Before I start, I’d like to say I found this post a bit harder to write than the last, partly because it is hard to capture the beauty of the scenery without any dramatic moorland or long wooded sections to discribe, however I hope you still enjoy it.
The Blackdown hills are an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) that straddles Devon and Somerset. they have many wooded hill sides, hill top heath land and picturesque farmland and villages. I used to ride there relatively when I was a member of a cycling club local to the area, KJCC, and remembered how beautiful it could be. Time for a re-visit.
This ride starts by exiting Bampton along the Shillingford road (B3227) up the Batherm valley. I only followed this road for a km or so and already I’d seen more cyclists than I usually do in a weeks worth of riding. At Hukeley bridge, the route turns off right but I have to wait at the turning for yet more cyclists and a speeding tractor. The Road has a small climb past a clearing full of ransoms and an even shorter decent down to the gravelly junction at the bottom of ford road.
The road starts the first proper climb of the day. The climb is 3km long but only 3% average. After the initial hedged incline, a small wooded section is entered. The road rounds the corner out of the woods to a delightful valley with a hedge bellow you to the right meaning you can easily look out over the marshy land an the sheep grazing there. After about half a km, the hedge rises back up and the road bends round to reveal a wooded, steeper section. My legs start aching a worrying amount. I hope I’ll be able to make it onto the Blackdowns. The woods disappear just after joining the 344 cycle route, but the gradient carries on past Dowhills farm to slacken out to near flat with views to the fields which hold the source of the stream we have followed to your left. The road starts to descend ever so slightly and we follow the 344, turning left off the road and then right to follow the new one. All sorts of weirdly formed hills can be seen here and there as we reach some cross roads and turn left to climb a short hill with lovely banks full of ferns and wild flower.
This land to the west of the Vale of Taunton Dean has lots of pretty little villages and houses. It is surprisingly hilly and can be easy to get lost, even if following the 344 or 3. The hedge rows are full with wild flower in spring and on the verge of pushing you of your bike in summer.
At the top of the hill, more cyclists are met, these will be the last until we climb up to the Wellington monument. We turn the corner and follow the 344 down a small dip and then up the other side, past a pristine maroon and black classic car. Reaching a crossroad with a red brick sub station like building. The views have opened up and you can see a ridge in front of you with the little village of Clayhanger just in front. We turn right and cycle along the top of a small ridge, stopping only to let a farmer then the post man through. The ridge to the left turns more into big hills and a similar view can be seen on the right. Hedges rise up to obscure the hills, lowering them selves every every now and then to give back the views. We pass spaced out farm houses, alternating between twee and run down, each with its own beauty. Carrying on whizzing along the ridge, more green hills appear in front until all of a sudden the road tilts steeply down hill into a small patch of woods.
I always forget about this small steep valley. We join another road at the bottom and ride up past sweet cottage. I was expecting my legs to ache however they aren’t too bad; maybe I hadn’t warmed up properly earlier. We exit the woods and the climb becomes almost flat up to a junction. The fields are still mainly green and full of sheep as we carry on following the 344 right and the road steepens again. At the top, we have sight of wellington monument on top of the Blackdowns. The fields open out and we descend down to Appley and the Blackdowns go from looming into hiding as they disappear behind another ridge. Out of Appley, we follow the road towards Greenham and the fields become more arable. After a nice decent down to Greenham, we come across Greenham church. Its a quite small and has a spire.
I was exiting Greenham I went the wrong way. I had taken a picture of a confusing sign which showed, even if following the cycle network, you can easily get lost before I left only to realise the mistake I made. The irony still slightly amuses me now. After a small decent back into Greenham and a couple of steep climbs and descents through ploughed fields, the Blackdowns and Wellington monument came back into view, this time with no terrain obstacles between me and them. We cycle to and then along the A38. It isn’t particularly nice and, although there are few cars due to lockdown, they come sailing past. We cross a round about and turn right off the A38. A small climb up through a village and there are road closed signs. I hope that I’m fine and this time it is the closed road is at a junction but we aren’t affected: we turn right in the direction of the monument. We pass a industrial estate and then descend down over the M5 (I push to make sure I look like the drivers going under think I’m better than I am) and into Wrangway.
