hound tor, Dartmoor

Distance 21.2km (13.2 miles) Climbing 870m (2,854ft) Time 2hrs to 3hrs

Route summary Rides here shouldn’t be measured in kilometres or even metres climbed. The steep hills and technical, rocky riding are hard going both up and downhill, so this is one for experienced riders only Start/ inish Reddaford Water car park (postcode TQ13 9LG, grid ref SX784/794)

1

Join the road and climb for 1km, until it starts to bear right when the wood ends. Peel o left and follow a bridleway uphill, along the edge of the wood. At the top, turn right on the tarmac, enjoying the flatter gradient around the hillside. Before the road descends, take a wide (byway) track on the left.

2

Descend, keeping left through some gates. Climb then drop down a technical rocky descent. Cross a packhorse bridge and ascend steeply. Go through a gate onto the open moors, with Hound Tor ahead of you.

3

Continue downhill and then, when you start climbing, look for a right turn onto a singletrack descent across the hillside. At the road go left, uphill. Turn right past the Hound Tor car park, then immediately right again on a minor road. After a cattle grid, look for a faint track on the right, heading uphill over the open moorland (note: it doesn’t follow the exact bridleway marking on the map).

4

The trail becomes a fun, rocky descent to a crossroads, where you turn left to Manaton village. Go ahead at the crossroads here, following the road right and then turning right onto a bridleway as you’re leaving the village. Follow this singletrack trail, eventually coming to a fork. Bear left for a technical, rocky descent (ignore the permissive bridleway option).

5

Cross the river and ascend, keeping left at a fork then turning left on a bridleway towards Foxworthy. By some houses, keep right on a bridleway through a wooden gate. Later, fork right to Peck Farm. Climb steeply, bearing sharply right to Hunters Tor. Here, head left along the ridgetop, onto a technical rocky descent.

6

Go right at/before a gate, up and then downhill. Keep ahead/left past the Foxworthy bridleway from earlier. Head left on a new trail then left again, onto a climb. Go right on the road. Keep right to just past a junction (with Lustleigh on your left) and go right on a bridleway. Descend, cross a lumpy, stony bridge at the bottom and go left, back uphill, to the car park.

LOCATION DETAILS Dartmoor National Park is an area of moorland covering 954km . The quiet valleys, dense woods, huge rocks, ferns and moss provide a real feeling of isolation and remoteness (except around Hound Tor!), as well as some fun, tough, technical riding.

GETTING THERE The easiest access is from the A38. Take the A382 into Bovey Tracey, then go left at the roundabout on the B3387. Keep right on this road, signed to Manaton and Becky Falls, and follow it up onto the top of the moors. Just around a sharp left-hand bend, there’s a car park on the right.

FACILITIES For food and accommodation near the start/end, try The Kestor Inn in Water (01647 221626, www.thekestor.com). There’s a camping barn by Great Hound Tor (01629 592700, www.

greathoundtorfarm.com) and camping at Five Wyches Farm near Bovey Tracey (01626 832310,

www.five-wyches-farm.co.uk). You’ve got a few self-catering accommodation options here, too – call Bovey Tracey Tourist Information Centre on 01626 832047 or check Airbnb. The Hound of the Basket Meals food van is often found at the Hound Tor car park. Bigpeaks bike shop, on the A38 in Ashburton, is open seven days a week (01364 654080, www.bigpeaks.com).

MAPS & BOOKS Ordnance Survey Landranger 191: Okehampton & North Dartmoor. South West Mountain Biking: Quantocks, Exmoor, Dartmoor by

Max Darkins (Rough Ride Guide).