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Dartmoor Way launch95-mile route round Dartmoor launched
Fancy a challenge this weekend? The Dartmoor Way is a 95-mile route around the eponymous national park, launched this week by cycling writer and TV presenter Robert Penn.
And if 95 miles of Dartmoor terrain doesn’t sound like enough of a challenge, there’s a 27-mile addition that cuts across the moor, opening up the possibility of a 150+ mile figure-eight epic.
The route links numerous Dartmoor hamlets, villages and towns. It has been signed with brightly coloured way markers and passes through or near Bovey Tracey, Ashburton, Buckfastleigh, Ivybridge, Yelverton, Tavistock, Okehampton, Chagford and Moretonhampstead to name a few. It is mainly on quiet roads or hard ground.
In addition to the main circular route, the a 27-mile long High Moorland Link trail, cuts across Dartmoor via Princetown.
Robert Penn officially launched The Dartmoor Way at Dartmoor National Park's headquarters in Bovey Tracey earlier this week.
Robert, who recently cycled the Trans-Amazonian Highway with Freddie Flintoff to make a documentary series for Sky TV, has presented on the BBC and authored a Sunday Times bestselling book It's All About the Bike: the Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels.
He said: "I have been a passionate cyclist for many years and have often thought how wonderful it would be to cycle through Dartmoor. Thanks to Sustrans and its partners, this is now possible. I can't wait to get on my bike and explore this beautiful national park."
Sustrans' Devon Manager Paul Hawkins, added: "This route intentionally takes people into lesser known areas of Dartmoor, bringing economic benefits to settlements around the moor."
Dartmoor Way chairman George Coles, said: "We hope businesses along the route will gain an uplift in trade throughout the year as a result of the predicted extra daytrippers and holidaymakers it will attract. Public interest in the route has already surpassed expectations and all those that have tried it out have commented on the stunning scenery and sense of achievement felt."
For more information, visit www.dartmoorway.co.uk
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
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8 comments
Not a speedy route by any means but tough all the same. I know the southern sections well. Shame it misses the 20% inclines from Ashburton to Poundsgate. Choose your day wisely as weather changes on the Moor are dramatic. Tavistock to Clearbrook are on windy surfaces sustran cycle tracks.
Can you do it on a road bike? Sustrans are a bunch of hippies with mountain bikes. I've seen their idea of 'traffic free cycle tracks' in Bedford and Somerset, they are bridleways replete with pedestrians and dogs on the loose. I would much rather see proper signage for good routes on quiet lanes than constantly have to dive off road on to poorly maintained shared use paths.
See my other post re dogs @ Parke at Bovey, though it can be done on road bike but it's not fun (too wet in winter for <25 tyres, too busy in summer) unless you're happy to proceed gently - it is a pleasant place to take a stroll though and far more suited to small kids on bikes out with parents walking on a summer's day or dogwalking - I tend to laugh at both MB-ers (especially) and roadies that cut down through there as I used to take my daughters to Parke to learn when they were in single digits.
I'd consider it on a road bike but I'd make a few detours - still, you're guaranteed of a pretty ride.
I think this might be a gpx source https://ridewithgps.com/routes/3548338
Who is going to be the first to do it and report back?
Never mind the .jpg, where's the .gpx?
it's a signed route - would you like the braille version?
Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that there's a new signed route, but it's not like that's what's made it possible to cycle through Dartmoor. The roads have been there for a very long time.
And sadly they've sent cyclists up a section at Bovey that is a) heaving with dog-walkers and b) then has a nasty section up to the reservoirs that is an ultra-narrow short-cut for cars (and up until recently missing a lot of road surface) - the ride out the back of Bovey a much more cycle friendly one IMHO and would be my preferred climb - obviously not thought out by a local.
(A passionate cyclist too)