Blog Posts in Category: Cycling

Avon Dam & Scorriton

Today we enjoyed a cycle up to Avon Dam and then onto Scorriton. This was our plan b, after aborting mid wales due to excessive amounts of rain being forecast. The route started up a small road, before a short descent which gave us an idea of what was to come, ie. lots of water! A lovely climb up the side of a valley then followed where we were able to watch a buzzard flying around. After a short descent we were back down onto tarmac for the easy climb up to Avon Dam. We made short work of this, before encountering the most technical part of the route, the rocky traverse around the Avon reservoir. After a damp climb up we enjoyed a fast and fun grassy descent down Abbot’s Way. After another short climb up a small tarmac road, and then a good track we were soon at the long descent down to Chalk Ford, and then onto Scorriton. We then enjoyed/endured the long 20% climb back up which seemed to go on for a long time! One last climb then took us up to Skerraton Down. From. Read the full article…

The Blorenge

Last weekend I made the most of the good weather by heading out with my parents on a short mountain bike circuit around the Blorenge. It is always great to start at the top of a hill, rather than at the bottom. After a short warm up traversing the hill we were soon at the first descent. The first section was very overgrown with heather, and very rough and rocky which was interesting. After this first section was complete there was a lovely long section of single track which took us down to the Punchbowl. After an initial very steep climb which definitely involved a push up, the rest of the climb back up to the top was fairly straightforward. I was expecting the last short descent back down to the car to be fairly unexciting. However I was very much mistaken, the descent started by traversing along a terrace with fantastic views. It then carried on down a lovely grassy descent with lots of natural bumps and jumps. We were soon back on the initial traverse path and made our way back to the car. This will certainly be. Read the full article…

Glen Tilt MTB circuit

After a few days of walking I was keen to try out my new mountain bike in the mountains, so we headed to Blair Atholl where there was a short Munro for Becky and a good MTB loop for me. We started the day by heading up Glen Tilt together until Forest Lodge. Becky then headed up Carn a’ Chlamain and I continued up the valley. The biking up Glen Tilt was very straightforward up good estate tracks which enabled excellent progress to be made. The biking became more interesting as I turned off the main estate track and headed down to the Falls of Tarf. After an enjoyable section of rough estate track and single track I was soon at the river crossing, thankfully due to the dry weather recently the river was low and I managed to keep my feet dry. After pushing my bike up the very steep and loose hill behind the river crossing there was a long section of gently uphill single track towards the very remote Fealer Lodge. This section was surprisingly tiring, but very interesting, however it was a bit of a relief. Read the full article…

Cycle Touring the Devon Coast to Coast

With a surprising early spring weekend Becky and I decided to get back on our bikes by jumping in the deep end and cycle touring the Devon coast to coast. The route was from Ilfracombe to Plymouth via sustrans route 27, which is mostly off road due to old railway lines and follows the Tarka trail, Granite way and Drake’s Trail. After the initial shock at how heavy the bikes were when loaded up with our gear the initial climb out of Ilfracombe went surprisingly well. We were soon well on our way and made reasonable time to Barnstable where we stopped at a bike shop for some warmer gloves! The rest of the first day was mostly enjoyable cycling on good cycle paths, with some road at the end of the day. We didn’t quite make it as far as we had planned but managed to find a good spot to wild camp before Okehampton. In the end this turned out to be an excellent idea as it meant we were sheltered from the wind which was fairly brutal the next morning. The next morning we woke up to. Read the full article…