[Closed] In love with Dartmoor

Shh, or the locals in the Slaughtered Lamb will bait you.

Ha! Is that what happened to Jay of Jays Grave?!

Tush now Stu

You wouldn't be the first to taste the delights of Lustleigh Cleeve, nor will you be the last...

Some great techy riding hidden away in the cleave and locale, in fact, it even makes a modern 160mm bike work a bit 😉

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this thread needs more of ^^^^

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I'm going down there in may for a family holiday and hoping to get a day out to go ride as didn't take bike last year!

Those pics look great especially when its grey and raining outside at the moment!

Anyone got any gpx etc for a good route?

Wait til you ride there in the pishing rain and a howling gale, it's even better!! 😀

Never been to Dartmoor, doesn't seem to get mentioned much for biking.

What is the terrain like? Are the photos above typical of Dartmoor? And what's it like to ride in the winter?

^ rode the burrator loop a couple of xmas' ago. It was snow rain and shin deep mud in places. It is still no matter worth the trip for the sheer isolation feeling 🙂

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Do not go there, ever. It is not as pictured. It is all flat, mostly flooded, mud like Velcro, never has sunshine and the sheep bite and spit. The locals all tell lies and there are no Pubs. Bike shops do not exist. You have been warned.

I've just moved to the edge of Dartmoor 😀 and have been slowly putting the finishing touches to my 456 in anticipation of trying out the trails. Its been for a cheeky trip around Haldon after work, but i've yet to take it up on to the Moor itself.

Other than Lustleigh Cleave and the Princetown/Burrator loop are there other spots people recommend? I've heard about Hound Tor too.

What dexa said - so b***** off. 😉

I have contrived to fall off from that clapper bridge, into the river 😳

I've heard about Hound Tor too.

terrible place.. I lived there for a couple of years and everyone on my facebook friends list got AIDS as a result..

And Lustleigh Cleave has more Grizzly bears than the whole of Canada and North America combined

it's rubbish, don't go there, crap pubs, muddy, clay, chalk, yes loads of slippery wet chalk just painted to look like granite. Hideous place, not worth the fuel, flat, loads of Tarmac etc.

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Bloody instagrm won't let me post the pictures of the horror!

Oh and to top it all off Mrs M sent a message by getting Qom down the widow maker.

what? you mean her that runs the hound of the basketmeals?

So many League of Gentlemen memories coming back after that pic 🙂

I've not tried anything from the van - do they do cans of can't?

For what its worth - I think Dartmoor blew away earlier this evening...

Oh and to top it all off Mrs M sent a message by getting Qom down the widow maker.

thats pretty impressive. although yours is more so. How strong was the tailwind? 😉

Never a tail wind, only good form! :-). Old age, cunning and treachery, best youth, fitness and skill.........mostly! 😆

good form!! I'm wondering where I can find another 2 minutes. (currently 37th)

you'll be pleased to know the KoM did it on a hardtail..

Some of my pics
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Can anyone recommend any decent campsites. I used to stay with my Aunt Joannie near Liverton when she was alive. Miss the area, must get down again next year...

There's a pub on the road out of liverton that allows camping in the beer garden... the name escapes me at the moment but I'll update you when I remember

is there a link to any of the routes? i did have some from st mag years back but lost all my routes in a computer change. dartmoor is not far from me, can't understand why i've never made the effort.

Hound Tor, you won't like it

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Shhh...

Hateful place, never enjoyed my couple of visits recently. Awful......
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Haven't been Dartmoor way much since I was with the CCF in the 1990s but I preserve many happy (though frequently sodden and frozen) memories. Ten Tors remains one of the hardest physical events I've ever done - I still recall hauling a completely soaked Vango Force Ten tent, taking my rucksack to over 25kg for a 35 mile march when I was only 14 years old, good times! I don't suppose there's any chance of a MTB Ten Tors is there? My first thought would be how to negotiate all the bogs, and the ground damage that might do of course...

To many Ticks...... Even in winter.....Wouldn't bother

tomd1984 - Member
I've just moved to the edge of Dartmoor and have been slowly putting the finishing touches to my 456 in anticipation of trying out the trails. Its been for a cheeky trip around Haldon after work, but i've yet to take it up on to the Moor itself.

Other than Lustleigh Cleave and the Princetown/Burrator loop are there other spots people recommend? I've heard about Hound Tor too

Where have you moved to, Tom? I've got a riding mate who lives in Bovey Tracey.

Only ridden there once, but it was a cracker
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bloody IT

Kudos to the HT riders amongst you lot!

There are quite a few places where a decent amount of travel and some "super gravity" flavour tyres really helps 😉

Only ridden there few times nice place.Love Exmoor though not so keen at present with these wild winds that nearly blew me of my Fattie yesterday up Selworthy Beacon and that lovely red soil which when wet acts as a great grinding paste down by Brockwell happy days. 😆

Ha, loving the responses!
I did it on a hardtail but the ride was the first time I'd really thought a full susser would have been nice. If I could work out how to post photos I'd put them up!

sponging-machine - member

Where have you moved to, Tom? I've got a riding mate who lives in Bovey Tracey

Okehampton, SM, but I work in Exeter so after work rides on the 'other' side of the moor are easily do-able 🙂

Interesting comments re hardtail vs full sus. I've been toying with the idea of a full bouncer for a while... It's all your fault if I buy something later on!

