Exeter to London - route recommendations please

[rb58]

Hello peeps....

In June I'll be riding from Lands End to London to join the start of the Friday's London to John O'Groats ride. I plan to use the CTC 'fast' route from Lands End to Exeter, but will then need to devise my own route from Exeter to London. If anyone has any experience or thoughts on good routes, please let me know. I obviously don't want to be on main roads, but I am happy to use faster roads in places.

Thanks in advance everyone.

Ross

 

[Brains]

NOT the A303 !

 

[rb58]

I found this via Google...
"When you leave Exeter follow the old A30 to Honiton which is signposted for cyclist and avoids using the new dual carriageway .. from Honiton To Chard .. i would leave Honiton via Northcote hill and follow this along the old Chard rd and head for Stockland once in the village of Stockland head for Yarcombe (Honiton to Yarcombe is pleasant back lanes) once in yarcombe you are back on the A30 to Chard but the traffic is'nt to bad as its only local traffic .."

Thought maybe could stay on the A30 all the way back to south east from there. What do people think?

Thanks

 

[Muddyfox]

How much time will you be allowing yourself to cycle up to London ?

 

[Ticktockmy]

Depends how long you want to take to get from Exeter to London, there are plenty of minor roads you can take which once you study the map will give you a surprisingly straight traffice route, mind some of the roads do have a few Hills, and still give you out of the way B&Bs.

 

[rb58]

How much time will you be allowing yourself to cycle up to London ?

I'm allowing 4 days from Lands End to London. Seems to be around 320 miles, so I think that's pretty achievable even if it does mean the first two days might be longer and harder.

 

[Brains]

I'm allowing 4 days from Lands End to London. Seems to be around 320 miles, so I think that's pretty achievable even if it does mean the first two days might be longer and harder.

Blimey!
Personally I'd allow a week to do London to N.Cornwall, but then my route was River Thames, Reading, Kennet and Avon canal, Bath, Wells, Exmoor, Tarka trail, Exeter, Camel Trail, Bodmin. I did in bits, and it was 7 riding days.

I reckon Lands End to Exeter (NOT on the A30 which is basically a 2 lane motorway in Cornwall) would be 3 hard days. Exeter to London (maybe keeping to the old A30 a lot of the way) maybe 3 hard days

Lets face it, in a car, pedal to the metal, London to Lands end at a push would be 6-7 hours of driving time, basically a day. There is no way you can average quarter of the speed of a car on a motorway on a loaded touring bike.

Personally I think on a tourer 40 miles a day is acceptable, 60 is good, and if you can do over 80 it's excellent, but you are unlikely to do that more than two days in a row, so best part of 400 miles at 50+ miles a day is going to be best part of a week.

 

[Brains]

At least you will never be more than 20 miles from the mainline to London, so if you run out of time you have an escape route

 

[rb58]

Blimey!

Personally I think on a tourer 40 miles a day is acceptable, 60 is good, and if you can do over 80 it's excellent, but you are unlikely to do that more than two days in a row, so best part of 400 miles at 50+ miles a day is going to be best part of a week.

Hmm. Thanks. Be interested to know what others think and if I'm being over ambitious. I'm used to long rides and I did two 65+ mile days in and around the Torquay / Dartmoor area last year. Wasn't that bad - pretty liesurely riding and still averaged close around 13mph. Although I did notice I was either pedalling up a hill, or freewheeling down the other side and I'm expecting it to be like that for the whole first couple of days. And I won't be carrying much stuff, if anything, as I'm hoping to have an 'arrangement'. The CTC route is 125 miles from Lands End to Exeter. Food for thought though. Thanks.

 

[gaz]

NOT the A303 !

this.

Having driven the length of this road many many times, It is not one you want to cycle on!

 

[rb58]

I've driven the A303 too. Won't be going anywhere near it...

 

[Muddyfox]

Ross .. i live in a village near Honiton and work in the Honiton area everyday .. the route you describe out of Honiton is a very scenic route but there are some killer hills to deal with, they are short but steep and frequent .. also think about from Exeter - Taunton - Bridgewater - Glastonbury and up through to Bristol .. Jack Thurston describes a lovely route from London to Bristol but obviously you'l need to reverse the route here's a couple of links to the podcast with the route and a description of the ride

http://thebikeshow.net/london-to-bristol-part-one/
http://thebikeshow.net/london-to-bristol-part-two/

 

[srw]

For what it's worth, we found averaging 65 miles a day on a very heavily laden tandem pretty straightforward. LE to Exeter is something like 55 + 70 miles - hilly but not apparently too steep.

I've got LE to Wells mapped out as the possible first three days of a five-day LE to Lon, prior to Lon to JOG. I hope these links work - I'd be interested to hear how similar this is to the CTC fast route.
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/63172770
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/63172888
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/63173952

 

[rb58]

Thanks!

I mapped out a route which took me from Exeter through Honiton, Chard, Crewkerne, Yoevil, Shaftesbury, Salisbury, Andover, then on to more familiar territory. Worked out at 317 miles, with 24,000 feet of climbing. The worst of that climbing was prior the top of Dartmoor, but I did notice the lumpy bits between Honiton and Chard though. Here's my route. See what you think. http://ridewithgps.com/routes/902679
Even with the climbing, I'm still confident I can do it comfortably in 4 days. I was planning 2 x 70 mile days, then an 85, then a 90 once I get nearer home.

Will check out the more northerly route as well though. Would that be substantially less hilly?
Cheers - really appreciate the local knowledge.

Ross

 

[rb58]

I'd be interested to hear how similar this is to the CTC fast route.

Hi - Here's my proposed route linky which includes the CTC fast route from LE to Exeter. Unfortunately I can't get down to the West Country until the Sunday afternoon, so I can't realistically set off back again until Monday morning, which means it'll be a four day ride whichever way I go. If the more northerly option is less hill I might go that way because the first two days do look quite challenging.
Cheers
Ross