Looks like I missed the glorious weather of May and June… So when a window of sunshine opened in a somewhat bleak multi-story edifice of rain, I headed out to Somerset with fellow bikepacker (and Jones rider) Alex Gist for a couple of days of old-fashioned, Quantock Hills mountain biking.

Given their proximity to Exmoor National Park and compact size, the Quantocks are often overlooked. But the fact that they’re

• 1/ unusually dense with bridleways and forest roads of all ilks and styles,
• 2/ just a quick train ride from Bristol away

has always made them really appealing to me. The riding is fantastic, too. It flits between grassy ridge top traverses in oceans of heather, set to grand rural and channel views, and swoopy plummets into ancient and magical woodlands of twisted oaks, mosses, and lichens. There are even some precariously steep-sided downhill trails around Triscombe, if that’s your poison.

Logistics-wise, the Quantock Hills can be reached by either Bridgwater or Taunton – 45 minutes or an hour respectively from Bristol. The train generally has ample space for bikes with bags, even head-turning behemoths like the Jones LWBs!

More on all that after some pics…

A full Quantoxian immersion. The first climb from Hawkridge Reservoir, in a sunken drover’s road hollowed by centuries of use, wastes not a moment setting the scene for the adventures ahead.

Picking blackberries and climbing trees. Just everyday British pastimes…

Pausing for an afternoon coffee pick-me-up. We also attempted to put a dent in a monster bag honey brittle, made for us by Alex’ Scottish friend Mary. Thank you!!

Foraging for wild forest edibles. Rumour had it that gorse flowers are good to eat in small quantities, if a little bitter, so we added them to the tasting menu. I’ll admit, tea ceremony-specialist Alex pick up far more subtleties in its aroma and flavour than I did…

Not just natural beauty. Outstanding Natural Beauty…

The Drove Road is a bridleway shaped by a million hoof prints, and forms part of the 12-mile spine of the Quantock Hills.

X marks the spot. We buried our paraphernalia of camping gear in a thicket of ferns to best enjoy the trails. Our legs were grateful too, given the infamously steep ascents here.

Gear sidenote: The Tailfin luggage system makes this especially quick and easy!

There was time for a short foray on the downhill trails of Triscombe, before climbing back up to the hilltops.

Then we were diving down from lofty Hurley Beacon into ancient woods crisscrossed with roots and stream splashes and jumps.

Welcome to the Combe Zone!

Slaughterhouse Combe... We made up ghost stories that sent shivers down my spine.

Up, up, and up, via Sheppard’s Combe.

Grab your snorkel and submerse yourself in oceans of heather and gorse.

Beacon Hill. A trig point marks the top of the world. If only it was all downhill from here…

Twisty, turny, ferny Vinny Combe.

After climbing back out of West Quantoxhead via Bicknoller Combe, it was time to call this yoyoing a day…

… and throws some late-afternoon shapes.

We retraced our steps back long The Drove Road (not just A Drove Road) to retrieve our gear.

Then, ducked into some woodland for the night. I fine dined on Fernweh’s tasty Kimchi Rice Bowl, rehydrated over Alex’s twig stove. Note compostable packaging!

Sweet dreams, morning coffee and ablutions. And yep, that’s a portable bidet!

After snacking on raspberries, we headed out for Round 2, striking towards the beacons, hilltops and trig points on the wonderful Drove Road again.

The sun’s shining. The heather ‘n gorse are popping. Glorious!

On this occasion, we dropped down into Smith’s Combe, then winched ourselves jubilantly back out again. Our onlookers appeared less unimpressed that we’d conquered this Quantoxian right of passage. They’ve seen it all before, since the dawn of British mountain biking (sheep yawn).

Quantocks mood board.

Smith’s Combe Chunk.

Alex’s beloved Wales, across the watery expanse of the Bristol Channel.

Into Holdford Combe we rode for one last twisted, straggly oak dive, emerging at ominous but sunny Dead Woman’s Ditch…

The ice cream van didn’t even need music to lure these two bikepackers over. Alex charmed the server with both his Georgian charm and joie de vivre.

Bonus fact: it was local ice cream from a solar-powered ice cream van!

Honeycomb and double-clotted cream… Worth every one of its 4 pounds!

And back we rode along The Drovers Road from whence we came.

Love is… mum and a Jones bike?!

Field Notes

The Quantocks was once a regular stomping ground for me – but it’s a while since I’ve ridden there and my memory is hazy. To figure out where to ride, I pulled up a couple of day ride options from RWGPS and Komoot.

To best enjoy the trails, we stashed our stuff in the forest, rode a loop unladen, found a discreet place to camp (NB: Leave No Trace), rode another loop the following day, and returned to Bridgwater once more. It worked out well, and we covered a number of the classic combes, like Smith’s, Sheppard’s, Somerton, and Hodder’s. It looks like there’s a whole load of DH trails in the Triscombe area too.

Quantock descents can be twisty ‘n turny woodland singletrack, or fast and open trails through the moorlands. The climbs can be knee-poppingly steep, so I think riding mostly unladen is the way to go. I’ve included our wiggly loop below, along with links to the routes we based it on. I’ve marked also a more official camping spot – Quantock Camping – near the route in West Bagborough.

Expect mud and gloop in the lower bridleways after rain. Up top drains well, as do the coombes. Surrender yourself to the water splashes!

We carried all the food we needed, filtering water from streams, but you could detour for pub grub. There used to be a tea house called Stella’s in Bicknoller Combe which served the most enormous meringues and was a highlight of any ride in the Quantocks. But that closed many years ago. I still dream about those meringues though…

The Route

This is our route – it’s based on the classic MBR Quantocks Killer Loop which is easy to find online, and Barney’s A Grand Quantocks Day Out, though we ended up adjusting things here and there. We split it into two days, with a 45-minute train between Bristol and Bridgwater (£20 return). We tried to keep to OS bridleways, but sometimes it gets confusing in the moorland with so many tracks in every which direction, so take responsibility for where you ride.

The ride in and out of Bridgwater isn’t the most appealing – the lanes are narrow and the traffic is fast. I think you’re better off taking the train to and from Taunton, which is 15 minutes beyond Bridgwater, and makes for a better access point to the good stuff.

There’s also a 4 day bikepacking route, connecting the Quantock Hills with Exmoor National Park, over at Bikepacking.com.

Thanks for reading! Any questions, fire away!