Riding near Cheddar

I’m going to be there with 2 or 3 hours to spare later this week. Any routes or suggestions (mtb) gratefully received 🙂

There’s some good trails in Rowberrow and they’re fairly well mapped out on Trailforks. Good for messing around for a few hours – there’s also a fairly good XC loop you could follow: Mendip Hills – Cheddar Loop Mountain Biking Route | Trailforks

The Mendips are predominantly slippery limestone and clay.

Theres loads of good, steep, rocky riding around Cheddar, all of which is pretty unpleasant and death-trappy at the moment.

Per Radbikebro, I’d head for Rowberrow, but be prepared for your standard, plantation style man made stuff. Some will say its a bit ‘natural’ because it doesnt have a load in the way of aggregate surfacing, but theres not so much natural about riding in a monoculture on planned/built trails with cookie cutter lines IMO. YMMV of course. It’ll be good for a few hours either way.

Good ol’ Bike Park Mendip.

I lived in Cheddar for a few years. As a northerner, I’d always puzzled over MTBers moaning about mud….until I ended up on the edge of the Mendips. I can’t imagine how awful it’ll be at the moment.

Just watch out for the Stilton (sorry.  Bored on a train).

Mendips is ok in places / wet in places. Rowberrow Warren built (ish) trails are ok – rode them all yesterday. Whilst they are semi built they have been left pretty natural – loads of roots and some puddly bits at the moment. Still fun though. The long downhill from the top down to cheddar is likely ok – but there is no good way back up right now. It’s either up the gorge round and round (hideous) or there is a bridleway back up but it’ll be quagmire at present so I wouldn’t fancy that.

You could easily do 2-3 hours on Rowberrow and getting there and back from where you park the car. I tend to park in the free car park at the bottom of burrington Combe near badass bikes and cycle up Ham Link and into the bottom of Rowberrow.

If you follow me on Strava you can access the below link.

https://strava.app.link/NLb14UQ7CIb

Thanks folks

Be prepared to be spend longer cleaning your bike and self than actual riding 🙄 It’s always a mess this time of year but after all the rain we’ve had 😔😔😔

I might being the little bike and go to the pump track instead

Honestly the built trails are ok

I’ll never forget one particular ride over Black Down and Beacon Batch (after weather nowhere near as bad as this winter), looking down in fascination as great tubes of plastic mud with small embedded stones extruded round the fork stanchions like toothpaste, pushed outwards past the fork brace with each compression. Never seen anything like it elsewhere.

I might being the little bike and go to the pump track instead

It’ll unequivocally be cleaner!