Was that when knottie was a nipper. 😉

We used to use Willoughby Cleave climb as a challenge for the kids on the Ralphies Saturday rides back in the day.
It’s hard enough as a climb alone but you also need the skill to get over the root steps (I could never get over the third one).

hmm thats interesting.. it kind of parallels (in the sense you leave hodders combe car park on a track, cross a stream and climb up to the right) the other climb on the track which goes through butterfly wood and goes from the first open area on the way holford combe to the bit between higher hare knap and lower hare knap.

i’m trying to work out some rough loop start/ends where i can add some variations rather than ‘just’ always riding up holford combe+edge or ladys edge/sheppards every time. so i can do say 3 ups and 3 downs in an outing (starting parked low down of course).

the other climb on the track which goes through butterfly wood and goes from the first open area on the way holford combe to the bit between higher hare knap and lower hare knap.

i seem to recall that used to be called horizon. used to drop the tight singletrack on the north side of frog combe, climb up this, ride the ridge down higher hare knap and drop into the bottom of hodders combe into ladys edge.

you know what this thread is missing? just for dibbs…

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRmVA1N8Rfo[/video]

that sounds like a perfect description 🙂 I tend to do the “descent rom the stones” (as its called on strava, typo intentional!).

Horizon eh 🙂 It’s a pretty fast left hander, with few rocky bits

IIRC. bombed it the day I first rode it after going up earlier in the day and ended up staring at the ass of a sheep for a bit.. so didn’t get down it full pelt.

strava : https://www.strava.com/segments/12279961
been ridden 252 times. fastest ever (strava tm) by someone only 3 days ago.

re: willougby cleeve.. strava’s got 70 people gone up, and 409 down.

the up: https://www.strava.com/segments/1248220
the down: https://www.strava.com/segments/12896916

btw there are e-bikes out on the quantocks now.. saw my first on sun! hoepfully they’re not cheating strava. bit demoralising when you’re granny ringing and they’re in turbo mode going 20+ up hills..

ah. thats not what I knew as horizon. horizon is the climb that starts where frog combe meets holford combe and hauls pretty much straight up the hill out onto higher hare knap. the one you’ve shown i think i’ve ridden once.

https://www.strava.com/segments/3864743

this one ^^

frog combe north is the first bit in that video.

https://www.strava.com/segments/6769251

the second bit in that video is this

https://www.strava.com/segments/4263668

ah ok. removed horizon.. other segs aren’t mine (i’m only creating when absolutely necessary )

first one: not been near that apart from riding round that edge of higher hare knap. another one for the list. (done both frogs now)

second one: yup done that.

third one: not done either 🙂

so many little sidetracks to explore. still not done concrete block or one that runs from DWD in either

current heatmap for me, give an idea where i’ve been : https://www.strava.com/athletes/5745957/heatmaps/1d239fc8

a lot of gaps to fill. all this talk of the quantocks is making me want to arrange a visit. I’ve only ridden it about 3-4 times since I moved away 8 yrs ago.

Was that when knottie was a nipper.

Even I’m not that old! 😆

And there’s no way I’m going to click on that video.

a lot of gaps to fill.

lots of nooks and crannies 🙂 enough to keep me entertained on the weekends other people cry off / I don’t feel like be punished on the Mendips. Way I look at it, the Quantocks is my gym, exploring is motivation 🙂

all this talk of the Quantocks is making me want to arrange a visit. I’ve only ridden it about 3-4 times since I moved away 8 yrs ago.

question is: what do you miss the most?

you havent even touched whats in great woods and cockercombe yet…

hard to choose a favorite but the north side of frog combe would win it I reckon.

Make the most of today, it’s going to rain tomorrow.
That said, the dust could do with damping down a bit.

you havent even touched whats in great woods and cockercombe yet…

yup well aware! 🙂

I don’t know where to start over there.. I’ve walked some bits at night and ridden there twice which isn’t on strava – nothing i’d remember much apart from coming all the way up Cockercombe Bottom on a hot midsummers day and “nearly dying” (lol) – basically, I have no idea what parts at triscombe would suit me or are too gnar-core.

