Well I now live in the center of the universe so where's good to ride?
Also what shall I buy with my new found Cycletowork £1000 budget?
Horner woods for starters. Hawk Combe for mains. Dunkery for pudding.
So you live in Porlock then ? Go to the Ship on a Thurs night and hook up with Sparks and the gang. you'll soon learn where to ride 🙂
Just up the road from Dulverton, actually a couple of weeks ago I filmed someone riding through the river down at tarr steps, was it any of you lot?
Just did a weekend there with the club. Up Dunkery, down something fast and quite rocky, up something rocky, down some switchbacks to the River, lunch at the tea rooms, along the river, up some bastard climb over the top of the moorland bit, to Hawkcombe Head, down another fantastic techy descent to cross a ford, then another steep fireroad, then a fast drop down to end up in porlock down a bridleway deemed 'unsuitable for horses', up the tollroad, another drop down some switchbacks into Porlock Weir, road back to porlock and then up a bitch of a road climb to an undulating section through Horner Wood and ultimately back to Pool Bridge. And that was Day 1.....
My legs hurt reading that. I think there is extra gravity in that region. I recently rode some good cheek on the allerford woods side of north hill (seleorthy beacon) but you have to get up before the olduns start their rambling.
So you escaped swinetown then tis beautiful down here
theotherjonv think we saw your lot 🙂 sounds like you did Tuckers. Lucott moor and the Hawkcombe downhill, bastard climb, North Terrace and FNDH. hope you liked it 🙂
On a rare dry spell hand railing the river from Simonsbath to Tarr Steps is a good ride, all the above rides around Horner woods are awesome and some of the best natural trails anywhere, In the evenings or early morning when there are no dirty walkers about then looping Watersmeet in Lynmouth is ace.
As for a bike Im on a trek fuel ex 9 and thats fine for the job, the climb to Dunkery Beacon made me think about getting a 29er HT
I'm going to the gravity enduro this weekend near Porlock, the details are on the Shred magazine which currently wont open on my laptop so I cant put up the link, but it promises good riding so might be worth a look
Liked it doesn't come close. It was brilliant.
Tuckers rings a bell (that's the switchbacks down to the river, which might be a FP?) Hawkcombe downhill is superb, then just after the ford up steeply and then downhill again on a gradual but loose trail to a TJ which then left is the not for horses bit is great too. Total 30 odd miles with 5 and bit thousand feet of climb.
Best bit for me though was sunday. We climbed from the river along another side stream (East Water I think), then up the road to Stoke Pero where we turned left onto a B-way which dropped, then contoured for a bit, and then went straight up the flank of the ridge that has Dunkery at its East end. Then we went almost due north off Dunkery, quickly right down a trail with loads of jaggy waterbars across it - aka 'Marmite' to us (it's a love / hate thing, not many indifferent!). Where it levels off a bit, on a patch of green with a bush in the middle we went right again on another sweet contouring trail leading eventually to the carpark at the top of Tuckers where a long sweeping dh with steps and rocks and roots takes you in the end to the tea rooms. And then the difficult task of carrying an obscenely large lump of stilton in my belly back up to Pool Bridge. A 'short' 12 miles with only 2000ft of climb.
If that's your normal sort of riding you must have legs like tree trunks.
Spent a week in Minehead riding a few years ago, absolutely loved it. Need to get back. Soooooo jealous of you right now... 😕
The Dunkery DH is "rocks and roots" for obvious reasons (try it in 2' snow) Then onto Dickies path. Car park is at Webbers Post and the DH is the Jubilee Ridge run.
whatever they're called, they're chuffing awesome trails.
At work today, i was struck by how my legs feel surprisingly OK, but all across my shoulders and forearms, I can feel they were working harder than usual.
Yeah 'Tis a fun place to ride 🙂 Is quite unique really and we feel honoured to have it on our doorsteps. Constantly having to placate land and horse owners wrt riders though 🙁 There seems to be more riders using it as a playground with no respect to the people who live there.
sounds like i've landed in the right neck of the woods then 🙂
Live on the edge of dartmoor
but exmoor is far moor fun to
ride hence i rode sat and sun
there this weekend.
You earn the descents for sure
great natural trails, super mix
of everything that makes mtbing
so enjoyable.
Lets just keep it to ourselves
though 😉
thinking of doing a weekend instead of wales for a bit of nature rather than man made. Any one got any route maps or gps files for some of these...
did one out of lynton that was really good a few years back but any tips greatly received 🙂
hi i'm planing a trip there this weekend, anyone kind enough to share some good routes?!?
I had a few days riding out of Porlock last week. Loved it. I just used the roughride guide and OS maps and some follow Bridleways and see. My highlights were the descent off Dunkery Beacon towards Brockwell; Brendon Common to the Doone Valley and Malmsmead, up, across, and down both ends of Selworthy Beacon, and the Hawkscombe Head descent climb descent that theotherjonv mentions.
What a great place to live and ride! Will be going back for sure.
thanks jez i have a look for routes around there
3 route guide .gpx files from Issue 69 available here ::: [url= http://singletrackworld.com/magarchive/issue-69/ ]http://singletrackworld.com/magarchive/issue-69/[/url]
Exmoor is ace 🙂