Chipps ventures just that little bit further west than normal and discovers peace, quiet and trails from the sea and all the way deep into the hills.
Words & Photography Chipps
Many people make the journey south and west to Somerset’s fantastic Quantock Hills, but very few ever seem to go that little bit further west to explore what Exmoor has to offer. This is a great shame for them, but a great advantage for those of us who like having the whole place to ourselves.
The last time I rode on this edge of Exmoor and northwest Somerset was a year or so ago when I went to write a profile on the Minehead Merlins, a cycling group that concentrates on introduces kids from around Minehead to mountain biking. Their aim is to help them in their growth through the sport. At that time, Wayne from the Merlins invited me to come back and explore some of the great trails in the area. We made a plan for my return and, almost a year later, there I was.
On my first visit, the tail of Storm Arwen had been pummelling the trees of the UK. This time, as I made my way down to Minehead there was torrential rain and the possibility of a repeat was very much on my mind. Luckily, the day dawned bright and blue skied as we parked up in the middle of the twee West Country village of Porlock.
We were greeted by warm, autumn temperatures and a heavenly waft of coffee from Miles Coffee, a shop and roastery just off the car park. I’d be in good guiding hands that day as joining Wayne, a mountain bike leader himself, would be Alicia Hockin, another mountain bike leader who runs Moor Outdoor, an outdoor education company, and Tim Grant, local bike mechanic and trail builder for The Ex Enduro, as well as being unofficial caretaker for many of the trails in the area.
Obviously it didn’t stop us from getting lost, but that’s all part of the fun – right?
Get wested
Porlock sits on the coast of the Bristol Channel, among some beautiful hills. Which can only mean one thing… climbing! We were soon winching our way up a double-chevron back road, out of the chocolate box village and quickly into the hills beyond.
The beauty of this part of the world is that its ancient and folded landscape has been travelled through for centuries; Porlock is mentioned in the Domesday Book, was pummelled by Vikings in the Dark Ages and has countless ages of feet, horse’s hooves, and the occasional Minion DHF all wearing deep grooves in the landscape. These sunken ways traverse the wooded hillsides near the coast and are often cool and dank, with gnarled trees on either side and a steady, stony trail to follow in the middle. It calls to mind tales of packhorse trains of goods, smugglers and highwaymen, headless or otherwise…
After a suitably picturesque, cobbled packhorse bridge and some hikers impressed by our proposed route into the hills, we were soon at Horner Farm, a sustainable-practice farm that also offers pizza nights in the summer and exceptionally good ice cream. It’s likely that your ride may abruptly stop here before it’s even got going.
Holly, one of the couple who run the farm, came out to say hello to us. Now, it’s one thing for tourist attraction proprietors to say that they’re ‘pro-cycling’, but it’s on another level when they start talking about the enduro at the weekend and how they’ll see you at the next one. Luckily, there was no pizza on today to tempt us to stay, so we reluctantly left for our next hoik up towards the top of the moors. More sunken ways, more scary-looking trees and more idle chat among us all. Talk drifted from what people had been doing, to stranger topics, like the most obscure cheeses we’d ever had. Tim swore that he’d once been introduced to ‘Turkey cheese’. Not Turkish cheese, mind; turkey cheese. Turns out it’s actually a meat spread made from turkey with the consistency of cheese. No turkeys were milked in making it, but no one was in a hurry to track some down.
Up, up, UP!
With that all freshly in our minds and weighing on our breakfasts, it was time to take on what Wayne cheerfully called ‘Two Miler’. It’s near on a perfect two-mile singletrack climb up to the local landmark of Dunkery Beacon. Back in Wayne’s hardtail racing days in the ’90s, a dab-free ascent of Two Miler was a rite of passage and a mark of your race form. It’s a challenge and we all mostly claimed clean runs, depending on who had been looking.
Two Miler gains about 400m in a straight line away from the coast. It’s a pity that the best views are over your shoulders as you hunker down to keep the front wheel from lifting, but if you’re not in a hurry, I can recommend taking in the view north to the Bristol Channel, with the trail surrounded by the colours of heather and gorse. Eventually, crossing the road, we got to the Beacon itself. Last time I was up at Dunkery Beacon, one November, I could barely feel my fingers. Today was hardly any different – there’s very little to protect you from the weather coming in off the coast here – whichever way it’s blowing.
