Fingle Bridge, Dartmoor
DISTANCE 28.2km (17.5 miles) CLIMBING 1,010m (3,314ft) TIME 1hr 30mins to 3hrs
Start/ inish Fingle Bridge (grid ref SX 743/900, postcode EX6 6PW) Route summary A lovely, meandering ride alongside the River Teign, with some steep climbs and descents to provide some excitement and challenges along the way. It’s also easily broken down to make smaller rides
Cross Fingle Bridge and go left, with the river to your left, on a permissive bridleway. Stay ahead on this good track along the valley bottom, where you’ll see some singletrack to the side at times, until you reach the road at Cli ord Bridge. Go left on this, downhill. Turn right between the houses and ruin, and climb steeply. When you come across a wide entrance on the left, go through the gate to join a forest track. Follow this along the hillside, ignoring a couple of turn-o s to the left. When you come to a fork after a junction, go left (the black route). Keep ahead/right at the bottom, beside the river again, until you cross a small footbridge. Then bear right, onto a permissive bridleway. Climb steeply, away from the river. Cross a track and follow a narrow dirt track up to the B3212. Go over the road and join the bridleway on the other side. Continue down to the B3212 again and go right on the tarmac. Cross the bridge, then turn left on a bridleway beside the river. Follow this through the woods until you meet a road. Go left on this. Turn left at the crossroads, to and over Cli ord Bridge. Now there’s a long road climb, which is steep to start with. After 4km, past a few barns and houses at Cranbrook, turn right on a byway. Follow this wide track downhill, as it becomes rockier and zig-zags its way back to Fingle Bridge. Don’t cross the river – instead follow a permissive bridleway left (with the water on your right) all the way to a road. Go right on the tarmac. At the crossroads, turn right on the A382. Continue for 1km. At the crossroads by The Sandy Park Inn, turn right. After 1.3km, just past a track on the left to Bowden Farm, hang a sharp right on a surfaced track. Follow the Hunter’s Path bridleway uphill – it becomes nice singletrack along the hillside. Keep right at the bridleway fork and descend back to Fingle Bridge to finish.