The Tour of Britain comes to Exmoor

On Tuesday 11 September the Tour of Britain, the UK’s leading professional cycling race, will be venturing into Somerset and Exmoor National Park for the first time in its history when the county hosts stage two of the international sporting spectacle.

With no shortage of challenging terrain to test the riders, it’s expected to be one of the decisive stages of the week long event which runs from 9-15 September starting in London and finishing in Glasgow.

As well as pushing some 96 riders to the limit, the 105.2 mile Somerset circuit has been chosen to take in some of Exmoor’s most breathtaking rural landscapes, stunning coastline and tourist highlights. Its one of the toughest stages for the riders but also the most picturesque for spectators.

The race starts at 10.30am in the shadow of Concorde at the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton, South Somerset before crossing the Levels and Moors and rising up into Exmoor National Park and out to the coast. The frontrunners are expected to arrive at the finish line in Taunton sometime around 2.20pm having covered the route with its sprints and dizzying climbs at an average speed of around 25 miles per hour.

Stage 2 is being hosted and sponsored by Somerset County Council; Active Exmoor is sponsoring the Exmoor section of the route with support from the Exmoor National Park Sustainable Development Fund.

Stage 2 – The Route

From Yeovilton riders travel west through the unique ancient landscape of the Levels and Moors before a ‘Hot Spot Sprint’ at Othery. They will then pass close to the county town of Taunton and onwards through Williton and into Exmoor National Park. A second sprint will take place at Dunster, an ancient medieval village steeped in history and watched over by the stunning 11th century Dunster Castle.

After reaching the coast at Minehead, the location for the official feed station of the day, things will hot up with one of the most anticipated big climbs of the whole event as riders pit themselves against the Porlock Hill toll road – a category 1 King of the Mountains climb.

Set on Exmoor’s dramatic coastline, the 350 metre climb will provide a great spot to see the cyclists close-up, while Porlock itself will be caught up in tour fever with a fête and entertainment laid on to celebrate the passing of the event. It was amid this stirring scenery that romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote his epic Kubla Khan, which was left unfinished after he was disturbed by a ‘Person from Porlock’.

After a steep decent down Countisbury Hill into North Devon and Lynmouth the riders will then climb again, up onto the heather-clad wilds of Exmoor, passing through Watersmeet for the second 8.1m second King of the Mountains challenge. They then cross Brendon Common to Simonsbath before riding east to Exford and Wheddon Cross for the third King of the Mountains competition up Lype Hill.

Since Wheddon Cross will be the venue for both a King of the Mountains challenge and a sprint it provides an ideal location to view the race; it’s also possible for those who watched the riders at either Dunster or Minehead to drive across country and see it here for a second time. The village is planning to entertain visitors with a food and craft fair while the local schools will be holding a cycle endurance marathon on the playing field for all ages using exercise bikes!

By this point the riders will have spent the last 28 miles ascending and descending some of the most punishing gradients of the tour, surrounded by some of its finest scenery – breathtaking in every sense of the word. It’s expected that a breakaway group will have formed as the riders swing back towards Taunton for the final sprint at Goosemoor and push to the finish line.

Further information on the South West stage of the Tour of Britain: Bikesomerset.co.uk

More information about the Tour of Britain: Tourofbritain.co.uk

For accommodation suggestions and details about other things to see and do on Exmoor log onto Visit-exmoor.co.uk. For information on places to stay and visit in North Devon check out Northdevon.com.