UKC

we're possibly going to head down for a few days next week as forecast for weather up north looks miserable so far.. but anyhting can happen

so we happy about teh plan to climb in portland but are keen mountain bikers and need uphill fixes daily after climbing...

a. are there any hills to go up that are good long climbs that are near some of trhe good climbing venues... more inland i expect

b. i don't mind if it's tarmac roads .. as better than nothing

c. are there any good places to mountain bike?

PS obviously i have no idea about this area and only ever go down south to get the ferry to go to france

In reply to pork pie girl:

You sound like one of Monty Python's four Yorkshiremen.

In reply to pork pie girl:
I would suggest Gold Hill, Shaftsbury, to recreate the classic Hovis Ad, but it turns out it's the other side of Dorset

In reply to pork pie girl:

Purbeck isn't too far away; should be something to keep you occupied around Creech

In reply to pork pie girl: googlemaps with terrain view reveals that West Dorset has its fair share of hills.

In reply to pork pie girl:

Get on Garmin Connect (it's free) and have a search around the area... there are plenty of hills in the area, including some big-ish drags out of Weymouth inland, and further west on the coast there's golden cap etc on the way to Lyme regis (some of which may be closed due to recent landslide activity)... not sure how much of this is bridleways, but look here:
www.bikeroutetoaster.com
switch the map view to "Cycle" and go and look just north west of portland, the entire area is infested with bridleways.

In reply to silhouette:

I know!!!!

In reply to pork pie girl:


The hill simply getting on to Portland from the Causeway is a decent climb...

Have a look at the map:

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=368935&y=73275&z=115&sv=36...

There are no bridleways on Portland (at least visible on the map), only footpaths. You can check this using Dorset's PROW GIS:

http://explorer.geowessex.com/

Use the 'single monitor' icon to select the base map (OS), and then the 'double monitor' icon to select layers: you want the 'countryside' layers to enable PRoWs.

You'll have to go inland to find bridleways and hills for MTB, but, having done so, there are plenty. Again; use the Dorset GIS to find them; go NW of Portland, and find the Dorset Ridgeway, for instance.

Going East takes you to the Purbeck Hills, and there's a lot of good riding around there, and, unless you're super-fit, you'll need the granny ring...

Dorset is known for its uppy-downy nature; not long climbs, but a lot of them, and fairly stiff.

In reply to captain paranoia: mountain biking and horse riding the clifftop path around Portland seems to be positively encouraged even though it is officially a footpath. The section from The Heights down Westcliff past Blacknor to The Bill is pretty "exciting" and the climb back up Eastside is great riding with only a very short section on the road from Cheyne to Church Ope (this is also passable off road but it gets a bit too exciting). I think the horse riding people are trying to get it bridleway status as it has always been used as such, well worth a go.

In reply to pork pie girl:

Look up the route map for the 'Jurassic Beast' - a hard 6 hours of riding

In reply to pork pie girl:

How about this:

http://www.ukbikepark.com/

In reply to pork pie girl: Try the ridgeway west from Weymouth around abbots bury, great area for mountain biking and the coast road to bridport has a couple of stonking road climbs

In reply to pork pie girl: If you like freeride try Puddletown Forest http://trails.mtbr.com/cat/trails-around-the-world/europe-trails/trails-eur... It can be very good, even northshore stuff at times but be warned it has cost me a few broken ribs in the past.

In reply to johnl:


Ah, I bow to your superior local knowledge; just going by my experience as an infrequent visitor, and avid map-reader...

It would be nice if the local authority got its act together and re-designated the footpath as a bridleway if the really want to encourage people to use it as such...

Actually, while you're here... I watched Julia Bradbury's 'Railway Walks' the other day, the Portland episode, and, when not wishing that I'd taken photos of the historical stuff that's now gone, wondered about the status of the old railbed; the latest mapping shows no PRoWs on it on the island, but I'm sure there used to be; I need to check my old maps. Is this the 'legacy' of the Olympics; removing the footpath through the Olympic venue...?