Hi all,
I’ve seen information (albeit from 3 years back) about a downhill / skills trail at Orchard Portman, created by the Taunton Freeriders, who no longer seem to exist. Went there today and found enough to enjoy for a couple of hours but could not find a specific downhill trail anywhere. I went to the top of all of the 4 hills I could find! Wondering if anyone rides there and if there is still a downhill route that is used by mountain bikers? And on the subject any other decent locations in the general area.
Cheers,
Andrew

I ride there most weeks in the summer, needs to be dry really as it’s pretty boggy after rain. The only trails I’ve found were in the woods above the fishing lake, if you cycle up the fireroad you can see a couple of trails to your right that start just off the fireroad, or you can push up from the bottom to find another starting point deeper in the woods. There’s about 4/5 different lines from the 2 starting points, if I remember rightly. Some work was done up there last summer as a new trail appeared, so there are people working up there but I’ve never seen them. It’s a nightmare for ticks in the summer though, so be careful up there then!

So that’s past the lake and up the hill turning to the right, routes leading back in direction of lake or down the other side?
If you see the vids and pics on pinkbike about op trails it looks like quite a bit of effort was put into making a downhill trail but God knows where it is!!

is triscombe close enough to be in the general area? not sure why you’d go to orchard portman over triscombe unless you wanted somewhere very local.

I rode up to Castle Neroche once, was ok but never went back.

A long time ago there used to be some DH trails in the woods above corfe, behind the Holman Clavel.

Only just heard about Triscombe. The woods at Orchard Portman I can include in rides directly from my front door hence the question.
Re Triscombe: do you have to use the paid for uplift service or can you just go there and ride??

forestry commision so just turn up and ride. Park at triscombe stone.

its also right in the middle of the quantocks, some of the best natural trails in the country.

Quantocks I’ve been to, lots more to discover there. Definitely need to try Triscombe next. Still can’t decide if I should wait 2 months for my Norco Sight Carbon or get the 160mm but heavier Range carbon which is available now. Don’t suppose Triscombe has crazy enough downhills to warrant my only bike being a burly 160mm Enduro job…although I notice there is an Enduro event there in May…

Don’t suppose Triscombe has crazy enough downhills

there’s gold in them woods. if you go looking, you’ll find…

There are some gnarly trails at Triscombe if you go looking – big gaps, steep rocky chutes. Perfectly rideable on a rigid bike if you’re good enough of course, but not as fast and that’s not what most would choose. 160mm certainly not out of place and you see plenty of folks riding full-on downhill.

andylc, I assume you’re coming into the woods from Taunton (north)? If so, you need the fireroad climb (quite steep) heading vaguely SE with the fishing lake behind you, all the trails I found head back down the hill onto towards the lake exiting back onto the fireroad. You can find the trails by spotting the exits onto the FR and pushing up, but IIRC last summer they were pretty overgrown at the bottom so I mostly either pushed straight back up the trail or cut up to the FR climb. As you’re climbing the fireroad you can see the trails in the woods to your right. It’s a pretty small area so easy to explore all of it. They aren’t really DH trails, more trails that head down hill… There was a bit of woodwork up there (I think that’s what google images shows). That’s come down now but there’s still enough jumps, berms and drops to keep it interesting. Nothing like on the scale of Triscombe though, but I can ride to OP in 20 minutes so it’s great for an after work blast. The trails used to be fairly extensive and run all the way down to the lake but a lot of trees came down in the last year or so, I’ve not been there since the autumn so not sure how much (if any) has been cleared recently.

Thanks for that – I’ll go and look again on my just ordered new Norco Range! And Triscombe is definitely getting a visit! There’s a great rocky downhill in the Quantocks that is needing to be pelted down too…