Route summary: A fun outing across the moors with some challenging trails and remote riding but nothing too difficult or dangerous. The trails stand up well but are best saved for good weather.
STATS: Distance: 25.7km (16 miles). Climbing: 575m (1,886ft). Time: 2-3hrs.
Location details: Dartmoor is an upland area of moorland in Devon, with exposed granite hilltops known as tors. Most of the good riding is around the edge of the National Park, but this route defies that rule.
Start/finish: Princetown visitor centre car park (grid ref SX 589/736, postcode PL20 6QQ).
Getting there: Princetown is on the B3212, in the south-west of the National Park. You can cross the moor on the B3212 from Exeter, but it’s generally easier to take the A30 and A386 to Tavistock and then head onto the moor.
Facilities: The Plume of Feathers in Princetown has B&B rooms and a bunkhouse (www.plumeoffeathersdartmoor.co.uk, 01822 890240). The nearby Two Bridges Hotel is very nice (www.twobridges.co.uk, 01822 892300). There are good cafes in Princetown and sometimes an ice cream van at Burrator Reservoir. Dartmoor Brewery is also in Princetown, and very good. The Dartmoor Inn is just off the route in Merrivale (www.dartmoorinn.com, 01822 890340). Dartmoor Cycles is in Tavistock (www.dartmoorcycles.co.uk, 01822 618178).
Points of Interest: Burrator Reservoir, Foggintor quarry, Merrivale prehistoric settlement and Down Tor Stone Circle are all near the route.
Route Directions: Turn right out of the car park. Cross the mini roundabout and join the bridleway by the Plume of Feathers pub. Follow this track across the moors for nearly 3km.
At a track crossing with a stone marker, turn right onto a rocky downhill. Follow this for nearly 4km, keeping left. When you reach a car park by the reservoir, turn left on the road for about 0.7km.
Turn left on a bridleway, through a gate. Then bear sharp right on a narrow path into the woods. Cross the clearing and then bear right, downhill to a road. Turn left on this. At the T-junction, turn right to the reservoir and cross the dam wall.
Go right on the road. Shortly afterwards, go sharp left, uphill, on a signed cyclepath. Bear right at the top along an old railway line, crossing two minor roads and then a B road.
About 2.5km further on, look out for a faint track crossing. Turn left on a bridleway here and follow this grassy downhill to a lone house. Go past the house to a junction and bear left. At the crossroads, turn right. Keep ahead as the tarmac ends, uphill through the trees and along a rough track to the B3357.
Turn right on the road and follow it uphill for 1.7km. Bear sharp right on a track to Yellowmeade Farm. Just beyond an old quarry, rejoin the old railway track, bearing left and following it back into Princetown.
Route type: XC MTB Trail