MBUK Ride Guide 2025

Welcome to the fourth volume of Ride Guide presented by the world’s finest mountain-bike magazine, MBUK. Within these hallowed pages are routes that will inspire, entertain and fatigue in equal measure, whether you’re new to the world of off-road adventure or an experienced campaigner who’s never short of a set of Allen keys, whether that’s riding or relaxing! If you are a committed off-roader, you’re in wonderful and jam-packed company as market-analysis agency Mintel estimates that 6% of the UK population regularly rides a mountain bike. The dozen delights that follow will enthral all of you, as we feature the best that Great Britain has to offer, starting down in Dartmoor and topping out at the Isle of Skye about 700 miles further north. Enjoy getting down and dirty… Download…

Distance 21.17km (13.15 miles) Climbing 887m (2,910ft) With an overwhelming desire to do some technical and remote riding, we indulged ourselves with a trip to Dartmoor. For at least 12,000 years, man has hunted, farmed, mined, quarried and lived here. The place is dripping in history, with folklore, legends and stories of murder, wild hounds and ghosts. This is the largest area of open country in the south of England, providing some welcome rough, rugged and wild moorland for our sanitised minds. The centre and east of Dartmoor is home to arguably the best riding, so that’s exactly where we’re headed, starting near the pleasant little town of Bovey Tracey. With its prevailing south-westerly winds, Dartmoor is often wetter, warmer and windier than much of the UK, hence the local…

Distance 36.92km (22.9 miles) Climbing 885m (2,903ft) What comes to mind when you think of Dorset? For me, Max Dawkins, it’s a mix of the bucolic (picture-postcard villages), the democratic (the Tolpuddle Martyrs, who became famous in the 1830s for their role in the early trade union movement) and the Jurassic (this is the place to head in search of fossils). But riding that’s dramatic and terrific? That wasn’t on my list. Until that is we’d spent a day battling the Isle of Purbeck… Photographer Russell and I meet up at Corfe by the castle ruins. For the unfamiliar, Corfe Castle is a legendary landmark of the area. It was originally constructed in 1086 – William the Conqueror was obsessed by castles! – and was built from Purbeck stone. Even…

Distance 37.3km (23.2 miles) Climbing 911m (2,988ft) The South East is a somewhat congested place. We’re experiencing that first-hand, as the other 20 million-odd people who live in this corner of England all seem to be on the motorway at the same time as us. For mile after mile, we crawl along, watching the ETA on the sat-nav steadily rising. It could quite easily be showing my blood pressure, too. I envisage myself having a bit of a Michael Douglas moment, as in the film ‘Falling Down’, but maybe a bit more middle-class, with a shock pump and clad in cycle attire… Amazingly, we arrive in the lovely little village of Firle at around the same time as Richard Godding and Mark Peapell, a couple of Eastbourne locals whom I…

Distance 350.9km (218 miles) Climbing 4,375m (14,353ft) For years, Cycling UK (formerly the Cyclists’ Touring Club) have been creating exciting long-distance routes to help people travel the length and breadth of the country on two wheels. One of their latest off-road epics, the King Alfred’s Way, had been on our radar for a little while, so we jumped at the chance to try it. The densely populated south of England may not be the obvious choice for a mountain-bike adventure, but Cycling UK researcher Kieran Foster has created a route that feels very remote, while being accessible to a large number of riders. It also links up four National Trails (the South Downs Way, North Downs Way, Ridgeway and Thames Path), opening up many other fantastic route options. King Alfred’s…

Distance 37.7km (23.5 miles) Climbing 1,150m (3,772ft) The Lake District became the UK’s second National Park in 1951, less than a month after the Peak District became the first. Pick a peak time and the place can be heaving –its rugged landscape, carved out in the last ice age, attracts close to 50 million visitors annually. But come out of season and it’s much quieter, and cheaper too, and when out riding you might even bag a fellside all to yourself. One of the drawbacks to visiting in the autumn or winter is the weather. Let’s just say there’s a good reason why there are 25 lakes here. (To be accurate, there’s only one actual lake – Bassenthwaite; the others are meres or waters.) Our latest trip coincides with the…