In praise of cyclists who live in South Devon

[Toshiba Boy]

Not Devon but not far away I discovered https://www.strava.com/segments/6665334 this year 🤢🤮

I can see Dunkery Beacon from back of my house, a few miles to the South South West, and I live just up from the beach, as such, the hills are very steep round here.

 

[nickyboy]

Wow thanks for the heads up.

In a normal time, New Year would be visiting friends who live down one of those quiet lanes between Totnes and Dartmouth. This would have been my first visit avec velo.

Thought this thread would have discussed the climb up from Dartmouth or from Slapton Sands. Even in the car they seem brutal. Yet another thing postponed till "next" year.

I did the climb out of Slapton Sands to Dartmouth (both ways), both climbs out of Kingswear to Brixham and the climb out of Dartmouth. That main road climb out of Dartmouth isn't much fun but it's an exhilarating descent back into town!

 

[mudsticks]

Whereas Cornish banks, though they may look superficially similar, are very much less forgiving. The greenery is little more than a mossy covering for the rock beneath.

Don't be too complacent in Devonshire though - our banks are often 'stone faced' too.

Brake blocks were in good shape prior to last week. Now somewhat less so following a bunch of steep downhill grinding paste sessions

I went through a set from new over three wet February days on Exmoor one time.

Discs seem altogether more forgiving / repellent of crud.. Plus of course they're that much further away from the source of the filth.

 

[ColinJ]

I had a chat with my sister about how she is finding life in Devon. She loves it down there, but has already discovered how tricky those little lanes are. On one of her Devon recces a friend of hers was driving. They went some way down a steep little singletrack lane but then met oncoming traffic. They had to reverse uphill round a few blind bends before they found somewhere to pull over and let the traffic past. They then set off again and drove further down the lane only for the same thing to happen. The stress of it got to the friend and she burst into tears. My sister took over the driving but struggled with her stiff neck when reversing for so long...

I've now told my sister about the significance of the narrow yellow roads on OS maps.

 

[Blue Hills]

Must say I see all this as a recommendation - got to get myself down there.

 

[DCBassman]

Must say I see all this as a recommendation - got to get myself down there.

I want to have another go at NCN 27 in a day, Ilfracombe to Plymouth. Maybe we organise a CC c2c run when this madness has eased?

 

[ColinJ]

I want to have another go at NCN 27 in a day, Ilfracombe to Plymouth. Maybe we organise a CC c2c run when this madness has eased?

Don't know about C2C but I intend to start organising forum rides from Exeter once I start making my regular post-pandemic trips down there.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Don't be too complacent in Devonshire though - our banks are often 'stone faced' too.

My Motorhome wing mirrors were a testament to that....
Campervan, much narrower

 

[Fab Foodie]

Love this thread!

Born and bred in Exeter and me and my childhood cycling buddies had a lot of fun on our gas-pipe 3 speeds!
Yes, there are certainly some challenging climbs across the whole of the county, why they don't get the recognition of say Yorkshire, the Peaks and the Lakes etc. has always been a mystery. There are some belters in South Dorset as well.

Knowing when to ride the bigger roads vs. the smaller lanes is a planning art. Years ago after moving to Abingdon my neighbours started cycling and one of them (control freak newbie) took it upon himself to plan a ride for us from Ilfracombe to St Austell and beyond to Padstow and eventually Newquay, and he certainly wasn't going to take any advice from me (regardless of my years of cycling and local knowledge). I kept stumm.

Starting from Ilfracombe harbour, the climb-out is fun isn't it? That nearly ended day 1
Then as he's planned all the back-roads we both missed all the lovely views along the coast to Barnstaple and in fact for most of our journey...up and down hill, high banks, gravel, farm vehicles, slow descents and 'Devon Miles'. Oh how I chuckled as we had to get into our 'support car' to reach our destination.
A lot of hills were walked over the subsequent days and routes radically reshaped!

I rode with a warm smugness for the next few days....

 

[All uphill]

I want to have another go at NCN 27 in a day, Ilfracombe to Plymouth. Maybe we organise a CC c2c run when this madness has eased?

Count me in!

 

[Ian H]

200k planned, up to N Devon, Torridge, and back, on Sunday.

 

[Lovacott]

Starting from Ilfracombe harbour, the climb-out is fun isn't it? That nearly ended day 1

The Harbour up to Mullacott Cross is an absolute killer. It's a 666 foot climb over 2.4 miles with no downhill sections whatsoever and it's a fairly busy road.

I prefer the bigger climb of 810 feet up the Old Barnstaple Road (towards Muddiford) which is stretched out over 4 miles and has less traffic.

Cracking going back down as well. 4 miles of cycling without pedalling once and views right across to the Gower on a clear day.

 

[nickyboy]

Is Dorset coast any flatter? I love the hills and I enjoyed the Brixham/Totnes/Dartmouth area but there isn't much (isn't any actually) what you might call rolling roads where you can get a wriggle on and relax a bit. It was all either max effort uphill or crapping myself downhill.
Going there out season was really nice and we will probably do same next winter...but somewhere else

 

[mudsticks]

My Motorhome wing mirrors were a testament to that....
Campervan, much narrower

I'd have thought that as a native Devonian, you'd have an innate instinct for the precise width of your vehicle

I want to have another go at NCN 27 in a day, Ilfracombe to Plymouth. Maybe we organise a CC c2c run when this madness has eased?

Devon C2C is one of the unhilliest longer distance rides, in the west country, that I think I've ever done.

I was expecting a stiff old pull up onto the moor from Plymouth but it was barely noticeable.

All those old railway lines make it pretty level going on the whole.

A highly civilised (if a tad busy at times) intro to Devonshire Cyclisme

I particularly enjoyed the mid Devon section, proper old school farming land - even a chance of getting stuck behind a herd of cows.

 

[mudsticks]

Is Dorset coast any flatter? I love the hills and I enjoyed the Brixham/Totnes/Dartmouth area but there isn't much (isn't any actually) what you might call rolling roads where you can get a wriggle on and relax a bit. It was all either max effort uphill or crapping myself downhill.
Going there out season was really nice and we will probably do same next winter...but somewhere else

Dorset coast - pretty much the same really - slightly better views from some of the coast roads - but no shortage of hills