England - Bike Tour - Seaton, Devon to Carbis Bay, St. Ives, Cornwall - May 2014

Three days from Seaton to Carbis Bay

Ready for the road

Day 1 Seaton to Bellever - 36km and 51km

It is Thursday morning, Rosinante has been extracted from the car. Carmen the Garmin is mounted and preloaded with the routes. The sun is shining and it is almost windless. Time to head West on my mini-tour.
For me this first section of the ride, from Seaton to Exmouth is quite familiar. Initially I climb over the hill to Beer and then ascend on the back road via Branscombe and then on down to sea-level at Sidmouth. Everything was looking so green, the natural contrast provided by the Bluebells and other wild flowers. I have always been quite disparaging about Sidmouth but we had popped along there on Wednesday evening in the car and it did not seem too bad at all. We had a good dinner in Dukes, a pub on the Esplanade and a bit of a wander around.
I suppose the real reason I don't like Sidmouth is the massive 'Tour of Britain' hill on the way out!
It's a real lung-buster and I cannot make the top without walking. There is also a bit of traffic on it so no opportunity for a zig-zag ascent. Once at the top its a long downhill towards Budleigh Salterton and Exmouth. NCN 2 is fairly easy to follow and avoids any busy roads. In Exmouth I had opted to take the Starcross Ferry across the Estuary of the River Exe. It is a nice cycle ride up along the Exe to Exeter and then down the other side along the canal. With a difficult  climb up to Dartmoor in prospect I opted for the boat ride. The boat leaves at 40 minutes past the hour and I just made it! It took about 2.5 hours from Seaton to Exmouth.

Seaton to Exmouth

On the road to Boscastle

The ride was well worth £5.50. I had a very pleasant voyage with a helpful crew to manhandle Rosinante. There were steps to negotiate at Starcross before I reached the road and a conveniently sited Grocery Shop. With lunch packed I followed Carmen into the Devon hills. This part of Devon is very beautiful but it is very hard cycling. Climb, descend, climb descend.... There is no opportunity to get into a good rhythm. I did get lost in Kingsteignton and again when I crossed the A38 but generally it was a hard but uneventful ride through beautiful farmland with verges covered in wild flowers. Really happy to arrive at Bellever Youth Hostel again. It took 5hrs from Starcross including lunch and photo stops. On previous trips my route on this section had been via Chudleigh, Bovey Tracey, Haytor and Widdecombe. I think today's route was quieter but just as exhausting. Anyway nice shower and down for Dinner and a cold beer. Two other cycling retirees in residence. One had cycled down from Fort William in 5 weeks on a mountain bike. His tip of the trip - the safest place to camp is in a Cemetery. The other was doing LEJOG via Dartmoor!

Starcross to Bellever

Dartmoor

View from the Park

Mother and Foal

Bridges - old and new

 Day 2 - Bellever to Boswinger 113km

A great cycling route from Dartmoor to the Cornish Coast

On the road nice and early on another blue day. Headed across Dartmoor and then down into Tavistock. Picked up a lovely cake in a Bakery and headed off into the country. Another hard session but it was wonderful route. Crossed the Tamar over a old stone bridge so it was goodbye Devon and Hello Cornwall. As my route was cross-country I often descended into river valleys and then had to climb up the other side. Beautiful but tiring. It was only after Bodmin that I found some flatish sections and was able to get some rhythm going. Saw a few Cornish sights on the way including the Eden Project. Got a bit lost around St. Austell as I was torn between following Carmen or the NCN route. St. Austell is a busy place and I was glad to get through it and head down towards Mevagissey, past the lost Gardens of Heligan, and my overnight in Boswinger Youth Hostel. The Hostel was pretty quiet and I was the only person having dinner. Demolished a nice Lasagne followed by Rhubarb crumble. Had to share a room with an unusual character who stored orange peel on the window ledge? He had been there a few days and there were about 10 half orange peels in various states of decomposition. Thought about asking for a move but did not bother. Had a walk down to the beach where several people were camping. Beach was not as good as previous years. Probably damaged by the winter storms. A wonderful stretch of coastline though. A few people were setting up tents to camp on the beach overnight. When I got back to the Hostel my roomie was sitting on the floor with a large knife in his hand. 

Crossing the River Tamar - going from Devon to Cornwall

About to descend down to Tavistock - what a morning for a bike ride!

Panoramic view from Dartmoor

A walk to the beach at Boswinger

A Dartmoor Foal inspects the Car Park at Bellever

Day 3 - Boswinger to Carbis Bay

The route on cyclestreets

Southern Cornwall

Boswinger to Carbis Bay is a journey I have taken before. It is brilliant  ride with lots of variety. Another sunny day meant a very pleasant elevenses halt on the beach at Gerrans Bay. Relaxed a bit too much and forgot to turn on Carmen's timer - so no map. The route between Boswinger and the King Harry follows NCN3. After the Ferry the route had a bit of climbing and much of it was off-road on mining trails. The route avoided Redruth and Cambourne which was brilliant. Following the NCN3 on this section would have meant going straight through these busy towns. It is a bit bumpy though, particularly near Bissoe.

 

Following the Yellow Line in Portloe

Hitting the Beach in Gerrans Bay

Crossing the River Fal

On the King Harry Ferry

Incredibly, I arrived at the Apartment at the same time as TW and TMIL, they were just behind me as I pulled up to the security gates. Time for a nice cup of tea! The routes were planned on www.cyclestreets.net

and downloaded to my Garmin 800. Fantastic route, perfect weather and problem free.

Journeys End - Carbis Bay