A friend of a friend rides there a lot and have been meaning to link up for some rides with him. I was thinking of looking at Narnia which I believe starts on the left just off where I have been coming up over from a descent that side of DWD after passing Quantock Farm

( this descent “Joe’s Path” https://www.strava.com/segments/2565285 )

So I struck another one off the list.. (click to make bigger)

It was warm-ish out, but really misty and quite slippery and started raining a bit.

After some poking around online yesterday, I rode up from Holford, via DWD.. and did.. (these are the “trailforks” names)

Narnia & Sharki and Jambo’s – rooty, not that slippery considering conditions few puddles. reminds me a lot of some trails on the mendips I get taken around, there was one quite tricky bit (I think in Narnia?) that has a sign on it, a sharp dip into a gully that goes off left. A case of learning the trail I guess 🙂 S+J’s.. seems well looked after, some nice little stacked wood jumps on teh LHS in a few places, and notice a root cut out to riding easier..but not in a manner that makes it unchallenging.

whats the best route back up? if you were to session this or take an alternate route at a point?

last bit of The Chimney. meh. just like it looks on camera. looks like it gets a LOT of traffic. Is the beginning much different? might try dark tunnel next instead. (and a sign at the start of the chimney saying the exit was altered, which I knew from when it was announced on fb goes right parallel with the road instead of popping you out direct)

Going to try mix in some great wood and push more towards triscombe exploring..

Concrete Block. bumpy rocks for a bit, a few fun/tricky roots for a moment after a rocky start. but it then pops you into a rocky bed.. then meet that lovely bit after frog combe where I had climbed up only an hour before

bit with sign saying its been altered is at quantock sessions 5:30. there are now less trees on the right (only one biggun at the back) and tree/branch thats a bit in the way there right now.

its a much much more established, obvious trail than in the video – i guess 9 years or so’s riding will do that! its barely recognisable from the video

weekend just gone i did…

staple plain -> up to beacon hill trig point -> willoughby cleeve – character has changed even after a little rain.

up holford edge -> down bincombe which just gets better! there is a
“fallen” tree right near the start which you to ride round. its just as you turn to point down hill – kinda looks intentional, can’t remember how long its been there? i also couldn’t recall there being a quite small root jump near the end last time, but that was fun – even if my legs were getting tired by then

up to concrete block, then down it 🙂 -> up “horizon” (first time over) -> over the lower part of higher hare knap, across to “rocky horror” into the junction of somerton/slaughterhouse/ladys edge.. up ladys/sheppards combe, down weacombe, and back up to staple plain..

out this weekend with my ‘once’ a month mate, and for the first time an old friend who has just ditched his roadbike for a mtb (says he’s got fed up of drivers trying to run him off the road!!) who I hope might be out a lot more. plus possibly another friend.

gonna run take up from hodders combe to bincombe, do that, up past DWD to higher hare knap, do the fast descent and turn left into “rocky horror”, go up ladys edge/sheppards and come back down stert/somerton. with some decent sized rest breaks. So i don’t kill em 🙂

but, since i’ve started heading towards triscombe – any ideas what trails i should push towards? (given that one side is closed right now too). something with some small table tops to build confidence would be awesome

Cheeky ride up there this morning while visiting my mum. Hit most of the classics, chimney, great bear, concrete block, stert/somerton, weacombe, frog Combe and a flat out blast down triscombe Combe back to my mums.

My legs are baked.

Awesome 🙂 did you hit S+Js on the way to the chimney?

Hard to tell from Strava as the maps suck when using a phone, not near a computer til tomorrow to use the full site

Nah. Did the old classic entry into the full chimney.

https://www.strava.com/activities/696611031

That’s what I thought from the segment names 🙂 couldn’t remember if it was a hidden segment

its a much much more established, obvious trail than in the video – i guess 9 years or so’s riding will do that! its barely recognisable from the video

I doubt I’d recognise it despite the fact I built it.

The sliver of singletrack alongside the road from triscombe stone seems to have turned into a motorway.

yeah i rode up that earlier in the year and was amazed how it was just all mud and smoothed up.

anything else seem to be heavily used? or just the same? in my weekend warrior role i rarely see more than 2 other groups of riders north of DWD (unless its a Bank Hol :))

The sliver of singletrack alongside the road from triscombe stone seems to have turned into a motorway.

