I'm heading out for a cycle over the Xmas period whilst at my better halfs parents, who live near Sherborne in Dorset. Can anyone recommend any decent trails or XC in the area?
I'll be heading out with her brother who is a Marine PT instructor so should be interesting.....
Puddletown Forest is about half an hour by car and well worth the trip, nice mix of mini DH with fireroads to ride back up plus some more contouring trails. Not everything is rollable and some trails start easier but get pretty steep and technical further down so be sensible!
Puddletown will be very wet I expect. So quiet slow and watch out for the bomb holes
Simon
I occasionally used to ride a loop between Yeovil and Templecombe involving mostly field edge sort of stuff but a few short decent trails around that part of the world if riding from the door is your thing; or there's Ham Hill, just the other side of Yeovil, that's good for a bit of a blast around (there's even some cheeky woodwork there if you can find it...)
When I'm on a proper computer I can dig out a few map links to some local trails if it would be useful...
Thanks for the advice. Phiiii, if its not too much trouble it would be great if you could find those links to local trail maps
I don't have the map software with my old routes in any more, it seems, so these are from memory instead. Note that I haven't done these for several years so it could all be very different!
There are a few trails in [url= http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=360080&Y=116750&A=Y&Z=120 ]this bit[/url]; start from the Stallen end by the A30 and head downwards.
[url= http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=362185&Y=118795&A=Y&Z=120 ]This bit[/url] was quite a nice linking section; the westward downhill was quite fun.
[url= http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=363120&Y=118255&A=Y&Z=120 ]This bit[/url] was a challenging climb towards Sherborne or a quite fun little descent heading away.
I have a sneaky feeling [url= http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=365415&Y=120140&A=Y&Z=120 ]this bit[/url] was quite fun, but I can't really remember...
Short but sweet (I think): [url= http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=367960&Y=119740&A=Y&Z=120&ax=368375&ay=120050 ]this bit[/url]
The bridleways around there are generally fairly rideable if I remember rightly, but inevitably require linking up with a fair bit of road. I used to occasionally ride to work between Yeovil and Templecombe which felt like there were enough decent off-road bits to make it worth it rather than just a hilly road slog.
Ham Hill just the other side of Yeovil was good for a zoom around, but is a bit busier; there were fun bits around Hedgecock Hill and down towards Little Norton. If you don't mind a bit further in the car then the Quantocks isn't all that far away and is super ace...