Happy to say this is my backyard 🙂

Suspension you say? Pah!

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yunki - Member

There's a pub on the road out of liverton that allows camping in the beer garden... the name escapes me at the moment but I'll update you when I remember

I used to live in Liverton. (And before that up at Haytor.) The pub out of Liverton towards the dual carriageway used to be the Star Inn. There was also one up the hill off the 'main' road which I think may have been called the Carpenters. But that doesn't sound right.

The Star used to be run by one of the Wurzels and they did a mean shepherds pie and chips. Great for hungry students. The landlord had his gold discs on the walls, scattered in among the farming implements. Tbh we used to prefer the one up the hill though. Just about every pub we used to drink in has closed now. 😥

Rattling good job there SprocketJock! 😆

(i'll stick to my 160mm trailslayer thanks.........)

The Star was just up the road from my Anties caravan park. The Wurzle ran it then. Being from Bristol I didn't realise it gets dark in the country, almost had to feel my way back. Nice part of the world....

You lot are making me feel quite homesick!

I live in Chudleigh, just on the edge of the moor, but work in Basel, so don't get to ride my home trails much these days.
Wife and daughter are at home, so every other weekend, when I'm back, is family time...hopefully will get a spin out over Christmas, my son is home from Uni & I'm building up a new bike...Fingers crossed!

If you're visiting to ride then maps are fine, but local knowledge is King. I rode with a few guys from the Liverton area, lovely bunch, knew the place like the backs of their hands. Met them at Hound Tor, rode for hours, including the screaming decent into Liverton, then one of the chaps drove us back up to pick up the cars.
Awesome day out.

I think Hamishthecat is still around these parts, sure he was one of my hosts?

I think Hamishthecat is still around these parts, sure he was one of my hosts?

Not me - must have been two other fellas, although I do ride that area.

including the screaming decent into Liverton,

Slight highjack! Has anyone ridden Lustleigh/Hound tor/Grimspound this week? What are the conditions as I have a day off and am thinking of heading over that side for the day though if unrideable might think again..

The Star was not the pub offering camping.. (When I lived in Liverton The Star was being run by a very friendly member of the local Satan's Slaves chapter.. Good hearty food and great ale, it's where my family and I went to wet the head of my second son 🙂 )

The pub offering camping is out past Liverton on the Bickington road just after it passes over the dual carriageway

When did you live in Liverton, yunki? (It would be funny if we were neighbours.)

Edit:

The pub offering camping is out past Liverton on the Bickington road just after it passes over the dual carriageway

Was that the Welcome Stranger? I thought that was closed when I passed it in the summer? The next pub around, The Toby Jug was definitely closed but there's a camping place just down the hill?

only about three to five years ago.. in one of the new builds at pottery yard.. my kids grandparents live in Monro Mead 🙂

I saw a couple houses in the area with keen MTBers in residence, but kept myself to myself a fair bit as we had two young babies so I was pretty much a zombie!

EDIT: ahhh yeah damn.. The Welcome Stranger was the one I was thinking of.. The Toby Jug's been closed for years, after a fire if I remember correctly?

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it won't be dry...

it's not all about the cleave either...we get better sunsets...

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only about three to five years ago.. in one of the new builds at pottery yard.. my kids grandparents live in Monro Mead

I saw a couple houses in the area with keen MTBers in residence, but kept myself to myself a fair bit as we had two young babies so I was pretty much a zombie!

I lived in the house on the east corner of Old Liverton Rd, opposite Ley Close, actually around the corner from you but twenty years before! (I don't remember Ley Close being there when I lived there.) I think I used to walk or cycle through the Pottery on the way to college. (Seale Hayne).

AAAAhhh... much has changed I expect 🙂

Have just been trying to post a few choice pics of the moor but it appears that I can no longer link to facebook images

If you were one of the group of MTBers i saw grinding into the screaming wind up Manaton High Street this morning, i salute you! Must have been a tad blowy on the tops.........

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Western side of the moors is totally saturated. Been a while since its been this wet. Even the dam overflow at burrator is running.

Aye thats the dartmoor i remember from when i was in the marines. Horizontal rain. Knee deep mud. Mmmmm trenchfoot. Would actually love to go back and spend a bit of time exploring on the bike. Bit far from Dundee mind.

its getting so bad and all my paddling mates are crowing about how good the paddling is so far this year I'm about to buy another kayak.

So, it should dry up pretty shortly...

It's been busy on the river, it's been rammed at Newbridge and Holne every weekend the past month. bike's have remained pretty much in the shed!

i know, I drive past newbridge on the way to work and its barely dropped below the slab since october.