CHEDDAR, MENDIP HILLS, SOMERSET

DISTANCE 34.4KM (21.4 MILES) CLIMBING 1,120M (3,674FT) TIME 2HRS 30MINS TO 4HRS

Route summary: After a play on the pump track and a spin along the cycle path to warm up, Rowberrow Warren has some manmade and natural singletrack trails to explore. Afterwards, a fantastic descent leads you back to Cheddar and the optional adventure up Cheddar Gorge Start/finish: Cheddar Reservoir car park (postcode: BS27 3DR, grid ref: ST 447/535) 1

Head back to town up Shapham Road but go left just before the T-junction. Join the Strawberry Line and follow it through Axbridge and over the A371 to a minor road. Bear left off-road again soon after. Just before a tunnel, bear left (walk) up the footpath.

2

Go right at the T-junction and right through a gate to pass through the car park. Join a path over the road opposite, which goes right, parallel to the tarmac. At the main road go left beside it, then quickly right over it, before the garage, onto a bridleway, uphill.

3

Keep left on the bridleway, up, ahead and down to a road (there’s a cafe here). Ride straight on the one opposite. Pass Mendip Camp and contine ahead onto a forest track when the road bears right. When the track goes left, either join a tougher one ahead, which cuts the corner, or follow it left and down, then right and up.

4

At the track crossing, go straight on, on the middle track. Climb up to the ‘Christmas Trees’ trailhead and follow this to its end, going right on the forest track and sharply right again, before Warren House, back uphill. Proceed until the marker for ‘Pump Track’ and go left on it. 5

Continue on ‘The Chippy’ (or ‘Twins’) and ride over another track on ‘Yee Haw’, then go right at the end. Keep right on the forest track to climb back up to the top (where you where earlier). Go left, out of the woods and keep ahead, around the right flank of the hilltop.

6

Go left around the hill and left again, joining the ‘Limestone Link’ trail. After crossing a couple of brooks, head over a bridleway and go left on a wide track, uphill. Keep ahead and down through a gate off the moors. Go straight on the road at Tyning’s Farm, onto a bridleway.

7

Head right at the bottom, to a crossroads. Turn left and into Cheddar. Make a left at the roundabout and climb Cheddar Gorge. Look for a bridleway near the top, with a layby on either side. Go right, into the trees, for a steep hike-a-bike up the hillside. Keep ahead up to the top and follow the path down, bearing left by the lookout tower.

8

Bear right on the tarmac, then left past Edelweiss Cafe and ahead/left at the roundabout. Go right at the T-junction, then bear left at the next monument, signed Wedmore. Turn right along this road and rejoin the Strawberry Line, then go left, back to the car park.