Can anyone give me a challenging (mainly)off-road route from Haldon Forest Park down to the Exe estuary..
On Saturday I'm planning to do a loop or two at the trail center and then head down to the Exe Trail sustrans route to ride to Exmouth..
I've not got a paper map of the area and am loath to buy one as it's on my xmas list... but I don't think I can spend another hour peering at the on screen maps available and trying to piece it all together in my frazzled brain..
any ideas anyone..?
down St Andrews lane. turn right at the bottom. stay on that track. pass the farm house, up the track there. left at the crosspaths up to the top, 25 yards along the road right along track. follow (skwetchy little used trail) through woods to the road, turn right. country lane to kenton. cross main road, along path by hairdressers, up path towards folly, down the hill on the edge of the field, down the road to powderham church
Well that's about as good an answer as I could have hoped for! Cheers Bassspine..
How's your 456 treating you..? still loving it to bits..?
yes indeed, 456 rules; although I'm having a fling with an Il Pompino too
I'd be happy to join you, but I'm working in Exmouth cycle training.My last cycling work this year.
well.. I'll let you know when I'm planning similar again.. I may even try to make it a bit of a regular thing as it's quite a convenient area for family commitments..
Maybe with some more exploration I'd like to try and incorporate a few local landmarks such as the obelisk..
Excellent. I must try this 🙂
I was thinking about this.
As you come down through the Holly wood below Hayden lodge, the path crosses a bridal path. Go along that, take a left onto another bridal path and when it comes out on the road, cross and go along the sandy track, then right towards Kenton.
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swift hacknslash but should give you the gist
That's brilliant.. that route also passes within a gnats chuff of the place where my folks are staying at the moment so I can pop in for a cuppa..
thanks mate
Well that were a grand day out...
I met some gnarly young youfs on DH bikes at the top of St Andrews and they tried to tempt me to play on the trails there for a bit but I grudgingly declined on account of my wussyness and my overwhelming desire to keep my tyres in contact with the ground..
This desire was soon alleviated however while gleefully leaping and frolicking like a week old fawn as I headed down the lane... ace
I got turned back by two old boys in a landrover a couple of miles furthur on.. 'there's nuffin up 'ere boey.. you want's to go back to Higher Thornton farm and take the broidleway up there..'
Not wanting to explain as they were already shaking their heads and laughing at my peculiar clothes and hobby I turned around and followed their directions..
Before I had time to be upset with myself for bowing to peer pressure though.. my self-defeat turned to relief as a cataclysmic and bewildering barrage of shotgunfire was unleashed from the direction that I had been heading towards previously.. it lasted all the way past Haydon Common where I almost literally stumbled upon a group of very dark grey.. quite small Deer.. A welcome break from the gunshots.. which I have an aversion to due to the people I owe money to and the hearts I have broken over the years.. (not really.. I'm just paranoid..)
The rest of the journey home was pretty uneventful but enjoyable and taken leisurely.. and it was a nice feeling returning to Kenton after 30 years.. the carpark at the triangle was where I first ever rode a bike without stabilisers!
I got home pretty tired and that's just the way that I like it..
I'm pleased it worked out well 🙂 You a Ken'on boy?
Not [i]really[/i] no.. I lived there between the ages of three and eight though..
My family were a band of wandering minstrels and we always had to move on whenever my dad inevitably got one of the village girls up the duff or when my mum inevitably got caught in a comprimising act behind the church with the local constable..
Saw the Haldon to Powerham route and wondered if this option could turn it into a loop. Any suggestions would be welcome (the last part is my attempt at creating the end of the red route)
http://www.corbetteer.co.uk/public/drawmap.php?un=focusrider&rn=HaldonPowderhamLoop
As Yunki was told ......Isn't it left at higher thornton farm up the bridleway and NOT as shown on the maps above? I wasn't aware there was another route joining half way up holloway lane ...think that's the name (of course I may be wrong!)