Quantocks/Exmoor "Bikepacking Lite"
Ive always fancied riding the westcountry coast to coast offroad route that runs across Exmoor and Dartmoor, but the logistics of getting from start to finish have made it tricky. As a simpler alternative this bank holiday weekend we decided to ride the Quantocks/Exmoor route found on Bikepacking.com (with some minor alterations)
Along for the ride was my friend Janette and her friend Kate. We decided to stay in B&Bs and YHAs as Janette didn't have the kit for full on Bikepacking, and to be honest I was pretty happy about this decision, it meant we all rode our standard mountain bikes, a Trek Superfly FS in my case. The route is not particularly long, we only rode around 40/50 miles a day, but there is a lot of ascent for your milage, along with some rocky terrain and a few hike a bike sections (although far fewer than there would have been on a fully loaded rig). The flip side of these killer climbs was some absolutely amazing descents, which were also made a heap more fun with suspension and without cumbersome luggage bouncing about!
I got the train down to Taunton where I met the others, a far less traumatic experience than driving along the south coast to the west country in bank holiday traffic. Day one saw us head North out of Taunton into the Quantock hills. Everywhere was lush and green, we passed through farmland first, and then onto a climb up to woodlands thick with a carpet of Bluebells. As the day went on we climbed up to see miles of rolling hilltops, with Wales and the Bristol channel in the distance, dropping down to mossy valleys and over stream crossings. After one particularly long swooping downhill we came out at a small village shop where we refuelled with cake and bananas. The route leaves the Quantock hills to head west over to exmoor, where a few more climbs and an ice cream stop awaited us.
The town of Dunster was the last village before Minehead, a cute place with shops and cafes, along with a castle but we decided to crack on to our Youth Hostel. One last climb and Minehead came into view, recognisable by Butlins giant white tent... The YHA is just down the hill, no need to venture into town as we rode straight into its back garden off of the hills..perfect timing for a cold drink and a stretch in the garden, enjoying some evening sun before dinner :)
There was no gentle warmup at the start of day 2, we headed straight back up the hill we came down. The Southern Enduro Champs were taking place on the same hill, passing the start gates as we rode along I was happy to be heading off on our XC exploration mission, although id like to come back and explore those trails more without luggage sometime. Heading down the other side of Minehead the wind picked up, as did the low cloud and light drizzle that was to stick with us most of the day. Old churches, farms and a Mill were sights as we passed along country lanes before turning off road to skirt around the bottom of Dunkery hill for a while. The Climb up to the beacon is the longest one of the trip, although not the steepest, the loose rocky terrain and 20mph headwind certainly added to the challenge. Over half an hour of climbing later and the Beacon came into sight, Ive been told the views from this point are incredible, today however, they were not.
The descent was fast and fun, but by this point I was cold and looking forward to the next climb, which thankfully wasn't far away. A couple of miles later and we rejoined a road, seeing a sign for Exford only a few miles away by road, not the 20 or so off road ones we had planned... I think if the rain had been heavier we may have been tempted but we decided to crack on, sticking to our plans and promising ourselves a cream tea in Porlock as a reward.
Im glad we did this, after a little road climb through the moors we dropped into a narrow rocky single track descent into a magical green valley alongside a stream, I think this section was my favourite part of the whole trip! After this we got split up, me going straight up the hill (and then having to zig zag down inappropriate footpaths) while the others turned right down a valley towards Porlock. I did a quick recce around Porlock before I met the girls, spotting a butchers with scotch eggs which I was to return to post tea and cake :)
Out of Porlock the route follows small lanes slightly inland, but my friend had made an alternative route along what she thought was a coastal Bridleway, it turned out to be a coastal footpath, very steep, very damp and rather slippery. The hour or so of sweating and hike a bike than ensued was still worth it. We passed an amazing old toll building, through tunnels, up and down steps and through what felt like a jungle as points.
Once we eventually rejoined the route we were happy to find a water tap and a downhill section of road to rest our legs. At Malmsmead there is another cafe but we decided to crack on, the drizzle was eventually starting to clear but we knew we had another decent climb to get over before Exford. We followed another river, passing a campsite on the way, the trees here were spooky and wizened, covered in moss and ferns, I was glad we were here in daylight.
After the river swept off to the right we crossed a footbridge and headed South up the last climb of the day, grassy and lumpy the poorly defined path seemed to go on forever, the tussocks draining any remaining energy.
The final descent to Exford was downhill on the road, we were staying at another YHA tonight and had booked a meal at the pub across the road, which was lucky, as the place was full of families out for their Sunday Roasts.
The final day I rode on my own as I had a train home to catch. The day started with a river crossing followed by a rocky riverside section alongside the river towards Tarr steps, its very beautiful but be prepared for wet feet and hike-a-bike..
After a while I came across Pulhams Mill, a delightful old Mill with a tearoom and shop, it was only 11am but it was just too quaint to not stop for my first cream tea of the trip.
From here onwards the route passes by Wimbleball Lake before leaving Exmoor and becoming rather road based on the way back to Taunton... all in all a beautiful, varied and surprisingly tough loop through the West Country.