Trail Hunting - 12 hours on cheddar gorge

Friday afternoon...I was sitting at work counting down the hours till the weekend, the van was packed and I was ready for a weekend of guiding in Exmoor. But what to do tonight..perhaps an adventure was on the cards… I looked at my phone...Quick check of the weather and I was in for Cheddar Gorge!

5pm came around and I was out the door and on my way to cheddar. Home of succulent cave aged cheese and spectacular views. 

Kit list

• Osprey Escapist 22L backpack
• Eurohike Down 500 Sleeping bag
• Alpkit Numo mattress
• Alpkit Hunka bivvybags
• Decathlon puffa jacket
• 2L of water
• 4 cans of lager beer
• Listerine Reach Toothbrush
• First aid kit
• Multi tool, Pump & Spares
• Box of haddock n fish from cheddar fish n chip shop​

We arrived in cheddar at 8pm, quick stop at the chippy to pick up dinner and we were heading up. We climbed the South side of the gorge, the start was fairly technical climb but good to stretch the legs after a day sitting at the desk.

The sunset came and went and we still had a descent to reach our bed for the night. ​ We chose to head down the bridle path that crossed the gorge and heads over the road to the North side. Our eyes gleaming as we came across a technical rout covered descent that would easily home to some off priest tracks in Morzine. With light nearly gone we squinted our way down, wishing we had packed lights but enjoying the technical natural descent. O man was it fun! ​

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We climbed up the road, careful not to be mowed down by the boy racers of cheddar testing out their new 2 strokes. We climbed up the back and over to the top of the South side again. Luckily the weather was on our side and we bedded down under the stars for the night. 

We woke up at sunrise and climbed up to the West side of the gorge, looped over to the top. The views were amazing, we could see over to the Quantocks and the beaches at Bridgwater Bay. Our final descent started down a wide open track, with tonnes of line choice and a wicked couple of natural features, finishing with a technical rocky descent. 

We finished at the car park at 8 and that was that...off to Exmoor.  I’l be sure to be back to Cheddar soon!