The Quantock Hills, at last!

We finally managed to arrange the long discussed Quantock Hills ride last weekend. We all met up at my place in Bristol after work on Friday afternoon.

Once everyone got to my house it started to rain and then as I expected the light shower to pass, it then started to thunder and thunder hard! We must have been right under the thunderstorm in the local pub that we ate dinner at. There was lightning all around us and very heavy rain as well. We were sat under a sloped glass extension in the pub so could see the heavy rain pouring down the roof. It was quite amazing but didn't bode well for the weekend.

As it turned out the weather for the weekend couldn't have been sunnier or drier. Actually we probably would have like a little less sunshine as it was very sunny on Saturday and even sunnier on Sunday.

Along for the ride were Ben (Susan's flat mate), Wiki, Susan and James (work friend Becky's husband). Here they all are on Saturday morning outside our accommodation at The Hood Arms. Possibly the last time we were seen in one piece. :-o

The route started off with a gentle uphill ride along the main road from the hotel in Kilve to Holford where the actual Quantock route started.

We had a nice uphill climb of around 500ft in well-shaded forest. It was a good climb to start the ride off with as it warmed everyone up for the days riding.

There were quite a few people that we saw all day along the Quantock hills, something that surprised me. I guess there are a number of car parks at the edges of the hills which makes it quite accessible to lots of people.

Here's Wiki looking particularly cheerful around the top of the hills as Ben cycles off.

Wiki had a new compass that she wanted to try out on the day. We had quick practice before we set off from The Hood Arms. Immediately Wiki proclaimed that we should head right along the main road from the pub, obviously we needed to head left!

There was a very good, and also very steep and rocky descent into Smith's Combe. While we were struggling down the descent two extremely fast mountain bikers literally flew past us. They must have been barely touching the ground on their way down. Ben went down the route very quickly but these two other riders were something else. I guess if you have the courage you can just let yourself go and fly down the tracks. If you do make a mistake though I'm guessing it would be hospital time.

Wiki managed to get down this descent with only a few stops and she didn't even walk any of it, which made her particularly pleased. Unfortunately Susan did fall over when trying to stop when going down, but she wasn't seriously injured. I think the steepness of the slope meant that while she could stop herself, her bike wanted to continue down the hill with her in the way.

One of many steep climbs throughout the day. Unlike Wales where there are a few long and sometimes steep climbs on a days riding, the Quantocks was more of a case of shorter climbs but many more of them. Ben labeled me a hill-climbing demon as most of the time I was first up to the top of the hills, I blame my big thighs. At least everyone's smiling in this photo. :-)

After yet another climb we decided to stop for lunch in a shaded area before leaving the forest. The sun was particularly hot around lunchtime and only Susan had put on any suntan lotion. We all had bought some along, but none of us thought to bring any along for the ride, as it was quite overcast when we set off.

Here's Ben after another climb to some fantastic scenery of the north coast and Bridgewater Bay. Unfortunately we went the wrong way at this point and had to turn back down the hill for a bit.

Susan coming down a good gentle but steep decent. You can get an idea of the speed when coming down the descent in this movie. I remember when I was coming down this hill in front of Wiki. I stopped at one point just after negotiating some steps as the track got a lot steeper, and Wiki shouted at me to get a move on. So spurred on by Wiki's voice I just rode down the steep bits to the bottom. Then when Wiki got to the bit where I stopped, she stopped too and then realised why I had came to a halt for a minute.

Here some of us are at the very peak of one of the higher Quantock Hills. We were all very happy to have made it this far up to the peak.

A better idea of the terrain around the peak. Everyone else had made it up by this point.

An even better panoramic view from the peak.

I recall that at one point I was following Wiki and she ran into a muddy track, I tried to go left around her and my front wheel just dug into the mud when I was moving along. I ended up vaulting over my handlebars as my front wheel just stopped. As it turned out I flew along past the mud and landed on my hands and ended up lying chest down a few yards further ahead. Wiki and Ben said it looked like quite an impressive vault. It was a total reflex action on my part to end up laying on my front avoiding all the mud too!

On the way up what turned out to be the final and longest ascent Susan spotted a herd of deer on the right. Wiki and I completely missed the deer as we were busy cycling up the hill. I guess if you do walk up you might see a little more of the scenery.

Even Wiki and I gave up trying to cycle up to the very top of this hill. It was around 4pm by now and we were all starting to feel the affects of cycling all day. On the way down the hill we saw what was probably a group of beginners on a bike ride with a couple of tour guides. A couple of the beginners we carrying obvious injuries.

