The Devon 'Delight' - Saturday 3rd July

The Devon Delight Audax was taking place on Sunday, but as the forecast looked terrible and we were planning to start the route in Exeter rather than going down to Newton Abbot for the start, we decided to do it on Saturday. This is a ride which is just over 60 miles and was advertised as a fairly easy ride with just a couple of climbs...

Setting out from Exeter we had a really good morning's ride. The route took us out through Brampford Speke (a bit of a climb first thing in the morning!) then through Thorverton and on to Killerton. We arrived at Killerton in good time - in fact, in such good time that the coffee shop wasn't open for another 10 minutes! Rather than wait, we took a quick break and had a snack from our supplies. We came back into Exeter via Ratsloe and Stoke Canon and were soon heading towards the second and larger loop of our ride. Our first delay came at St. David's Station where we got held up for 15 minutes as three different trains went past. Just a bit further down the road, we turned off right too soon. Luckily I knew this wasn't the road to Longdown, so soon had us back on track. Dunsford Hill followed by the climb to Longdown was a real struggle! Just by the RSPCA turning, we got off our bikes and walked up as the hill was very steep. Getting back on again, we had no idea how much further we would be climbing for!

After Longdown came the descent. It started off ok but further down the hill gets steeper and bumpier and by the bottom of the hill I felt shaken to pieces! My shoulder was hurting and my knee was sore when I started pedalling again. I wanted to stop and have a quick break to recover, but by this stage, Ant had soared off round the corner and every time he just came into sight, he would disappear again. By the time I caught him at our next turning, I felt ok again, so we carried on. We were looking out for a good point to stop and have lunch. Nothing presented itself for a while, but luckily the riding was now flatter and much easier, so we were able to make good progress through the beautiful and wonderfully shady Teign Valley.

We found a lovely little spot for a picnic at Lower Ashton. We ate our sandwiches sitting on the grass, looking out over the river and a beautiful stone bridge. Here I watched a squirrel bravely furrowing about on the lawn until each time a car came past when he would scurry up the trunk of a nearby tree. A heron also took flight, but disappeared before I could get the camera out. It seemed as if it was about to rain, so we packed up our things again and got back on the road.

The next section was long and dull, but fairly flat, so I couldn't complain too much! Heading into Newton Abbot we got a bit confused by the directions. I should have stuck with my initial instinct, but I couldn't see any sign of a Tesco next to the first roundabout we came to, so thought we must have gone wrong. Ant had seen a Tesco Express back at the mini-roundabout, so we went back to investigate. Whilst there, I made use of the facilities nearby and Ant stocked up on water and cakes for later. Continuing along the initial route we'd tried, we soon found it was correct - there was the huge Tesco at the next roundabout! With no sign of B&Q at the following roundabout, we ignored this remark on the directions and soon found ourselves at the 'Starting Point' for the ride. As we hadn't started at the start, we took a quick picture to prove we'd been there and got back on our bikes.

Heading out of Newton Abbot in busy Saturday afternoon traffic (the downside of not riding on a Sunday) we spotted B&Q further down the road! On a little off-road track, I was just complaining that it was a bit overgrown and the kind of route Roy would have had us trekking along, when who should come around the corner but Roy? He had been attempting the longer route - and as he'd started at the beginning, he was almost finished. Turning down the offer of a lift back, we carried on our way. We started off ok on this section, but soon got confused again! After turning off and going past a farm as instructed, our next instruction was to take the next right signposted Gappah. The next right had no signpost, but there was a sign saying that the road markings had been removed. The lane was horribly gravelly, but we decided to take a chance and hope it was correct. At the top of the road we came to what appeared to be an unmarked junction. We were looking for Gappah Cross, but I wasn't sure this was it. Ant decided that as there were no signs, we should just follow the road and keep going. I was increasingly nervous that we'd gone the wrong way. A cyclist zooming down the hill gave me a brief moment of hope, but calling out to him was useless as I realised he had headphones in, so he just gave us a cheery smile and a wave and was gone. Having climbed another hill and cycled along by a big wall for ages with no sign of a signpost, we eventually stopped and turned around again.

