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I'll be heading to Cornwall in a few weeks time, and to break the journey up I'm planning a ride around the Exeter area. Around a 20mile loop with some fun descents would be good.
Looking at Heatmaps there's the FC run Haldon Forest, but there looks like a bit to play on in Woodbury Park. Is there anywhere else nearby? Is Cafeside still a thing?
Any recommendations appreciated.
When I was in the area last October it seemed very much the case that Cafeside was being rebuilt and reopening 'soon', but any riding there could cause significant setbacks, both physically and politically.
The red really isn't too bad, a loop or two of that would be a good use of time imho.
Cafeside is shut. Lots of talks back and forth about it being reopened, and those doing so are working hard to keep people off the trails as not to disrupt the negotiations. Even if you tried, its got brush and branches blocking all the trails.
Woodbury is all gravel riding really. OK, but not worth stopping for.
Plenty of good off piste stuff off the main Haldon car park though.
Bird of Prey is a cluster all starting from 287688, 085503
Blue side all wiggle down off the blue trail. You can ride the blue loop and keep an eye out for tracks heading dowhill from it.
Quarry run starts at the roadside at 289115, 084146, and then diverges into 3 main routes, one of which rejoins the red
i can probably find a GPX from one of my recent rides that takes in most of it, and will take and couple of hours
Haldon - there's loads off piste. Strava heatmaps is your friend. Quite a few good runs from the top near the Belvedere (Birds of prey). However, a lot of of it is really blown out after the wet winter we had - I wish people would rest the trails a bit in wet weather.
There are other, less well known and in better condition, areas up on Haldon, but they're generally a bit cheekier and need more local knowledge.
Don't try to ride cafe side, as that might muck up the ongoing planning and negotiations. Though in my opinion it may never get sorted - I hope it does, but it feels like there's too many barriers in the way.
St Andrews descent to Kenn is still great (starts at the cafe side, but isn't part of it).
Woodbury is all gravel riding really. OK, but not worth stopping for.
😆 Said by someone who's obviously never ridden there properly.
It's not a DH hotspot for sure, but imo there's some of the nicest flowy single-track in the region. You can easily park up at one of the car parks and do 30-40km all off road.
To compare the two (and I ride regular at both):
Haldon is much more winch and plummet, good elevation, some lovely downhill trails, but a lot of it has been overridden as in poor shape.
Woodbury, less elevation, great flowy single-track which can be linked with nice sandy/gravelly xc trails. Much better condition in general as it's quieter and drains better.
.
Also, what about the Quantocks? Only 20miles north of Exeter.
Some amazing riding up there, and a 20 miler with plenty of nice DH trails is totally doable.
Park at the Lideard Hill car park (Or Triscombe) and fill yer boots.
Thanks all, good info. I'll steer clear of Cafeside, it was only on my radar because eldest son was at Uni in Exeter nearly 10 years ago and I didn't get to visit it 🙃
@olly a GPX would be great, I'll send you a message later when I get in 👍🏼
@ajantom good info, thanks. I'll have a look into the Quantocks 👍🏼
If you were to ride two laps of the red (Ridge) and two laps of the slightly harder of the two blues (Kiddens) at Haldon, that would be 20 miles. Maybe a bit tame, but quite fun if ridden quickly. Well, for me anyway......