Had a wander around the Q’s on foot with the kids today.

Here’s how it went.

Ignoring the road closed sign from over stowey to crowcombe i drove up to CPG, other than thick snow on the verges and the flood by DWD and the entrance to the gas line all seemed not bad.

As i climbed from the carpark towards the the trig, thick snow on the main track leading up gave a taster of things to come, at the fork bearing right we headed down the eroded gully, tyre tracks on the right gave light to the new line cutting into the peaty soil till the original trail cleared all bar the stream of thawed snow trickling down, left back onto the ridge we skipped around the puddles littering a normally dry track, till at the start of somerton(which looked wet and should be left alone for a couple weeks to dry, IMHO) we were greeted by a 2ft wall of snow, fairly firm under foot we we reached halsway post and i watched one of a small group of riders descending the grassy track hit the deck in a splash of slush and red mud, i choose to walk up the snow covered main ridge track where it was still about a ft deep right to the top, then wasn’t so bad.. till it rose past slaughter house entrance and onwards to ladys edge.

So in summery the main ridge is not ridable, the grassy alternatives to the left and in places the right are soggy and will get cut up with continued use and there are patches of sand as it washes out of the hard pack and settles in random places.

So if you do plan to ride up there, you will get wet, you will probably eat through your pads worse than ever and you’ll cut up unridden lines leaving big scars across the AONB.

hopefully next week we can get a few heavy showers and the remaining snow can be broken up, letting the wet stuff do it’s thing, it’ll still be very wet for a few weeks and even more so in the combes, but don’t let it stop you.

One final note, alot of tree debri will be scattered over the trails, please don’t expect someone else to sort it, so don’t ride over or around all of it, take a moment to stop and shift some, same goes for the puddles, try to NOT ride on the green bits, most of the heathland is loamy soil and will cut up badly, i’ve seen the mess the hunt followers make and am appauled, so don’t give us a worse name than some already give us.

But please and this is a big please….

DO NOT go out on a road bike instead, that’s just wrong.

That’s if anyone wants to know..

Good work Sharki. I did a similar report for Dartmoor the other day. It’s suprising just how much snow there still is once you get up to 1000ft or so. What snow is left on Dartmoor, is only rideable if there’s been a frost overnight so it’s not slushy.

After playing in the snow when I met Knottie and Dibbs, last Staurday, I was looking forward to a ride back in my native Wilts’ this weekend. But after a walk in the woods with my 2 young kids on saturday morning I’d had enough mud. So, sorry Sharki, I sinned.

I thought Exmoor would be a better bet yesterday but ended up carrying the bike again. I may pop up on the Qs later in my walking boots if I can get off the sofa. Next weekend WILL be better !

A few pics from this weekend. the stuff on the main ridge is about a ft up to 18″ in places.