Wrangway has been a source of annoyance for my family. Every time we pass under the bridge on the M5, someone points at the sat nav an says we are going the Wrangway. Wrangway also happens to be where we enter the AONB and start the climb. The climb isn’t too bad to begin with as we head through high hedges towards the monument. At a gate, we turn away from the monument and the climb on to the Blackdowns steepens. Trees start to line the hedge as we climb and another cyclist comes into view. I hope I’m going the same speed as him; I hate having to overtake other cyclists, usually because I’m worried that I’ll push myself too hard. He disappears around a corner as we leave the trees. The monument is now almost level with me as we weave around the corner and the other cyclist returns into view, this time closer. After a few more bends, the road seems to have reached the summit before turning a corner and climbing some more but this time very slight up hill. A sharp corner is rounded and a second cyclist joins the road in front of me as the first pulls over. The road carries on at a small gradient towards the turning for the monument and as I pull over, the original cyclist comes sprinting past. Thanks for that!
Wellington monument is closed as I expected so I push on to find another place to have lunch. Since rounding the sharp corner onto the top, the scenery has been quite pretty: the road is tree lined with views of emerald green fields and distant wooded valleys of the Blackdowns to the right and woods to the left. At a cross road, there is an amazing (but steep) looking climb through the woods. A little further I find the Quart wood car park. It has open views to the north across to Exmoor and the Quantocks. Perfect for lunch.
After lunch, the views of the rest of the sprawling Blackdowns to the south disappear and are replaced with big open fields. I start itching to get off this main road but still I stayed. Past a Pub that was permanently closed, trees started returning and the scenery wasn’t as pretty as the Blackdowns I knew. Finally, some woods returned and I turned off into lanes. This was more like it.
The road droped down into a valley. The road was amazing as we passed through a pretty collection of cottages. When the gental climb came, I was socked at first: I’d forgotten about the fact I’d have to climb up again. Luckly, it was a nice shallow climb through green fields. The village of Churchstansion is passed and I have to start stopping at almost every junction to check the way: there is a big network of lanes that are ever-changing in direction. It didn’t help I was making up the route as I went but that’s what makes for the most fun exploring. We start decending towards a village called Willand but turn of at a junction overlooking it. I try to take a picture but it is hard since it is too far away and behind a hedge. A common problem on the Blackdowns I found was taking pictures. Most things were too far away or only seen through trees/hedges so hard to get a decent picture. What made matters worse was the fact my phone is running low on space so only chooses to save a portion of the pictures I take so I have no pictures between lunch and the farm mentioned later.
From now on, the roads get less well maintained and the enjoyment of riding takes over. There are another couple of wooded valleys with lovely views before we approach a farm. The map seems to show the road carrying on but this is definitely a farm yard. The map says that there is a junction just around a kink. I venture past rusty machinery and barns over crud covered concrete. Is this really the road? Around the kink, there is indeed what could be described as a junction with a cow standing in the middle! I turn left and find myself back on tarmac, but not for long as the road turns back to concrete and becomes dead straight. I feel uneasy again. Is this really the way? This looks like an old runway. I follow it to the road where I am met with a sparser flatter area.
This part of the Blackdowns are less hilly but a lot more windy; there are at least 3 old/current aerodromes in these parts. I’m able to power along a nicely paved road and relax into a rhythm. I relax so much that when the road drops steeply downward to Hemyock, I’m taken by suprise. I stop in the picturesque town to have a chocolate bar before powering on to the equally pretty village of Culmstock. The monument is now visible again to the right and we pass many, many cyclists going the opposite way. We stick to the Culm valley all the way to Uffculme where we turn off and climb through fields similar to parkland then up past a quarry. I start tiring quickly and the rest of the ride seems like a blur.
We cross the A38 and then cycle down narrow lanes, back over the M5 and turn towards Uplowman. This way back I choose was needlessly hard. After some steep but short hills, we hit Uplowman and then follow the Lowman valley road back to Huntsham near which we join the 344 and descend the first climb back towards Bampton.
If gps not working, click here.
South West Xplorer 