towards South Hessary Tor then keep going, approx. 2 miles from the start is a standing stone in the middle of the trail, take a right here for the Widowmaker down to Nosworthy bridge. The total loop as above going up to Eylesbarrow Mine & back to Princetown is approx 12 miles. OS map 28 is your friend for the various bw’s round Burrator.

I’ll email you a copy of another route on a word doc which is a bit longer at 16 miles.

Would love to join you mate next week but I can only ride at the weekends 😥

Crispy bacon – please can you email me that word doc too. ta very much.

ygm guys – enjoy your ride next week on Dartmoor 😀

All well here ta.
This is how cold it was…Sorry for the disturbing image..

NIce pics inc the last one(above).

thanks crispybacon

itheisinger – ygm

Yunki, might be about to ride on Friday if weather good. Would be on Eastern Dartmoor though, but I reckon theres plenty over there you dont know about yet…!!

Thanks guys.. To cut a long story short I had a flippin great but exhausting day out today..

I cobbled together bits of the rides mentioned here and the route mentioned in CBs email.. I got my kidneys thoroughly rattled by the rocky road.. got thoroughly ‘stoked’ by groundhog day and the like.. the lucky (?) severed sheeps leg on the bridleway leading up towards groundhog day furnished me with luck in the shape of punctures.. penetrating cold.. feral youths and very wet mist.. and the limp back to princetown along the old railway was thoroughly enjoyable in a bleak and desolate windswept moor type way..

I saved plenty of stuff to explore on another day and I’ll still be up for Friday if you are Leon..

cheers

Nice one Yunki…. Sounds like you put in a real effort today! I am in the office tomorrow, so hopefully I’ll sort out the time I need on Friday for a ride – so I’ll be in touch tomorrow and let you know.

crispy, YGM

yunki – I’m glad to hear you had a great time out on the moor today mate. I’ll email you sometime in the future if I can get sometime off during the week & maybe we can hook up for a blast.

BigfaceO_O – ygm

CB – definitely.. that was a great route and ticked all the boxes for me.. just drop me a line

Si – I’ll take you up on your offer soon if I may..

I could really do with being shown some of the trails round this way.. I’ve ridden a few of the more obvious ones but I’m sure that a bit of local knowledge would open my eyes a bit..

It won’t be this week though… all friday riding has been cancelled this week due to an unforseen and unmissable opportunity for a decent lie-in!!