[Closed] Today's Cheddar ride, some pics

Hard to argue with that. Lovely part of the world. 🙂

that lunch looks spot on !

I think it was a bit too much food as I ended up pushing much of the climb that followed while burping a fair bit - mind you my legs were shot by then. Amazing bad idea having a lay off. Gonna get back into XC riding - I've good a good feeling about this summer too.

Occasional solo riding is a special joy allowing exploration of cheeky-ness, stops and stuff. Might repeat that route with Rich on Saturday morning.

Have fun with the Qs group ride!

Is VB ok to ride then?

Oh and wheres Santas Grotto?

Velvet bottom is footpath only so late night or early morning i'd say unless you want to take the p*ss.

Santa's grotto is in Roeberrow warren i think (looks like there if not). Logging has made a right mess of the place though.

Will be riding a similar route myself on SAturday morning with PDG2Farm and 1 other.

Where's badgers arse? and Gorge rock garden?

I'm local to blackdown area(Lulsgate to be precise) but have never bothered with cheddar gorge area.

Looking at OS map right now but can't work out where Badgers arse might be?!

Yeah cheek required

Velvet bottom: Trail through the valley from Charterhouse with the old mine workings toward Cheddar. I think people are now permitted to ride horses and the padlocks have been removed from the gates. But bikes, in principle, not permitted :roll:. Best to do it early in the morning.

Cheddar Rock garden: When you get to Black Rock gate on the gorge road, carry your bike up the other side for 300 metres [stupid]. This trail, following the cliff top down toward Cheddar is a bridleway but you'll never see a horse on it! The ridable approach is to turn left at Black Rock get up the road for 1km until you see a gate on the right with a gravel farm track (FP). Follow that until it turns grassy and continue until it joins the cliff-top bridleway. Again, best done early to avoid friction.

Badgers Arse: named by the Shipham lot... Is an twisty woodland FP that runs parallel with the Shipham Gorge road, starting close to the quarries, climbing a bit, then descending toward the petrol station at the junction with the A371.

Santas Grotto: aka Christmas trees, is in Rowberrow Wood. Much of this good stuff was wrecked by forestry but it's starting to show signs of repair. I reckon if we have a dryish summer it may all come back to life!

The prob with Cheddar is that there aren't enough bridleways so you have to get cheeky and explore which requires care. But when you do, there is some decent stuff.

I prefer the descent down from the gorge in the other direction (ie: climb up from cheddar at the base of the gorge) as its climbable up, and the descent down to the road (which you cross over to get to the bridleway to velvet bottom) is pretty good, and reasonably technical

according to a friend who lives in Churchill the logging has now finished so trailbuilding has restarted, so if you see people out digging stop and give them a hand. Although as a lot of the builders are decent DH'ers expect the tracks to be a little bit tougher than they were before.

"the descent down to the road (which you cross over to get to the bridleway to velvet bottom) "

That section is over my ability level. A few years ago I saw a cyclist getting scraped up by paramedics doing that, so good show to you.

"trailbuilding has restarted, so if you see people out digging stop and give them a hand."

Wilco

"expect the tracks to be a little bit tougher "

An evil double has already appeared.

Ah, home...

*feels the pain of exile.

Thanks, giving me some Mendips inspiration, as above, not enough bridleways to avoid cheekiness or roads. Never had the nerve to ride VB but always fancied a go at the drops down to Black Rock.

Have you got a gps map of the route, there are some spots in your pictures I havent ridden I'm sure.

I never seem to ride on the Mendips without riding through Tynings Farm, really do need to introduce some more variety soon.

ps - those goats are great arent they?

How do locals rate the 2 obvious descents off Crook Peak - ie SE towards Compton Whathisname along the broad ridge vs NW towards the M5 (looks steeper and shorter)?

Shame if Christmas Tree is knackered, those "DH" runs in the woods are fun (if you avoid the big jumps in my case).

inspiring pics aren't they I might *work at home* next week and a have a mid week explore 😉

Dyknow, no-one's ever moaned about me cycling VB, though I do at quiet times. No GPS sorry. I might do a rough map tonight and stick it on Picasaweb.

Buzz - that would be helpful for me too. You mention a couple of tracks which i dont know about.

Steve

is this Badgers Arse?

[url= http://streetmap.co.uk/idld.srf?x=348643&y=153458&z=115&sv=348643,153458&st=4&ar=y&mapp=idld.srf&searchp=ids.srf&dn=831&ax=348643&ay=153458&lm=0 ]mappy again[/url]

...and this the rideable way up to the top of the gorge track

[url= http://streetmap.co.uk/idld.srf?x=345328&y=155161&z=115&sv=345328,155161&st=4&ar=y&mapp=idld.srf&searchp=ids.srf&dn=831&ax=345328&ay=155161&lm=0 ]Mappy[/url]

spot the deliberate mistake in the links above!

Re Badgers Arse: If looking down towards cheddar, which side of the road is the FP? Left or right?

There is one starting on the right,beside the Callow Hill quarry and another starting on the left,just after the Shipham Hill quarry.

The on on the left would appear to bring out virtually opposite the petrol station.

Doh! Stupid slow typing me.

I might be wrong though, dont follow me if you see me around those parts, I'm often lost