IaninSheffield
Veteran
- Location
- Sheffield, UK
Prologue
Following a year during which, like many people, our annual plans had to be consigned to the wastebasket, we were grateful to once more have the chance to get away with the bikes. ‘We’ is me and my good friend and cycling buddy, Paul. As a single-centre tour, our summer cycling ‘expedition’ once more provided a more focused experience of a specific area, rather than a whistle stop tour through multiple places. North Devon provided the play area for our explorations from a B&B base in Barnstaple.
With two travelling days bookending our trip, we had five days available to explore the compass points around our base. We gave ourselves six potential routes from which to choose, differing in length from 42 to 59 miles, but each having a minimum of 1000m of ascent - after all, this was Devon! We chose which route to do on which day depending on how we felt and what the weather threatened to deliver.
Devon, especially the north coast, is an area with which I have only minimal experience. I did once spend a few days camping in Minehead and had a couple of excursions on the bike. And of course Paul and I whizzed through Devon on our northbound LEJOG.
Rather than doing battle with two bikes and gear on the rail network, we once more settled on the simplicity of the car to whisk us to our destination. This of course also meant that we were less restricted on how much ‘stuff’ we could take along … though that’s not always a good thing!
The Poplars B&B
The journey down was reassuringly uneventful and we arrived at our B&B in Barnstaple - The Poplars - late afternoon as planned. After unloading, briefly reassembling, then storing the bikes, we were shown to our room, all Covid precautions observed. After a shower we yomped down into town to explore possible contenders which might suitably provide our evening meal and perhaps a small refreshment. It proved to be further on the roads than it appeared in the map, but at least provided an opportunity to begin to become acquainted with Barnstaple. For simplicity's sake and to obviate the need for making a decision, we settled on the local Wetherspoons. The food and beer were the usual cheap and cheerful standard, but if there were other options around town, we'd likely take advantage of them in subsequent nights. So after leaving we took a roundabout route back to base and noted several alternative eating and drinking holes. Barnstaple began to look more and more appealing with several architecturally interesting buildings, not least the 'Pannier Market' - surely a must visit for cyclists.
We picked up the cycleway running betwixt the Park and the river which wafted us right back to the entrance to the B&B, and in so doing provided a much more pleasant and attractive route to and from town. (Not sure why the B&B host had warned us not to cut through the Park after dark?) It’s a route we'll doubtless either be treading or pedaling several times as the week unfolds.
Following a year during which, like many people, our annual plans had to be consigned to the wastebasket, we were grateful to once more have the chance to get away with the bikes. ‘We’ is me and my good friend and cycling buddy, Paul. As a single-centre tour, our summer cycling ‘expedition’ once more provided a more focused experience of a specific area, rather than a whistle stop tour through multiple places. North Devon provided the play area for our explorations from a B&B base in Barnstaple.
With two travelling days bookending our trip, we had five days available to explore the compass points around our base. We gave ourselves six potential routes from which to choose, differing in length from 42 to 59 miles, but each having a minimum of 1000m of ascent - after all, this was Devon! We chose which route to do on which day depending on how we felt and what the weather threatened to deliver.
Devon, especially the north coast, is an area with which I have only minimal experience. I did once spend a few days camping in Minehead and had a couple of excursions on the bike. And of course Paul and I whizzed through Devon on our northbound LEJOG.
Rather than doing battle with two bikes and gear on the rail network, we once more settled on the simplicity of the car to whisk us to our destination. This of course also meant that we were less restricted on how much ‘stuff’ we could take along … though that’s not always a good thing!
The Poplars B&B
The journey down was reassuringly uneventful and we arrived at our B&B in Barnstaple - The Poplars - late afternoon as planned. After unloading, briefly reassembling, then storing the bikes, we were shown to our room, all Covid precautions observed. After a shower we yomped down into town to explore possible contenders which might suitably provide our evening meal and perhaps a small refreshment. It proved to be further on the roads than it appeared in the map, but at least provided an opportunity to begin to become acquainted with Barnstaple. For simplicity's sake and to obviate the need for making a decision, we settled on the local Wetherspoons. The food and beer were the usual cheap and cheerful standard, but if there were other options around town, we'd likely take advantage of them in subsequent nights. So after leaving we took a roundabout route back to base and noted several alternative eating and drinking holes. Barnstaple began to look more and more appealing with several architecturally interesting buildings, not least the 'Pannier Market' - surely a must visit for cyclists.
We picked up the cycleway running betwixt the Park and the river which wafted us right back to the entrance to the B&B, and in so doing provided a much more pleasant and attractive route to and from town. (Not sure why the B&B host had warned us not to cut through the Park after dark?) It’s a route we'll doubtless either be treading or pedaling several times as the week unfolds.