I was dreading going back down the gravelly lane, but knew it would take far too long to walk, so decided I would try and cycle as much of it as possible. Ant meanwhile expected me to get off my bike, so had stopped and got off his. I was concentrating so hard on staying on my bike and getting as far as I could that I didn't notice Ant wasn't with me. Finally coming to a flatter section, I called back and got no response, so stopped and waited. More calling and nothing...so I turned round and started going back up the hill. A minute or so later, Ant was following me down...having discovered that Gappah Cross was at the top of the gravelly hill! The signpost had no signs coming off it, and the post indicating that it was Gappah was buried under some leaves! It was frustrating to think we'd have to climb the gravel road again, but we saw the funny side and I was glad we at last knew where to go. We retraced our steps and continued along the walled road. At the next junction, it was straight over and then up a steep hill. We were both flagging again and stopped on a grass verge to eat our cakes.

We turned off towards Ashcombe and were pleased to find this section was relatively flat. The directions warned of a steep descent to Ashcombe and after struggling down the top section, I managed to stop my bike and get off to walk down. The hill seemed to go on for ages, but finally we were at the bottom and able to get back on our bikes to follow the road to Dawlish. The signs said 4 miles...yay, not far now...then 3 and half miles...great! Then just around a corner I saw a sign off to the right which said Dawlish 4 miles. Stopping to consult our directions, we contemplated what to do. We were supposed to follow the road to Dawlish - did that mean following the signs? The road we were on was signposted to Starcross, so we weren't sure if that would take us into Dawlish. Not wanting to take any shortcuts, we decided to follow the sign to Dawlish. This was a BIG MISTAKE! The hill soon became too steep for us to cycle up, so we got off and pushed for a bit. Where it seemed to level out a bit, we got back on to cycle again, but it just kept going and going and going...up and up and up. Now I was really tired and really struggling, so had to get off and walk again. This was horribly disheartening. We were wasting so much time and I was feeling exhausted. I was hot, getting low on water and wondering what on earth we were doing. This ride was turning out to be anything but 'delightful' for us!

Finally reaching the top of the hill, we got back on our bikes and enjoyed a flat section across the top for a short while. Then came the descent. This was just as bad as the ascent and although I tried a couple of times to get back on my bike and ride down, it was just too steep and I didn't feel I had enough strength to keep braking and controlling my bike. So - down and down and down we walked. By this stage, I was seriously contemplating trying to catch a train back from Dawlish. I was tired, exhausted and miserable. However, as the hill levelled out towards the bottom we got back on our bikes and it just seemed so fantastic to be moving at a decent pace again! Just around the corner we saw a sign to our left for Ashcombe. This confirmed our suspicions that we should have carried on along the road we'd been on...3 pretty flat easily cyclable miles that would have saved us walking almost 4 miles up and down steep hills pushing our bikes! By now I didn't care and I was delighted to have made it to Dawlish. We were both hungry and tired and stopped to pick up some sandwiches and went to sit in the park.

Feeling a bit more positive now I had some food inside me and was back on familiar territory, all thoughts of getting a train were squashed. We are training for a long charity ride and we can't get into the habit of giving up and getting a train when it gets tough! So - off we went, up the hill from Dawlish. We were surprised at how close Dawlish Warren was, so speeding down the hill into the Warren and along the flat road out again was great! I misread the directions from here and didn't realise I was meant to turn off behind Powderham Castle, so we ended up staying on the main road back to Exminster and then heading up through the village to re-join the final section of the route.

We had been over the moon with our progress in the morning and kept telling ourselves that if we hadn't got lost and hadn't had to walk for ages, our finish time would have been much better. That didn't stop me worrying that we might get lost on London-Paris, or end up having to walk on steep sections. I was also extremely saddle sore for the first time. It didn't seem to make any sense when I'd done rides almost as long and ridden on consecutive days before with no trouble. Luckily I'd already got some cream in case I'd developed any issues in Brittany. This definitely helped, but it would have been very painful to have got back on the bike again the next day. So, I was tired, sore and had very mixed feelings about what lay ahead as we sat down for dinner.

The next day, I most certainly didn't feel up to getting on my bike again, but we did make some progress with our London to Paris travel arrangements and went to the train station to buy our tickets. I was give a huge wadge of tickets - including train tickets especially for our bikes. How exciting!