Infamous Dartmoor Here I Come!

After a crazy week including work on Saturday and with another crazy week at work ahead I can't express how much I'm looking forward to next weekend! It's a three-days-off bank holiday weekend and I had planned to do a mountain biking trip to Dartmoor in January already. Booked a rental car as it was unlikely for me to have my own yet at this point, bought a map and a mountain biking guide book.

Still I only came up with the actual routes yesterday and had a lot of fun figuring out where to go and what to do. The guidebook helped a lot as well as hitting the net though the routes that people publish online seldom have a grade so you kind of have to guess how difficult they are. 

I'm more a trail rider, I find no fun in steep descends and tricky bends. I want to enjoy the scenery while riding and don't want to go extra fast.

I'll drive down to Okehampton Friday night as soon as work allows and will camp at the Lydfort Campsite. Depending on the weather Saturday I could do two shorter trails nearby or when the view is good do the Military Road starting in Okehampton which is a nice 24km route mostly on a bridleway plunging deep into the moor.

There is plenty of choice for Sunday and Monday and I'll make that up as I go depending on the weather, mood and my physical condition, hehe. The Princetown-Burrator Loop is certainly on the top of my list.

Planned mountain bike routes

With car and tent I'm as mobile as possible and can literally do whatever I want. I can take the food I want without any limits to weight or packing size and I can sleep in the car or park it somewhere and pitch my tent. This is freedom!