[Closed] Where to ride in Somerset and East Devon?

East Devon and S Somerset are a bit of a funny area riding wise.
On paper there should be loads, but the Blackdown hills and around Honiton/Axminster is all a bit pants. It's far better for gravelling on rough back roads.

If you head a bit further south then there's loads of stuff starting around East Hill (Ottery) and over around and on Woodbury Common.

*edit - a good tip for seeing what's around in a given area is to use Strava Heatmap to see where people are riding.

The guys at Knobblies bike shop in Exmouth are generally out on a Friday morning, they do loops on Woodbury and the surrounding area, good bunch as well!

Go and see andy at the bike shop in chard "wheels in motion" top man.

*edit - a good tip for seeing what's around in a given area is to use Strava Heatmap to see where people are riding.

Aren't the heatmaps which are public from 2015? or have they been updated?

Orchard Portman near Staple Fitzpaine is good in the dry. Horrible in the wet seems to turn any tire i've tried into a great big slick! It's just jump tracks really so depends if that's your thing or not.

Aren't the heatmaps which are public from 2015? or have they been updated?

Didn't know this, but it's still useful, you'll just not see any really new trails!

Thanks for the replies.

Go and see andy at the bike shop in chard "wheels in motion" top man.

Funnily enough, I've got my bike booked into Wheels in Motion next week. Andy seemed like a good bloke. Will enquire when I'm down there.

East Devon and S Somerset are a bit of a funny area riding wise.
On paper there should be loads, but the Blackdown hills and around Honiton/Axminster is all a bit pants.

I've found that too. I grew up on the other side of the Blackdowns, right in the sticks. I found a reasonable number of good routes, but you had to really know where to look and it wasn't the sort of thing you'd drive to get to.

Shute Woods was fun, but again, I lived within cycling distance of it then. I have a feeling the landowners now take a less charitable view of people riding there ... plus I'm now probably closer to Orchard Portman if I'm going to get in the car.

I'm basically looking for XC trails, but I'd prefer something with a few jumps and drops.

Has anyone tried the man-made trails at Symmondsbury? Short-ish from what I can tell, but they look quite good on paper and free to ride.

a long long time ago there used to be some trails in the woods behind the Holman Clavel.

and I seem to remember there being some trails round Castle Neroche too.

my abiding memory of the blackdowns though was that it was boggy even in the driest conditions.

Anywhere off the stoned tracks round Castle Neroche is pretty soggy IME. The Herepath is quite a pleasant ride, about 12 miles on its own so better maybe to ride to it to get more phys in. You'll feel a bit over biked on anything other than a CXer, it's mostly forest tracks though it does pass right next to the OP trails.

So the 'OP' trails are just the area around Orchard Portman? What's the deal there? My understanding is that there was quite a big, organised freeride project there a few years back, but I didn't see anything recent when I rooted around on the web.

Incidentally, years back I stumbled across an epic DH/freeride section hidden away up on the Quantocks. Well beyond my ability even back then, though!

I 'discovered' some of the OP tracks when doing the Staple Fitzpaine Herepath route a few years ago. Seemed pretty abandoned at the time.

I passed a couple of guys doing some sort of trail fettling a couple of times last year but I'm not on the Herepath frequently enough to know if it's an ongoing thing. Since then I've also noticed what looked to me like fairly determined attempts to trash the trails at the top end, dumping loads of brush on them, that sort of thing.

So the 'OP' trails are just the area around Orchard Portman? What's the deal there? My understanding is that there was quite a big, organised freeride project there a few years back, but I didn't see anything recent when I rooted around on the web.

If you ride up past the fishing lake there are 2 or 3 trails that would probably keep you occupied for an hour or so but that's about it for that area. It's rained now so it probably won't dry out until May or June 😆

There used to be some woodwork up there years ago but I think it's all gone now, I live on the Quantocks side of Taunton so its not really worth driving over that way for me but I might have to go and have a look now just out of curiosity.

It's rained now so it probably won't dry out until May or June

It's boggy round there to be sure!

I have the same problem round Ottery - East Hill has some lovely trails on and around it, but it's so boggy up there from about now to March.

Luckily Woodbury is good all year round 🙂

Had a chat to Andy at WiM. Sounds like Haldon Forest near Exeter is a good bet. Bit of a trek, though. Neroche Forest seems to be the only stuff locally.

Any local riders up for showing me around some of the XC trails? I am extremely unfit currently and very much out of practice, but it would be good to get back on some proper trails - could do Neroche, Symondsbury or Haldon Forest...

I lived in Chard for six months and used to ride Shute Hill, near Axminster. Dunno what it's like now, but was okay ten years ago.

I rode around orchard Portman today past the pond through the fields and up to neroche it's my usual route as its my local area it's still dry (ish) I don't think it seems to get as boggy as it did a couple of years ago,

Mr brightside, would you say your route is rideable all year?

I reckon the area is rideable all year but the dh tracks are lethal in places for a while after it's rained, this is a recent picture.

[img] [/img]

Quantock Hills are 45min away. Despite the name there is good riding to be had just riding along the top ridge, and the trails hold up very well in wet weather.

I ride it all year round but I don't do the down hill tracks the only bit that can get really boggy in winter is the field above the the downhill bits , if it's really wet I double back on myself and go down thurlbar woods .

*bump*

I did finally make it out to Orchard Portman. It was a couple of months back, not long after Christmas. I was supremely unfit and the trails were pretty boggy so I just had a quick look around, but it did look pretty encouraging.

There was a nice, albeit short section of manmade XC single track running parallel to one of the fire roads. It was a bit washed out at the bottom, but still perfectly rideable and looked like it had been maintained quite recently. Two more DH/freeride type trails, one of which was closed.

It's not a proper trail centre that you'd travel miles to visit, but I was pleasantly surprised how much was there. Once the weather improves I'd be up for another trip.

Porlock/horner/dunkery area on exmoor is great!

what Jack said ^

I live at the top of the Blackdown hills. Although you can find doable routes in woodland behind the Holman Clavel, at the top moorland near the Culmhead Beacon and at Orchard Portman / near the Herepath above Staple Fitzpaine I haven’t found anything that makes it worth bothering with, and now always go further afield to the Quantocks, Exmoor or Dartmoor. I’m told Haldon Forest has decent off piste stuff but I only go there with my 8 year old son as although it’s well organised everything is quite short and tame.

I’m told Haldon Forest has decent off piste stuff/blockquote>

Rode "Cafe side" bits for the first time in the SW Enduro the other week. Very impressed, some good stuff.

I see Symondsbury was mentioned. The little bike park there isn't listed on the website any more and sadly last time I went down it was very overgrown. Worth phoning ahead if anyone is planning a visit. I assume the XC loop is still in place.