Haldon Blue by Alex Leigh, on Flickr

Took my 11 year old Daughter for a ride there today. Did the long loop, had cake, did the short loop, had cake, tried the pump track and skills area but she was a bit cream crackered by then! Great trail.. so much easier (in terms of climbing) than the blue trail we normally do in the FoD, but super swoopy, some great views at one point and a decent (if pricey) Cafe.

Let ME eat Cake by Alex Leigh, on Flickr

We’ll be back to have a crack at the red route some time. I bet a fast lap of that blue when it’s dusty dry must be pretty good fun. Considering the monsoon conditions we’ve had this week tho, it was amazingly dry and fab fun on the CX bike. I managed to jump the second highest little drop in the skills area but bottled the big one!

Haldon Blue by Alex Leigh, on Flickr[

Loads of familys on bikes. Good to see.

Aha,
Tell me more. I was about to put up a post asking for info on riding in Devon as I’ll be heading down that way with the sprogs for the bank holiday.
When I last went to Haldon it was pretty mince really, decrepit and uninspiring and mainly washed away, but that was about 10 years ago so maybe it’s better now, or maybe it’s just that my perspective has changed since we bred and now the idea of a good blue route sounds just the ticket.
How does it compare to stuff like Minortaur or Afon and CyB?
Is it pretty smooth or quite rocky, ie possible on a 16 inch wheeled bike/

cheers

It’s pretty groomed and smooth tbh. Steady climbs and descents. Nicely twisty. OP is right its fantastic fun when dry and dusty – especially on a cross bike! The faster you go the better it gets. There is plenty of off peiste stuff leading off from it too.

IMO the red route is in pretty poor shape at the moment. Very washed out and tatty. If you know to find it the original red “rat run” is in much better shape if much shorter. I would keep kids off the red unless they are pretty able tbh.

The blue is totally smooth. It’s a ‘lighter blue’ than the FoD in terms of climbing and – as a result – the descents are very mellow and safe. It shares the trail with a Green in parts so the first couple of K are very easy (and busy!) with lots of traffic then it’s mostly singletrack of various width, some quite natural(ish) in the extended section, some very much standard bench cut.

There’s only one real climb which is definitely ridable on a small bike with a few stops. I’ve not ridden those trails at Afan or CyB, but the blue trail at Haldon is pretty recent and in very good condition. There’s clearly LOADS of other trails there built by locals which looked understandably muddy, but the built trail was absolutely fine.

Some vids on YouTube show it being ridden quickly. We took our time and stopped for cake between laps.

I would keep kids off the red unless they are pretty able tbh.

He’s only 4 so I’ll maybe pass on the red route 🙂

Oh I did have a few faster runs while smaller person was having a rest. Fantastically absorbing on the CX bike, I’m sure it’d be as much fun on a MTB if you were really hammering it.

4.. hmm might be a bit much, depends if he’s up for 10k. There’s a green as well.. not sure what that’s like.

just got back from a twilight lap of the Blue.. it’s such a nice flowy trail.. lots of reward for little effort

one thing puzzles me though and that’s the home-made trailside kickers.. some only eight inches high, some a couple of feet, but they are in such bizarre locations..
either I am a really slow, poor rider, or else the peculiar little log jumps at the tops of long slopes, with landings on bends or take-offs under braking just don’t make sense..

for example.. that big footbridge which has a 90 degree exit and a 2 foot kicker on the end of the turn, with the landing halfway up a tree.. do people really hit that hard enough to get air..? and land it after..?

or am I just riding waaay to slow and lamely..? a lot of them had fresh tyre marks but surely you’d have to be tanking it to get any air.. they just seem to be in such odd places that interrupt flow..
or am I really that crap..?

still.. a lap or two of the blue seems such a good idea if you suddenly find yourself with a free hour or so..
especially if you’ve a sore knee and the alternative is spending 90 minutes cursing and sweating your way up one of Dartmoor’s unforgiving rock infested goat tracks for a 3 minute tooth rattling descent before bed and ice compresses..

atleast that horrible woman who used to run the cafe has been booted, new folks in I hear. Shame the chef (Ian) is no longer there- his food was divine and such a nice chap too

Yunki – most of the lumps are to try and contain the trail width rather than kickers but the inexperienced seem to ride over them.
That said, it’s possible to get a nice bit of air off the one at the top of the rise if you’re tanking round & the one next to the bridge is possible if you ride-in on some cheeky stuff.

A group of us went on the way from the Plymouth NPS last year, I can confirm that at full chat the blue is surprisingly interesting! The red/black are good too.

There’s not more than a couple of hours of trails there, but it’s worth a visit I reckon.

there’s a lot more than a couple of hours there if you know where to go. 😉