BIGRIDE SUMMIT TO SEA - TRASH FREE TRAILS

Riding across Exmoor with Trash Free Trails, Max goes on a litter-picking mission from the moors to the coast

- Max Darkins

This issue we set out to do a Big Ride with a difference. Inspired by Trash Free Trails' concept of 'purposeful adventure, we decided to plan a ride from 'summit to sea, where we'd document the litter we found along the way. The destination that immediately sprang to mind was Exmoor.

This National Park in north Devon has some impressively steep hills that plunge down to the Bristol Channel, their slopes covered in wonderful woodland and hiding some superb trails. Also, Exmoor has signed up to the 'Plastic Free Communities' campaign, coordinated by Surfers Against Sewage. The National Park's ambition is to drastically reduce the consumption of singleuse plastics (SUPs), such as packaging, cups and carrier bags. It's also working with landowners and communities to ensure that at least 75 per cent of the land is in 'nature-rich condition' by 2050. Changes are needed to reverse wildlife decline, restore natural processes and boost resilience to climate change, and they're calling for everyone who lives, works and visits Exmoor to play an active role.

Give me moor

With its spectacular moors, rich oak woodland, clear streams and dramatic coastline, Exmoor contains many diverse habitats. These provide homes for a vast array of species, including majestic red deer, elusive otters and some of the UK's rarest butterflies and bats. In fact, Exmoor is so important for wildlife that almost a third of the park is protected under UK and European law. Today, though, we're not here to admire the flora and fauna, but to monitor the pollution that's putting them at risk.