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The May MTB Wellness Ride is great scenic and fun route out past Barbury, through the Vale of Rockley and back via the old railway line.

A similar distance to the April ride, the loop is 27km and 270m of climbing.
We start at the Three Trees Cafe and ride out on the Ridgeway, up the side of Barbury Castle and continue along the Ridgeway to the top of Hackpen Hill.
With the bulk of the climbing out of the way, we will descend through the Vale of Rockley, which has a great entry descent and normally lots of Red Kites overhead in the sheltered valley. There’s an option to pop up into the woods of Rockley for the small drops, or just to take 5 and enjoy the scenery.
From Rockley we start the climb at the beginning of Four Mile Clump, but quickly turn right for a long fireroad descent to Ogbourne Maizey, before picking up the old railway line back to the Three Trees for post ride cake!

As always the ride is based around taking in the great views and having a good time.

There is a free car park next to the Three Trees, as well as the cafe car park.

We will ride out from the Three Trees car park at 10.30am

I will be there before that if you’ve got any questions about your bike, riding or the ride – I am a MIAS Level 3 leader and coach and cytech technician too.

We were going to an Exmoor weekend last year, but given everything that’s still going on, we’re going to do a big day out instead.
This is a great route showcasing some of the great riding in the Porlock and Minehead area – spectacular views, epic descents and a beach 🙂
We start at Porlock and head out up towards Selworth Beacon for our first view of the sea, before dropping down and then up to the top of Wootton Common, where the Southern Enduro champs have been held for several years. After a choice of technical or loose descents, we will have a rest at the bottom in Wootton Courtenay.
From there we’re off to the fun steep tracks of Horner Woods, before returning to the top to descent the last fun hill back into Porlock.

This isn’t the longest ride (26km), but there is over 800m of climbing and the terrain is generally loose rock. All the hills are steep – up and down – but pushing up hill is welcome (and occasionally necessary). On the descents most of the tracks are covered in loose rocks and some are fairly steep. It’s a reasonably technical ride with steep climbs. We’ll be taking a leisurely pace, but it’s a tough ride.

Meet in the Doverhay car park, opposite the Spar on the High Street in Porlock for a 10.30am start.