It was so chilly that Wayne’s offer of fig rolls was abruptly refused by most of us (OK, everyone but me…) and we elected to head on towards the more wild and woolly bit of the loop. The bit on the map that’s suspiciously sparse of roads, buildings and trees.
Into The Wild
As the trail heads into the emptier (or bleaker, depending on the weather) part of Exmoor, you’re very aware that there are no houses in sight, no power lines or any other sign of modern life. In fact, Exmoor was designated as Europe’s first Dark Sky Reserve back in 2011 and evidence of that is in the cute (but probably impractical) glow-in-the-dark markers at the end of the bridleway signs on this part of the track. You’re miles from streetlights (and probably phone signal) here. Alicia and Wayne tell tales of regularly coming across lost Duke of Edinburgh students trying to make sense of a moorland without many landmarks (apart from moveable horse-shaped ones).
And it’s not too long before we’re lost too, trying to match tussocky sheep lines with the bridleway marked on the map. Even the wisest of locals can get turned around here, it seems.
After a bit of zigzagging, we find the important fence and the gate in it and head to the high point of the horizon, at just over 400m. Not a bad height given that we started by the seaside in Porlock. A fun, wide and grassy descent gets us back into the land of little lanes and twee cottages before our ascent from Robber’s Bridge (the OS placement of the apostrophe suggesting that there was only a single robber, so we were probably safe). Unfortunately, this is when some wetter weather decided to sheet in for a while. Jackets and determined faces were donned, even as we climbed up through layers of flowering heather and gorse.
A tale of two rides
It’s about here that I pondered David Turner’s Law which states that “You’re either ‘enduro’, or you’re not”, meaning that some riders only live for the descents and merely endure the climbs, looking for the shortest transition between the two, while other riders are in it for the whole of the ups, the alongs and the downs. We’d certainly covered a lot of ground, the scenery had been amazing, but the radness had, up until then, been a little lacking. With the addition of the weather, I was wondering if my local guides had sold me a bit of a duffer, as we traversed a short bit of the main A39 road which proclaimed that Porlock was a mere dangerous road descent ahead.
I needn’t have worried, though. The sun abruptly broke through the clouds, lifting temperatures and spirits as we whizzed into the singletrack descent of Porlock Common. A narrow, loose and technical path was barely perceptible between the ferns, making the fast, wet and stony trail even more challenging. This was more like it!
We regrouped as we looked at the two options ahead of us through Shillett Wood. The lower trail followed the stream on its way to Porlock, while a brief, but chunky climb would gain us enough height to parallel the mellow, riverside track on a more benched trail, high above the water.
We chose well and, despite tired legs, paid the climbing toll in return for the promise of more descending (and bumping into a Singletrack reader on the way).
The descent through Homebush Wood rivalled anything that the Quantocks has, only without the endless stream crossings. Fast, un-bermed corners and exposed roots tested skill and nerve as we danced under the trees, or at least we thought we did, eventually reuniting with the stream before another climb gifted us with a surprise view of the Bristol Channel and Porlock Bay way below us.
The sun had come out and Wayne’s cheerfulness was being paid off. Not that I think he had any doubt that the day would end on a high. Wayne has the kind of endless optimism and enthusiasm that is truly infectious. I can imagine coming round from a big bike crash and having a slightly concerned, but still cheerful-looking Wayne peering down at me and saying, in his soft, West Country accent ‘Well, it looks like you might have broken both your legs in that little tumble and snapped your bike. But look! I found a Cadbury’s Creme Egg in my bag. What say we crack into it and have a bit of a picnic?’, and, somehow, all would be well and you’d barely notice the whirr of the air ambulance’s arrival.
Skinny horses
We left our view of the sea before we we whizzed along, on sunlit trails, into the final sunken way, this one looking and feeling very tropical, with high ferns either side and dark, damp loam under tyre. We dropped down to a bridleway sign that said ‘Not suitable for horses’ – and we found out why. Unless your trail horse is very skinny and adept at steps, I would leave your trail horse at home.
