ケンのおすすめMTBライド

Top bit technical, then gets faster and flowing. a great down hill

Not for me on my new e-mtb. Chicken'ed out and went around it.

Haldon Forest Park opened the new start to the red trail in mid December 2023 and it's fantastic. It's packed gravel with berms at the start, then splits in two. Take the right 'short cut' to cut the entire red in two (or take it to ride back to the start and do the new section again) or stay left to carry on along the new bit and then get onto the usual red. This new section is nowhere near as challenging as the main red, but it's super fast and fun. As it spits you out on the fire track after a short distance, it's great for kids too, who can have a great time on this punchy gravel but bail before the red gets hairy. The way it's set up means it's easy to only do this bit, ride back to the start, and do it again and again.

Great trail for the whole family. Can relax and cruise or head down and pick up some speed. The full trail is about 7 miles so tough for little ones

Nice and very cycle friendly cafe at Haldon Forest. Plenty of outside bike storage, picnic benches etc as well as indoor seating. Good simple menu for food, snacks, and drinks. Perfectly positioned to ride from here on the surfaced trails of Haldon or to include it as a stop in a longer loop. Open every day.

This new trail feature on the red run is a really testing one, with a left hander followed by a rocky, tight right hand turn down to the fire road. You might need a few attempts before you can get it running fluidly, or at least I did!

This is a Devon MTB classic: a long bridleway descent (or climb) from the village of Kenn up to the Cafe side of Haldon Forest Park. It's really narrow with some small, rollable drops so best descended, but pretty fun as a technical climb if you fancy it! In the spring look out for the bluebells, and be warned that in the wet and winter it's more like a stream bed, you will get very wet and muddy!

After the thrilling descent on the Kiddens Trail that zig-zags down the hillside, you'll enter into the woodland section. Here the twisting singletrack darts between the tall pines, banked by mossy hillsides with a few stream crossings. It's a bit more pedally through here than the previous section, but really beautiful.