Discover the Dirty Dorset Gravel Loop – an epic 80km gravel cycling route starting from Ringwood and heading into Dorset, packed with some of the best gravel riding in the area.
Starting and finishing in Ringwood, this route heads out along the Castleman Trailway before linking together fast, flowing gravel tracks, quiet lanes, and big open views across the Dorset countryside. Along the way, you’ll find some of the best gravel trails around, plus a must-stop at the brilliant Chettle Village Store café.
From smooth open sections to fun, singletrack, this loop is perfect for gravel bikes and riders looking for a proper adventure just beyond the New Forest.
Put together by my friend Mark, we’ll be using the earnings from the video to buy him coffee(s) to say thank you!
Let me know how you get on in the comments – did you stop at Chettle? Got any favourite gravel routes in Dorset? I’d love to hear them. And remember, the more views we get the more coffee Mark will get!
If you’re enjoying these gravel cycling adventures, please consider subscribing – there’s plenty more gravel routes, bikepacking ideas, and cycling adventures coming soon.
👇 Download the free GPX route below and ride it yourself 👇
Komoot: https://www.komoot.com/tour/2919945720
Garmin GPX: https://connect.garmin.com/app/course/453602665
Ride With GPS: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/54890018
👉 Watch next:
Fuelled by @precisionfandh
00:00 Dorset Gravel
00:48 Castleman Trailway
04:15 Mark’s Coffee Fund
04:58 Badbury Rings
07:15 Tarrant Rushton Airfield
09:55 Chettle Village Store
12:05 Champagne Gravel
#cycling #gravel #mtb #adventure #bikeride
35 Comments
Thank you 🙏
I hope Mark gets his coffee
Just yesterday we were investigating the Castleman Trailway as we plan to come back from France via Cherbourg/Poole and ride up to Frome via Blandford and Shaftesbury.
Yes, been to the Chettle Village Store many times. Fantastic!
It’s on the Stone Circles ‘Bastard’ route, a one day 220km loop from Old Sarum, past Stonehenge, down through Dorset and back through Wilton.
It’s on 27th June. I think you’d love it. Make a film! We do it on our own over two days, staying in Tollard Royal at the mid point.
one extra for mark 🎉
Looks a lovely route. I am looking forward to trying it out myself
Shout out to Mark for the route, let's hope we can get him a coffee!!!
I did that running event you bumped into, and I spent most of the half marathon thinking how nice it would have been to be on my bike…. 😂
Looks like a lovely route. Get the man a coffee and 2 biscuits.
I am basically 100 kg of natural yoghurt in a bin bag, so when you (an ultra-racer) say 'that made my legs sting', I know I would end up as human soup. Maybe Mark could have soup for lunch?
As per usual I've gone down the historic rabbit hole of England, Badbury Rings looks interesting from the air.
5 similar sites all connected by Roman roads?! You have to do a video on that 💡
Love watching your videos.Scenery is fabulous.
Hope Mark gets his coffee and maybe if he’s very lucky some lunch too!
What a wonderful route. Beautiful countryside and perfect dry trail conditions. A great combination! Love the single track and rougher nature of parts of the route that gives the route so much character. ❤
Looks good i'll try it!
Would you use those bars on a mainly road based light bike packing trip? Nice route .coffee time ….croftee
Nice ride and right on my doorstep. I mostly ride mtb but took my gravel bike around tarrant rushton airfield a few weeks back. It was a bone-shaking ride with any suspension! 😄
Coffee budget post 😉
Looks a top ride ,added to my list 👍🏻
Just done it, really enjoyed that, thanks 🍻
Coffee for Mark☕☕☕! Lovely route, will definitely give it a go. Ringwood's a great place to start. Easy parking, straight onto the trails, and a nice place to finish, have a coffee and walk by the river.
Looks a great route, can’t wait to try that out. Living in Wimborne I recognised lots of the tracks but there are also many that will be new to me. Always love a new route. Thanks and Mark, hope you get lunch 🤔🤪
Saved to favourites. Definitely up for trying the route out this year. Thank you
Looks a great route!
Great route I’m gonna drive up from Devon and do that.
Lived in Dorset 56 years and never been to Bradbury Rings although my Father used to get me to count the trees on the road out of wimborne
Thanks Tom and Mark will give this one a go 🙂
We've surpassed the amount needed for a coffee, sitting at about £10! Can we get it even higher to treat Mark to lunch?
Looks like a great route! Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to giving this a go.
Thank you algorithm. Ha.
Great video, & nice to see someone doing gravel routes on a hard tail/bike-packing rig.
Need to check this out as I'm in WImborne so no excuse. Great looking route. 🙌
Great ride. Linked up lots of areas i know. Proper gravel. Single tack more fun on gravel than it is on mtb!
Looking forward to doing this route thanks for sharing. Have really enjoyed riding some of your NF routes. 🎉
Just got back from doing this ride. Brilliant ! I've known some of this area for a while but there were so many other parts to it that I didn't know, so thank you for this. The area is so quite and you can go quite a while without seeing a soul. Even when on one of the country roads, you often hardly see a car. As mentioned, the Chettle Stores is a must. The Sausage roll is insanely good. The shop has everything you need and more. I joined the route from Pamphill/ Badbury rings as I was coming from Poole. I did it on my Genesis Longitude 29er semi-fat bike, which was perfect. Thanks again.
A lovely honest bike ride.
Keen to know what tyres you use on the hardtail for this sort of ridng / conditions. (Never been one for dropbars, and not as flexible as I once was.)
Where can I find the GPX, the ride looks perfect for me and the better half 😉
What a lovely route…thanks. Rode it yesterday and managed to be done before the heavens opened. I tried to tag you in on my AlpineVelofest FB post, but it didn't work!
I'll be riding it again soon…. and no doubt the 200km Dorset bikepacking loop you've just released 🙂
Tom is there anywhere you can park in Ringwood for free near the start of the ride?