Goldeneye Exmoor & North Devon: Cycling Country Lanes & Traffic-Free Family Routes

This Map covers the Exmoor National Park and North Devon; an area with a wide variety of coastal and inland scenery, much historic, architectural and leisure interests. The Exmoor National Park is largely in Somerset, with a small portion lying in Devon. At times the climate is harsh with mist, cloud and rain, and is reminiscent of Scotland. When the skies clear, the wild, wide beauty is unsurpassed. The landscape is undulating, full of rolling hills, marshland, bracken, heather and gorse, and divided by swift flowing streams which cut through the steep-sided valleys, known as combes. The rolling moorland provides splendid views seawards across the Bristol Channel to Wales. In places the coast is crowned with high cliffs falling precipitously to the sea.  The Exmoor sheep and wild ponies are seen everywhere, as can be found buzzard and raven. The roaming red deer is rarely seen close to, they feed at night and by day lie hidden in the woods or bracken. North Devon is a rural landscape of small villages, rich pastures, secluded coves and long sandy beaches popular with the surfing fraternity. The two ancient ports of Barnstaple and Bideford have grown beside the wide estuary of the Taw and Torridge rivers. Stretching southwards from these ports is the gentle pastoral countryside known as 'The Land of the Two Rivers' so vividly brought to life in the works of Henry Williamson. The warm equable climate, together with the nature of the countryside provides excellent recreational opportunities, particularly for the cyclist and mountain biker, walker, horseman, fisherman and surfer. The area also contains a sufficient variety of cultural and urban interests to satisfy all tastes. So, if you seek quiet country lanes, river valleys and routes along flat ridges affording spectacular sea views that swoop down to picturesque villages with tearooms awash with clotted cream, and hospitable country inns. Look no more. It is all here.   Happy Cycling, Al ChurcherRecommended Routes/TrailsNational Cycle Network (NCN) & Regional RoutesThis comprises three Regional Routes (RR) and is bounded by the National Cycle Network Route (NCN) 3 to the south, and the NCN 27 to the west. 1. Regional Route 56: This is a link between NCN 3 at Bratton Fleming and RR 51 at Berrynarbor. (J4) 2. RR 51: Links coastal towns and villages; Ilfracombe - Combe  Martin – Trentishoe – Martinhoe – Lynmouth – Malmsmead. (G2) 3. RR 59: Links Exmoor with the coast; Kinsford Gate – Simonsbath – Lynmouth. (K4)4. NCN 27 Devon Coast to Coast: Ilfracombe – Mortehoe – Woolacombe – Croyde – Upcott – Braunton – Barnstaple, then onto the NCN 27 towards Dartmoor and Plymouth. (F2) 5. NCN 3 The West Country Way; Bristol – Padstow via Exmoor, Barnstaple, Instow (Tarka Trail to Petrockstow). (G9) Traffic-Free Family Routes/Trails1. The Tarka Cycle Trail (part of NCN 3 & 27) runs on tarmac from Braunton – Barnstaple, then beside the Taw Estuary to Instow, up beside the River Torridge to the Puffing Billy pub below Torrington. Crossing the river to Watergate Bridge, the trails joins a bridlepath and is cycleable on a hybrid, touring and folding bike all the way to Meeth. Excellent café at Yard - Railway summit (F8). Distance 32 miles/51kms - all traffic-free. (F4) 2. Ilfracombe to Willingcott Cross. Easy family trail along former railway line with waymarked links to Woolacombe. Distance 3 miles/5kms. (F2) 3. Grand Western Canal (NCN 3). Quiet, family cycling trail along canal path, to and from Tiverton. Distance 8 miles/13kms. (P8) 4. Willand to Tiverton Parkway. With link to NCN 3, this is a flat, traffic-free path. Also links up with the Grand Western Canal at Sampford Peverell. Distance 3 miles/5kms. (R8) 

Goldeneye Exmoor North Devon & The Quantocks Off-Road Bike Routes

Explore Exmoor and North Devon on your mountain bike with this laminated, waterproof Exmoor map. With 10 clearly-marked routes this easy-to-use map will help you discover the best of Exmoor and North Devon off road. From sand-dunes, surf beaches and rocky cliffs of the coast, through wooded hills and green-pastured valleys to the heather and tawny-grasses of the high moors; for such a small area Exmoor contains an extraordinary variety of scenery. Add the pubs and cafes of friendly country towns, and the fabled Devon cream teas of village tea-shops, all linked by narrow, high-banked lanes which see little traffic that much of their surface is covered by moss and grass, and a network of forest tracks and ancient green lanes and bridleways, and you have one of the secret jewels of the UK's off-road riding scene. But what you won't get - with one or two very obvious exceptions - are bone-juddering gnarly descents, so if you're looking for the "Oh my God" factor, this isn't the place. Instead, you have a collection of superbly varied and rideable routes - from the almost flat circuit of Braunton and the Burrows to the challenging climbs and long, open descents of some of the inland routes. Outside of Exmoor's National Park, the Quantock Hills deserve a special mention. With views out over the waters of the Bristol Channel, this area of interconnected ridges above steeply wooded combes is covered with trails that could have been designated for off-road biking. But when the sun is shining on the great ridge of the Quantocks from Crowcombe Park Gate towards Beacon Hill, or high up on Dunkery Beacon in the midst of Exmoor - one thing is for sure - this is as close to off-road riding heaven as it gets.