New to the Mendips – route advice/other riders

Hi,
I moved to Wells fairly recently and a couple of weekends back my girlfriend was talking to a rider up at Stockhill, who mentioned a few local places to ride, as well as the possibility of meeting up for a ride. He said to post on here. If you were that rider, or if you are local and fancy meeting up for a ride, let me know!

I wasn’t that rider, however, there are some great routes over the mendips. Try starting at the bottom of the Cheddar gorge, then go up (you can do Jacobs Ladder, but you’ll walk most of it), turn left at the top through Velvet Bottom, over to the trig point (Black Down I think), from which you can head down towards Christmas trees and Rowbarrow downhills. of Burrington for some sweet singletrack. All of which will put a smile on your face!. From any of the downhills, head back up and you’ll find decent trails before going back over the top, through Velvet and then down Jacobs.
It makes a lot more sense when you look on a map (google the specifics I’ve mentioned), or failing that, fancy a meet up for a ride?

That sounds suspiciously like the alarmingly social Buzz-lightyear. I’m sure he’ll be along shortly.

Maybe out on sunday on mendip. It depends on whether Clink and I decide on the Quantocks or more local.

All welcome. It might be touch early for some though…

Cheers guys. I’ll head out to Cheddar with the OS map and give the suggested route a try; just seen someone’s video of the Burrington Coombe bit on youtube and it looks fantastic – guess I’ll be spoiled for good riding round here then!
Transapp – meeting up for a ride sounds good, did you have any time in mind?

There’s a group of us local to the mendips, but it’s suffered from the weather badly this year. We’ve been spending more time on the Quantocs or in wales of late.

We tend to ride once or twice during the week, and on sunday mornings. Give us a shout if you fancy it, and we’ll show you some of the area.

PS – Burrington coombe is a challenging climb (we sometimes start from there) but it’s not that good of a decent really – fast, but largely uneventful. There is much better stuff in the area 🙂

Duffer,
Cheers, yep, I’d be up for joining your group for some Sunday morning rides if that’s OK. Probably can’t make weeknights, as working hours mean getting home a bit late (and commuting diguised as a roadie!) Are you around this Sun?

I would recommend going over to see Box at Bad Ass Bikes (the shop at bottom of burrington coombe) He can give you all the trail advice you need and even has a handy little trail map. He’s closed on Sunday though, so you need to go tomorrow! Theres loads of good stuff in Rowberrow woods which is dead easy to find. It might have finally dried out a bit by now as well!

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~davend/fat_tyre.jpg

Mail me and I’ll send you a pdf

“Jacobs Ladder” ?! Surely people mean the bridleway that runs from the south side of the top of the gorge down into Cheddar, past the tower, rather than the ladder itself….. Never ridden / pushed up or down the actual ladder and dont you have to pay at the bottom gate? Surely very cheeky too?

jt26, Beacon Batch trig point, NE towards Ellick House (on the 25k map) then W along Limestone link is one of my favourite trails anyway. About 6km downhill to the A38 – stunning use of 300m of height.

Hopefully Rowberrow should be starting to dry out a little too…..

Isn’t Velvet Bottom off limits bike wise ?

jti26 – Member
Duffer,
Cheers, yep, I’d be up for joining your group for some Sunday morning rides if that’s OK. Probably can’t make weeknights, as working hours mean getting home a bit late (and commuting diguised as a roadie!) Are you around this Sun?

Not around this sunday i’m afraid, but i’ll be out next week. i’ll let you know place/time etc.

“That sounds suspiciously like the alarmingly social Buzz-lightyear”

It was me Guvnor, guilty as charged 😀

Am hoping to join Clink and ScienceOfficer on the Qs this Sunday morning. Why not join in? I’d be happy to show you local Mendip trails when available. My email is in my profile. Ping me.

Jti: me and clink are meeting at stockhill wood tomorrow at 8.30. Come along.

