I’m thinking about moving to melksham and was wondering if anyone lives there and can tell me if it’s worth riding from the door?

I’m moving from Westbury so I’m familiar with the riding locally in general I’m more interested in the immediate melksham area please.

Cheers!

I’ve just looked at a map. It looks quite flat around the town but to the NE there are some contours as you approach Calne and to the SE you’ve got the whole of Salisbury Plain to be going at.

Here’s a map: https://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm

I have relatives down there near Bromham (about 4 miles east of Melksham).
A nice area to ride from the door is over Roundway hill and then towards Avebury.
It’s a mix of XC, bridleways, by-ways/green lanes and quiet back roads.
I’ve never found anything gnar but I’ve always had fun.
Also worth noting that Bromham now features a pretty great pump track, definitely worth the trip from Melksham.

-Phill-

I’m only a few miles from Melksham and have found that in the winter months, the biggest problem is horses. They just churn all the bridleways, particularly at gates into a complete quagmire. The Gates themselves are another issue. It seems that everyone owns something in this area and so wants to fence it off. it’s very start/stop along a lot of it.

I used to live in Wilts. There’s not much on the flat land close to Melsham / Trowbridge and, like Daffy says, it gets churned up into really thick clag in winter. Up side is it’s not far to the N edge of Salisbury Plain, ride towards the big white horse on the hill above Westbury. There’s miles of trails including some military stuff which is open if the red flags aren’t flying. It’s also possible to join the Ridgeway with a short link on roads across the flat land E of Devizes.

Used to ride in the woods round Center Parcs at Longleat. Most aren’t public rights of way but the estate used to have a tolerant attitude.

There’s some better stuff over towards Bath as well