BIGRIDE MILITARY MANOEUVRE

Max and Russell embark on an intense mission through active military territory in Wiltshire

- Max Darkins

For the first Big Ride of the year, I was tasked with delivering some routes with a military connection for some action-packed adventure. There are actually quite a few suitable places in the UK, from the Brecon Beacons in South Wales to the flat, sandy, suburban heathland of Surrey. The latter has some great singletrack on offer, but Russell and I weren't ready to enter into any real-life conflict on the potentially incendiary issue of access, so we decided to head further west to the quiet and more remote hills of Salisbury Plain. The rolling, chalky terrain here may not contain much snaking singletrack or many technical challenges, but it certainly delivers on big, open vistas and quick-drying trails, which is definitely a bonus in spring.

Salisbury Plain is a vast plateau of downland that covers around 300 square miles, making it the largest area of chalk grassland in North West Europe, with significant areas designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). It's also an archaeological landscape of unparalleled importance, with more than 2,300 archaeological sites dating back to 4,000 BC, along with more recent Roman settlements and one of the densest concentrations of ancient barrows (earth mounds) anywhere in Britain. The military moved onto Salisbury Plain in 1867, and now own half of the area. Less than a third of this is permanently closed to the public, with the Salisbury Plain Training Area (SPTA) covering just 40x16km (25x10 miles). This means there's a lot that can still be explored by bike, aided by quick-draining chalky terrain and myriad gravel tracks.