Around half way up the hill Wiki was saying that she really wanted a fizzy drink. Quite unusual for her as she doesn't normally drink fizzy drinks. We all put it down to exhaustion and heat stroke and had a good laugh over the subject. We were actually starting to run out of water at this point. Both Ben and I only had small amounts left in our camel packs and everyone else had run out by now.

I still had some energy at the top and while waiting for the others to get here I did my Capricorn One film end scene of running towards the camera while Wiki took some photos. I did feel a little odd at this point as my legs didn't feel tired at all, despite everyone else saying they were suffering a little. I put it down to my own delusions of grandeur.

Once we finally descended back into a valley we came across a relatively shallow ford. It appeared as if cycle tracks went into the river for around 50 yards. While everyone else decided to cycle around the river route to the right I really wanted to try cycling through the ford.

Once everyone else had got to the end of the ford I started across it. I did manage to get to the other side without stopping at all, which I was quite pleased about. However at the end of the ford there was a ten-inch lip that I had to put a foot into the ford to pull my bike up to the bank. I must admit about half way along the water I was slipping quite a bit on the algae covered rocks. I did wonder whether I would make it at that point.

Here's a shot looking back at the ford and path.

At Holford on the way back to the inn, we found a very nice and quite posh hotel. In our very muddy state we weren't allowed inside the hotel, but we were served drinks outside. James had some very tasty scones as well. He did eventually share out the last scone to the rest of us as he just couldn't manage any more. ;-)

Wiki even had her fizzy drink that she was craving.

We got back to The Hood Arms at around six and as well has a good shower all had a well-deserved drink. It must have been one of the best pints of Guinness in recent memory for me.

Dinner was in The Hood Arms as there wasn't much choice of anything else in Kilve. There is only one pub and one corner shop in the village. After dinner everyone else was quite tired so went to bed relatively early at 10.30. I was still up for at least one more drink, so Susan and I stayed up for another hour with a couple of drinks.

We managed to complete around two thirds of the actual killer loop that we were following. Including getting lost a few times we did 18 miles which is a good days cycling off road.


Sunday started with a drive down to the southern Quantock Hills. This area is mainly forested and it was a good idea to cycle here for half a day, as it was clear and sunny from sunrise.

We started at a car park, which was quite high up, so the first few miles were just quick wide tracked descents. Eventually we reached a small stream with an incomplete bridge. We all took turns crossing the steam. Everyone made it without putting a foot down in the stream, but it was very muddy on both sides of the stream.

Here's Susan's attempt.

We decided to just cycle around the forest tracks without following any map directions. Whoever was in the lead would just decide to follow whichever path looked most interesting to them.

We came across a single track which was quite muddy and grassy. It turned out to be a great track as it was slightly downhill as well as being technical. It came to a grassy junction where we stopped for a short break. It really felt as we were in the middle of nowhere in the forest at this point. A very calm and relaxed feeling.

At this point we were counting our injuries from the previous day. Can you guess who's knee this is with the big bruise? Fill in the opinion poll on the left of the blog to have a guess.

Here are the group after we finally decided to look at the map for some more sensible directions. I think Wiki had decided to stop testing her compass and map reading skills at this point.

On the way back to the cars we had to go over the same unbridged river as before, here's James crossing it.

And here's Ben making the crossing and also making it look much easier than the rest of us did.

A few more climbs later and we eventually reached the cars again. We then headed back to the inn for a shower and then back to Bristol. We only managed 8 miles this morning, but we were only out for three hours and most of the routes were wide-open tracks.

At Bristol we went to Wagamamas for a late lunch. James had to get back at this point, but the rest of us went for a brief shop and tour around Bristol.

I took everyone around parts of Clifton and down to the town centre. Here's a view of the old unused cranes by the Arnolfini.

And here we all are enjoying the lazy afternoon Sunday sunshine.

I had a fantastic weekend and would like to thank Susan, Wiki, Ben and James for coming along for the weekend and making it as much fun as it was. It was just as good as the Real Ale wobble, but in a very different way. The much warmer climate made it much more of a pleasant ride rather than the challenge that the wobble was.

If only every weekend could be as much fun! :-)

We're already planning our next trip, I've heard mentions of possibly a canadian boat river camp out and also a ride around either the Lake District or Peak District. I look forward to them both as I know I'll enjoy it with such great company on my adventures.