Hello all, new to forum myself but a local(ish) rider from Frome. Had a nice ride from burrington up to rowberrow and around the blackdown area this morning. Trails are drying up well with a few boggy areas up near the trig point. Have fun 🙂

Oh, and warrens hill bridle way down into cheddar was a blast but the climb back up the gorge to charterhouse was evil, helped by fig rolls!

Mr Lightyear; just snt you an e-mail, then saw your next post. So please ignore the e-mail! Will aim to see you at Stockhill in the morning.
Thanks

“turn left at the top through Velvet Bottom”

A word of caution to anyone reading this – VB is a FP and considered a sensitive area where cyclists are not welcomed by the authorities. It’s also popular with hikers and dog walkers. Stealth is recommended.

Thanks all, I followed the advice on here and had a great ride round Beacon Batch and Rowberrow on Sat, then met Buzz & Clink for a ride this morning. Excellent advice and good trails, thanks everyone!

Great to meet you – hope to ride again soon.

What were the conditions like up there? Quantocks were surprisingly sticky yesterday, must have been the frost.

Same here. See you again soon.

Conditions up at Beacon Batch/Rowberrow were pretty good; surprisingly dry in most places, with a few wet bits but nothing unridable.

Current forecasts leading up to next weekend look like fine weather for the Mendips (Thursday is the blip). Trail quality should not degrade.

Hmm, I wonder if we could do Cheddar next Sunday? That would be a proper test of your new suspension fork clink 🙂

Sounds like a plan 🙂 Daughter is in swim comp – might need to negotiate!

Excuse me? May I play with the big boys? 😕

I was solo today. Cracking weather. I spent myself on the flanks of Shute Shelve, Rose Wood and Witches wood.

Excuse the shite phone pics, but you get the idea.

Smashing stuff. 8)

Enjoying your big bike again Colin? I bet you fly down Witches Wood. Those trail conditions look nice and dry too. It might be time to blow the dust off my bouncy bike.

Sorry Colin – I thought you were the big boy! 😆 All those lovely moving parts!

Enough talk of my big boys moving parts? ! 😯 😳

Its the true that the fat bike had me grinning like a buffoon today, but, to be fair, I do that on the thin bike too.

Leaf litter is still quite deep, which is fun with the rocks and roots underneath, but the ground is pretty much dry!

Interesting, is there much riding to be had in Rose Wood or on the rest of Shute Shelve (West of Cheddar Wood)? I’d be very interested in ways of connecting trails like Yogurt and Badgers to Crook Peak without waiting on possible upgrades to bridleways in that area…..

Nothing legal agent. Mostly its connecting off piste stuff.

I’m another new person to the area – just finishing my new bike but found I need a conventional type front mech (grrr) and then I would love to be shown around. Have been familiarising myself with the area out on dog walks.

Its all good. Sunday mornings is when. Time depends on Clink and Buzz.

“Have been familiarising myself with the area out on dog walks”

Good plan. We can point out good trails, how best to connect them and any stealth requirements.

“waiting on possible upgrades to bridleways in that area”

If you mean Winscombe Drove, don’t wait! Evidence of use is key to the upgrade process.

It’s fine now, but the weekend weather forecast for the Mendip area looks like rain. Best to leave the Cheddar ride for another day and do something else in the area IMO.

I would be out but have kids rugby in Bristol, only 4 more weeks then back to normal

4 more weeks then back to normal

Looking forward to having you back! 😀

Weekend forecast for the Mendip improved considerably. No Rain and partial sunshine forecast.

So, is Cheddar back on for Sunday?

what plans for Cheddar?

plans for Cheddar you say?!?

Rode up there last night really dry, only the bottom of Rowberrow still a little soggy, top of Blackdown riding almost like summer!

OK.

Cheddar Gorge ride this Sunday.

Meet at: On the Cheddar Gorge road above the pay car parks. About 2/3rds up you’ll see a bus turning area and a walled off hillock on the right. Directly opposite on the left is a large free parking bay below a small quarry, meet there. 8:30AM SUNDAY

Ride will do: down Cheddar gorge trail, up Warrens Hill (ouch), down Badgers, up Yoghurt, down Witches Wood and back to the start on the road.