Natural trail on my doorstep

Published on August 2, 2008

I got roped into going for a walk with my long suffering girlfriend today. We walked along a valley through some lovely scenery, which brings you out just on the edge of Dartmoor. Like most mountain bikers I can’t go anywhere without potential trails and today was no different. The valleys pretty out of the way, with a river running through it and steep sides. Walking a bit further than normal and up a massive hill we ended up on a trail which had little apparent use.

The terrain was unbelieveable! Massive rocky outcrops poked from the steep hillside making natural drop offs and the trail contained loads of rocky features. Trail builders in Scotland and Wales spend lots of time trying to emulate these natural features. Luckily I’d switch on my GPS enabled phone and which records the route walked, and I’ve just dropped the route onto Google Earth! The downhill part of the trail is 1.5 kilometres long, over a drop of around 400 feet, and the trails only about a mile and a half away from my house. This could well be the Holy Grail of natural trails; I can’t wait to get the bike up there and find out if it rides as good as it all looks.