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Family camping holiday in Ilfracombe in a couple of weeks .... any good riding in the area? Gravel/easy MTB/techy MTB? Ideally from the door, for early morning/evening rides.
Plenty of hills, plenty of country lane riding that you can add a bit of gravel into with an os map
some great "proper" mtb on exmoor
some mellow loops that you can ride on mtb or gravel if you dont mind being cheeky on foot paths ( generally ok as long as you aren't hooning around )
Try leaving ilfracombe on the tarka trail. At the main woolacombe road at the top, turn right towards mortehoe. follow the bridleway ( green broken line) on the OS map through damage barton campsite to higher warcombe. Follow the road down into Lee bay. Go through lee bay and first left after the ruined hotel up a steep road ( green diamonds on OS map) This becomes the coast path eventually and takes you with lovely view to langleigh lane and back into ilfracombe ( or for more views follow the paths aoround the cliff down towards torrs park)
doable on a gravel bike
Also this is a mellow xc style ride. We rode from Braunton but you could start from Ilfracombe up the tarka trail and descend ( carefully ignoring the no bikes signs !) along the “donkey track “ from twitches farm campsite above mortehoe
https://strava.app.link/gXYpSmjaKBb
Also, the woods south of Lee have proper "locals" mtb trails accessible off the main fire road. Quite easy to find if you look at the strava segments. Usually friendy local kids riding there at weekends
I lived in Ilfracombe for a couple of years 2008-2010.
I only found one proper MTB ride and the second time I rode there I was stopped and told it was private land and to leave via the shortest route to avoid prosecution. So my short answer is that I don't know of any free, public routes.
There is NCN27 which runs from Ilfracombe to Plymouth plus lot's of lovely local lanes around Lee Bay and Woolacombe etc... that are worth riding.
We've been to Woolacombe a few times, there's a trail on to putsborough which is ok and I've ridden the SW path out to baggy point and round to croyde which was cool. There's not loads of riding from what I can see tbh.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cGurbSWlTsY
literally nothing here…….
( to be fair apart from stuff like that which is the trails in Lee woods I mentioned - (they’re parked in the car park off tarka trail halfway up from Ilfracombe. ) Most of the stuff involves footpaths and or linking bits of trail via the lanes.
Interesting video. On my ride I started from the very same car park and dropped out in Lee Bay just by the derelict hotel on the beachfront. I probably passed through or at least very close to those woods but it was 2008/2010.
It looks like things have changed.
The ride I did get in in that area was fast and a lot of fun :o)
yeah think all of that stuff has been built in the last 6 years or so. It's all local kids but its quite well established so the landowner must be cool, with it. Its a pretty knackering push back up unless you've got an e-bike though.
There's an organised building group halfway through some trails in Knowle woods near braunton who are putting "official" trails in another area that had "unofficial" trails for years. Supposed to be open this summer sometime i think.
There’s an organised building group halfway through some trails in Knowle woods near braunton
Yeah, I think that's the group I'm following on Facebook :o)
I grew up in North Devon (lived in Braunton) riding my Raleigh Maverick / Muddy Fox Courier / GT Zaskar (complete with a chain stay mounted u-brake totally incompatible with N.Devon mud.)
Was back there a couple of weeks ago riding with a friend from the above era who has moved back.
Some great riding to be had which should suit your needs, here's our ride from a couple of weeks ago:
https://www.strava.com/activities/9404516239