And then, suddenly, we were back into the hustle, bustle and distinct lack of urgency of a West Country village. It was time for pints of Exmoor Ales, cider and some crisps, while my local friends told me about the cycle of festivals and fêtes that mark the passing of the seasons here. I sensed that it really would take a long time to fully make sense of the maze of trails here and how they changed with the passing of the seasons, but I was keen to get back soon to see how the many dashed trails and contour lines on the map made sense on the ground.
Why Bother?
The West Country of England has always been an area overlooked in favour of slightly chunkier places like the Peak District. However, the landscape can be equally impressive (and the weather often better) than its northern cousins. The soil is generally well drained and it’s usually rideable all year.
The best bit about this corner of the South West is simply in its pace. Just getting to Porlock in the first place is a lesson in patience. There’s no easy way of going west of the M5, but once you’re there, you’ll appreciate the slower feel of life and the vast amount of ancient ways that you can explore. Tea shops and scones are taken seriously, tourists are appreciated, and expected, but, aside from school holidays, you’re unlikely to be overrun with grockles, especially once you get 300m from the car parks.
The wooded folds of the land hold charm, history and mystery in equal doses. The narrow lanes generally mean that traffic is light and slow and, often there are glimpses of the sea as you climb up onto the bleaker tops.
The area around Porlock and Minehead is rich in bridleways, with enough altitude gain to make a challenge of any loop you draw on a map. However, the trails are generally free-flowing, well-marked and (usually) easy to follow. The rides around here would suit hardtails, e-bikes and adventurous/brave gravel riders. Expect to have to pay for your descents in double chevron road climbs and scrabbly woodland pitches, but the payoffs are numerous.
This part of West Somerset has its own flavour and feel and it seems more like a final destination than an area you’d pass through on your way to better things. It’s well set up for visitors, with truly friendly locals and numerous places to eat and drink. As a location to explore for a few days, it’s ideal, whatever your level of fitness and skill. For those with a greater love of speed and peril, definitely check out The Ex Enduro event (the-ex.co.uk) – a sort of West Country, glamping version of the Trans-Provence with 20 timed stages, cream teas, full bar and some proper Somerset hospitality.
If you think that only the north of England has any hills or challenging trails, you owe it to yourself to find this southwestern corner of the country. As The Ex organisers say, these are some of the least-ridden trails in the country. Why not give them a look before the secret gets out?
The Knowledge
- Distance: 36km
- Elevation: 950m
- Time: 3–5 hours
- Map: OL09 Exmoor
Accommodation
If you plan to stay in Porlock, the Porlock Visitor Centre offers a free accommodation booking service. Simply tell them what you are looking for and they will do the legwork for you. Call 01643 863150.
Camping at Burrowhayes Farm Caravan and Camping for all the facilities or Pool Bridge Campsite for a ‘back to basics site’ where campfires are encouraged.
Eating out
Loads of places to pick and choose in and around Porlock, including the Ship Inn at the bottom of Porlock Hill for great pub grub. Ziangs oriental street food takeaway at Porlock Weir or Horner Farm for rustic wood fired pizzas.
Bike shops/repairs
Kustom Bikes at Wheddon Cross stocks a large range of products from bikes and components to helmets and clothing.
Exmoor Bike Repair, Minehead.
Guiding
Moor Outdoor, guided rides and coaching by female and male coaches/MTB leaders for all.
Exmoor Adventures, guided and uplifted rides plus MTB and e-bike hire from their HQ in Porlock.
Directions
- Road: Junction 23 of M5 – A39 all the way to Porlock.
- Rail: Train to Taunton then 5-mile cycle to Bishops Lydeard. Then scenic West Somerset Heritage Railway to Minehead followed by last 8-mile cycle to Porlock.
Parking
Large council run car park in village (£5.50 to park all day, including holidays) or limited free parking in the side street next to the church.
Ride refreshments
- Small stores in Porlock village.
- Horner Farm shop for last-minute coffees, drinks and food before hitting the moor.
- Mid-ride stop at The Buttery, Malmsmead. Carry straight on at ‘Edwards Post’ which will add around 5 miles to the route.
- The Castle in the middle of Porlock village for a post-ride pint.
- All the info you could ever want about visiting Porlock is on the volunteer-run visitor centre website: • porlock.co.uk/contact
Thanks to Wayne Reeder for the sofabed and to the Minehead Merlins for hospitality. Check out the work they do in issue 141.
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