Route advice please - Honiton to Plymouth

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Toyomore

New Member
Hello Everyone.

For Comic Relief this year myself and a work colleague will be doing a sponsored bike ride. We will be riding from Honiton to Plymouth via Exeter and Paignton.
Has anyone rode any of these routes and be able to give some advise on the best routes. we're still weighing up whether to go through Starcross and Dawlish or take the road to Chudleigh. Also from Paignton to Plymouth would you choose Avonwick road or Via Dartington. Please bear in mind neither of use are experienced cyclists, the last bike my colleague had was a Raleigh Chopper.

Thank You for any help
 

Jerry Atrik

Veteran
Location
South Devon
I would get to Exeter , head towards St Thomas station in the centre and climb up over Longdown then turn left at the bottom and head down the Teign valley . Turn right then turn right again to Chudleigh Knighton and head towards Bovey Tracey . From there head to Bickington and pick up the bike path along the A38 through Ashburton , Buckfastleigh and on to South Brent . Cross over the dual carriage way on to Ermington and follow the road into Plymouth . This is a lot quieter and scenic route .
 

briantrumpet

Legendary Member
Location
Devon & Die
Yes, that's the best route, unless you're super-fit and a bit bonkers and want to go over Dartmoor. The road from Honiton is what was the old A30, and runs pretty much alongside the dual carriageway A30 - a lovely road.
 

briantrumpet

Legendary Member
Location
Devon & Die
Oh, sorry, just read the OP properly - that's almost as challenging a route as going over Dartmoor - if you follow the coast beyond Dawlish you'll not stop going up and down hills pretty much the entire way. Though if going via Paignton is an unavoidable part of the plan, you'll need to get used to the hills, whichever way you go.
 
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Toyomore

New Member
Thank you for your advise. The route is Honiton-Exeter-Paignton-Plymouth as it involves visiting the four centres in our area. We were looking at going through Dawlish to teignmouth and then to kingsteignton before using the Newton road back to torquay and then Paignton. The other option was to go through Shilligford abbot and take Old Exeter ST to Chudleigh then to kingsteignton but wondered how challenging that route is. Has any one rode that way?
 

beermonster

Über Member
Location
Teignmouth,Devon
The old Exeter road through Shillingford gets steep as you go up onto Haldon! I would take the excellent cycle path from the Quay in Exeter which takes you along the Exe estuary past some good pubs :smile: they have recently completed a new bridge over the railway line at Powderham so you'll then cycle on down to Starcross and Dawlish warren all very flat before the lumps between Dawlish and Teignmouth. On leaving Teignmouth take the bridge over the Teign estuary to Shaldon and follow the old Torquay road (A379) into Torquay and onto Paignton. I have no experience of road to Plymouth so can't advise on that leg. If you decide to go another way towards Dawlish then please don't take the main road from Exminster to Starcross as this is a fast busy road with loads of blind bends making it very dangerous to cycle!
Good luck
 

Jacks

Well-Known Member
This is a pretty ambitious ride if you're not experienced, how long are you planning to take over it? And a lot depends on whether you prefer the perils of traffic to hills or vice versa.
Honiton to Exeter is pretty straightforward but no easy ride, along the old A30 route. Exeter to Torquay is pretty 50/50 whether you take the Dawlish/Shaldon coastal route or Longdown/ Teign valley. From Shaldon, you can either stick to the coast road (pretty toxic with both hills and traffic) or ride up the south side of the Teign estuary which is nicer to Newton Abbot but still has some surprisingly lumpy bits. NA to Torquay is strightforward but complicated by the roadworks for the Kingskerswell bypass. Its tempting to take the back road from Milber through Barton, but this is a heavily used rat run with a lot of nasty narrow, blind, segments, and I don't ride that route out of choice. I'd just go down the main road through the roadworks in Primary with the traffic. When I go to Plymouth I usually go out of Paignton on the main road to Totnes; again, the back road through Marldon is tempting but its a vicious hill to get there and a heavily used rat run. Nothing to choose between Avonwick or Dartington routes, but yet again, rat run describes the Avonwick road so I prefer the Dartington route. From South Brent its a very pleasant back road route through Bittaford (beware the very steep drop down to a right hand turn under the railway bridge), Ivybridge, Plympton and there you can pick up the marked cycleway into Plymouth depending on which bit of Plymouth you're headed for. I know all these routes pretty intimately so a PM and direct contact might be helpful, if you like.
 
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Toyomore

New Member
Thanks for all your advice, Jacks post pretty much sums up the route we took with teignmouth to Paignton via kingsteignton and the main Newton rd. and we went via dartington and ivybridge to Plymouth. Journey took from 8:45 until 5:45 with a couple of 20 min stops at our waypoints for photos etc. so thank again
 
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