On the other hand some of the stuff we used to ride all the time is getting pretty overgrown.

Snaggletooth was overgrown 10yrs ago. Must have vanished by now. 😉

I didn’t come out where I expected after concrete block, I’m sure there used to be more stream crossings and a little climb.

Halfway down stert Combe just before you hit the trees I suddenly realised I sass riding a track 3ft parallel to the old track.

Weacombe hasn’t changed much, lady’s edge climb is still a bastard. Frog Combe is still the best bit of singletrack ever although again I noticed the lead in has changed and you ride alongside sharki’s rut.

Snaggletooth is still there, but hard to find and pretty overgrown, I don’t think the CX bike was the best choice for it 3 or 4 months ago.
I think it may be covered by the harvesting/thinning operation currently in progress, so it may make a re-appearance soon.

just googled snaggletooth and found your old directions dibbs, looks like you’re right that its in the current closed off section.

problem with the internet is, i guess – the popular stuff gets more popular and the lesser ridden things fall out of usage

i noticed that trail into stert before the tree line went a foot or so left last year, before that there was only the lower track/rut but seems like possibly after a controlled burn or hot weather there it was more exposed and got ridden on and now thats the desire line. IIRC after the new line theres still a drop into the rut, then the little rooty steps/drops to set you up before the first little log drop off.

i’ve got some folding saw on the way and am thinking of looking into exploring to ‘curate’ (not creating) a few routes over the winter.. we’ll see.. find a lesser used wild trail, make it passable.. ride it more.. etc.. at the very least fix any issues i come across in normal riding

This thread is very useful – thanks guys!

Does the bridleway from Dead Woman’s Ditch to Halsway Post have a name?

Definitely useful! Moving down week beginning 21st November, can’t wait to explore some more…

Esme > there are at least four ways to do that route? the most direct, but not easiest goes up “the pipe” (strava name) a rock gulley, and straight along down/up past “old devils galloping path”, the entrances high hare knap, for frog combe (which has two routes in, nothern is better) and once you’re almost at halsway post stert/somerton (big mud puddles mean you’ve gone past it) i assume this is the one you mean?

second is up to wilmots pool (aka withymans pool), and you can join the same track after the pipe (which i often prefer, depending what state i’m in!)

third up, best avoided. to the second car park and a small climb up over the top of black hill and go left or right to join route 1 or 2

fourth 🙂 up right to the end of crowcombe park gate and follow the fence line along the “macmillan way west” route up over to where the gate is for hurley beacon and fast rocky down to the post

jonostevens > hey 🙂 where did you end up moving? feel free to ask any questions on here! i’m more than happy to help, suggest a route etc 🙂

since its also quantocks related. i’ve been talking about Bincombe in this post

just read back through this post..

i don’t recall willoughby cleave being another other than a pretty straight run with a couple of small steps in it.

its like that again now sadly 🙁 weekend before the quantock quake it was lovely, its now very flattened out after they put however many riders down it.

since finding “rocky horror” (at least one of em, i know there are several called the same! don’t know where the other 1, more? are yet) i’ve been solely doing the higher hare knap descent straight into it.. at the weekend other people were doing it too. (happy to see i’m in top 5 for that at the mo :))

https://www.strava.com/segments/13294343?filter=overall

a quick thing about smiths combe too..

i’ve decided the only way to do it is flat out from the beacon 😀
https://www.strava.com/activities/731899315/segments/17951450258

i’d seen sharki calling the bottom bit of smiths dead sheep alley on here in old posts on here, there have been a coupple dead ones down there lately. right now the bracken is higher than i’ve ever seen it, and the stream is dried out apart from the first crossing.

as the bracken is so high, the 3 or 4th crossing is pretty tight.. mate of mine mangled his finger and scraped himself up pretty bad firs time down it

Thanks for that information, Canopy.
I shall sit down with a map, and try to get my head round it all.

