Deepest Devon

29th May 2016
32 miles
930 metres of climbing
Total miles 189 miles.

Leaving the campsite was challenging as there was clearly a vintage VW van rally, about 30 of them in various states of repair … brilliant. We just waited until they had gone.

Beautiful cycling today along tiny lanes through Devon, no big towns and most places were tiny, not even running to a shop. Although it is Bank Holiday the lanes were deserted with very little traffic. Just birdsong, cows and everything so green. Later on we climbed up and along a ridge with beautiful views South over Dartmoor.

Lunchtime stop by apple orchards

Looking towards Dartmoor

We use the Sustrans routes a lot when planning where to go, this consists of a network of cycle friendly roads and off road routes which use local cycleways and beautiful rural lanes. They are well sigposted (usually) but the signs are discreet and it always reminds me of following trails as a child in Guides, you have to look out for the clues!

sustrans sign hidden in the hedge

Devon is hilly and we pushed on a couple of hills at the end. Because of the Bank Holiday we stocked up with food which meant that we had extra weight …. Martin had to rescue me by taking the Granola!

pushing uphill

Camped in a sunny field, wind keeping the midges at bay.

We looked at tomorrow’s route and realised that it is 57 miles with over 1200 metres of climbing! it is because we have needed to do a detour to get to this campsite and in Devonian style this means several steep hills, we are busy replanning to avoid some of the twisting and turning and up and down, Martin is grappling with transferring the new routes from the tablet to the cycle satnav.