28th March - Exmouth

Following the success of the ride to the Turf Locks, I decided I needed to do another long ride and one which included some hills. We decided to head towards Exmouth as it's a route we've done a few times and which definitely includes some hills along the way!

We set off late morning and headed out towards Clyst St Mary. Despite the forecast being for heavy rain, the weather was holding so I was keen to carry on and get as far as we could. I thought I was doing quite well until we were overtaken by two cyclists speeding up the hill past us calling out a chirpy 'good morning'. Determined to keep on, we carried on through Woodbury and out to Lympstone to join the cycle path into Exmouth. At this stage I thought I'd made it as we'd conquered some hills and it was all flat into Exmouth from here. However, I really struggled along this last section. I was really starting to tire and the path seemed a lot longer than I'd remembered it!

Fortunately we were soon heading along the road towards Exmouth station. We needed to get back to Exeter for a birthday do, so I went and asked about the possibility of putting our bikes on the train to go back. The guard was happy for us to do that and although there was a train due, we decided to wait an hour for the next one so that we could go down to the sea front and enjoy our sandwiches by the sea. Arriving on the sea front I felt delighted that we'd made it and felt re-energised after some lunch and a nice warming cup of hot chocolate.

Arriving back at the train station we got our bikes settled on the train and then looked out of the window to see another four people with bikes heading up the platform. We are extremely grateful to the nice ticket man on the train who decided that everyone could put their bikes on the train as long as we shared the space nicely! Normally they only let two bikes on at a time, but as the train was quiet, he wasn't too bothered. Phew!

Sitting on the train, I started to feel really tired and I was glad we weren't cycling back again. The weather had started to turn, it was getting cold and the predicted rain had arrived. Cycling back from the station to home felt like a real struggle, despite being a short flat ride. I was tired and had probably reached my limit for the time being. After showering, we headed off to the party and I felt completely exhausted - but that was nothing that couldn't be fixed by a nice cup of tea and a generous helping of birthday cake! (Thanks Holly!)