That’s a new Rocky Horror to me (No 3).

me too.

i thought rocky horror was the bridleway that drops from cockercombe road straight into quantock combe. you cross it to get to the chimney etc if you ride narnia/dels-stump/etc.

I thought as much from old posts on here.. It’s called that on Strava. so i guess it’ll stick! 🙂

I’ve ridden narnia/sharki+jambos right through to the lower chimney twice now.. don’t recall anything particularly rocky there though?

an old post from dibbs said

One starts at ST 16834 36499 and the other if I recall correctly starts at ST 15841 38714

first one is near narnia

the second one.. appears to be uphill from the area that Concrete block spits you out in into. when you join what seems to be a a rocky river bed. there’s a descent i’ve heard of, but not looked for yet at the top of that area that goes from DWD down? other than CB the only thing in that area i’ve been down (a long time ago) is old devils galloping path, which certainly qualifies as being horribly rocky but thats 1/4 mile further west

I’m pushing my explorations into the Triscombe/Great Wood when I can and have mate who I’m swapping notes with. Til now he’s been riding from Taunton up to cothelstone, lydeard and triscombe, whereas i’ve been coming from staple plain/hodders. so even when we don’t ride together we’re now finally covering common ground.

In case you haven’t already found it, there’s some useful stuff on this old thread . . . including a slightly different name for the Willoughy Cleeve descent 😉

@canopy : Bought a place in a village called Halse, about 4 miles south west of Cothelstone.

Will definitely be in touch about trails. It’s nice to see someone else who gets as excited about plotting a route! 🙂

In the past I’ve ridden Stert, Slaughterhouse, Hodders, Somerton, Smiths and Weacombe combe. Found the start of Frogs Combe when walking with the family a couple of weeks ago, so looking forward to giving that a run.

awesome 🙂 i know of halse. theres a guy from oake who rides from there up to weacombe and back a couple times a week doing 30-40 mile loops and he holds KOMs for almost all the non-descent based, routes.. thats climbs and tracks/bridleways across the top of the quantocks!

out of the popular natural stuff like you’re only missing.. bin combe and higher hare knap.. plenty other bits too.. nice little decent south of DWD (joes path on strava) that i do quite often if i’m heading over to great wood area

plus all the great wood/triscombe stuff that some people never leave!

In case you haven’t already found it, there’s some useful stuff on this old thread . . . including a slightly different name for the Willoughy Cleeve descent

haha yeah. I think about that every time I type it 😉

other thread talks down smiths a bit, which is a shame. as i said above, its far more fun flat out from the trig point on beacon hill, bit tamer from the junction. some people i’ve taken down found it too scary, and as i said on prev page.. mate of mine came a cropper about 3 weeks ago down there. certainly not to be sniffed at. strava says i’m doing 25mph by the tree line (before anchoring on the breaks and pinball machining it through the rocky stuff and hoping to not carry too much speed into the corner above the first stream crossing! after that its “just” a fast twisty path with small one root drop and some tight turns through the stream crossings.

its the getting out of smiths thats the bugger and makes it less fun to put in a loop, especially if you’re not fit enough. if its windy the greenway is a sod, but you can pick your way following the fence line across to the clearing above holford world war memorial trees. there are great views across to lower hare knap/higher hare knap and cyou can see all the northern combes that connnet with holford, and it looks straight into..’holly willoughbys cleavage’ (willoughby cleeve). also, you’re at one end of longstone hill, and “the longstone” itself is visible from there too if you know there to look for it.

This picture i’ve nicked from that other thread shows the area dibbs prev post says that rocky horror #2 is in.
since i still have no idea where it is, and can’t find it on strava or trailforks. i’ve done concrete block a few times and old devils galloping path once (the line to the right of the words “frog hill”).

(forgive dodgy english above.. working and typing.. breaks=brakes! and ashamed to have done the decent=descent one :o.. you wouldn’t think my mrs is a secondary school english teacher – lol)

i thought rocky horror was the bridleway that drops from cockercombe road straight into quantock combe. you cross it to get to the chimney etc if you ride narnia/dels-stump/etc.

That’s the one, It used to be pretty rough back in the day, but they’ve “improved” it and now I can ride 2/3rds of it on my cross bike. 🙁