Bigride Dirty Weekender – Exmoor National Park

Exmoor might be on the coast, but don’t let that fool you – its rugged hills and wooded valleys are packed with miles of rooty, chutey, stony and steep trails. Lusher than Dartmoor, it’s a real gem and the perfect place for an MTB break

- Max Darkins

THE LOWDOWN

LOCATION

Exmoor, named after the River Exe, straddles Somerset and Devon in South West England. This former royal hunting forest covers nearly 700km² and is mostly owned and managed by the National Trust. The wild, hilly terrain is home to nearly 500km of bridleways and the NT are keen to ensure access is available to everyone, so have even introduced a number of permissive cycling trails.

WHY COME HERE?

The National Park has a great mix of terrain, offering some wild-feeling riding, but without being too remote or risky. Covering a significant area with lots of trails, it doesn’t get too busy away from the popular combes, and provides a range of riding, from big XC epics over the moors to tough, technical descents in the steep, wooded combes. The village of Porlock may be small, but it has a generous smattering of tearooms and pubs.

GETTING HERE

Follow the A39 from the M5 and keep going past Minehead. Continue into Porlock, where there’s a car park at the far end, off the B3225 towards Porlock Weir. Alternatively, if you’re heading for Horner (for the medium and hard routes), before you get to Porlock and shortly after Allerford, turn left towards West Luccombe. Keep ahead to Horner, where the car park is on your left.

BIKE CHOICE

A full-suspension XC bike or hardcore hardtail would be sufficient, but if you enjoy the more technical side of things, and riding trails fast, there’s enough of the gnarly stuff here to justify a trail or enduro bike. Tough, grippy tyres are recommended to cope with the plentiful rocks.