Getting Back on the Bikes - 4th & 6th June

We knew we'd need to keep our fitness levels up afer Brittany so on the Friday we hopped back on the bikes for a short ride out to Topsham and back. We were rewarded with a beautiful sunset over Topsham harbour before we headed back home.

On the Saturday we set out to try and join the CTC riders at Kings Garden Centre on the outskirts of Exeter. We'd only been there twice before and both times we had taken different routes, but we thought we'd recognise at least one of the routes...Sadly that wasn't to be and we found ourselves at a junction with the main road and heading into Lympstone. We probably could have found our way back to the Garden Centre, but as time was marching on, the others would probably have been leaving by the time we'd arrived, so we gave up on that idea and decided to carry on into Exmouth and find a coffee there.

As we rode along the new cycle path from Lympstone to Exmouth we could see lots of kites flying above the estuary and stopped to admire the spectacle. Heading into Exmouth, we saw signs for the kite festival and decided to take an early lunch break to investigate. On first inspection there didn't seem to be a lot going on, but as it turned out we were just in time to see some displays. We put the bikes down on the grass and sat ourselves down to watch. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the displays and the skills on show. We saw everything from one man flying two kites at the same time in time to music, to a man flying a kite using a belt round his waste, to four men flying 4 sets of mini kites all together at the same time. It was a delightful, if rather unusual way to spend a break during a cycle ride!

After finding ourselves a very nice, but mischievously difficult to eat without getting it all down your front, chilli fajita for lunch, we decided to head on out to Budleigh along the marked Cycle Route network. This was a bit of a stop-start route, having to stop and cross lots of roads and even coming to some junctions where there didn't appear to be a sign and we just had to guess! Finally we joined the off-road section of the route which is a very pleasant ride if you don't mind a bumpy ride! I also wasn't too keen on the long downhill descent on such rough ground, still being rather nervous from my fall and not 100% confident with my new brakes. However, we made it in one piece and joined the road at the other end. Unfortunately Ant missed the Cycle Route sign at the next junction and by the time I'd stopped, failed to shout loudly enough and caught him up again, we decided we'd just carry along the road down into East Budleigh and then out to Otterton.

We'd chosen to follow a little lane off the main road that would take us into East Budleigh. This proved to be a slow choice as the hedge was overgrown and it was a steep gravelly route...not my favourite combination! Stopping to walk at points, we meandered on down to East Budleigh and were soon back on the bikes again and heading out to Otterton.

From Otterton we had a choice of routes home and picked a direct, but rather more hilly than anticipated route up over Lympstone Common. We had great views from the top and before we knew it we were back on familiar territory...and heading right past the entrace to Kings Garden Centre! I had a bit of a wobble here and started feeling very unbalanced on bike again. As traffic was so heavy, I stopped and tried to set off again, but still felt uncomfortable, so we got off to walk along the main road. This wasn't a great place to be either, but I felt safer walking in a controlled manner than fearing I would swerve out into the path of fast moving traffic.

Shortly after we were back on our bikes again and pedalling home through the lanes. It had been a bit of a frustrating day with missing the CTC crowd, missing Budleigh and having to get off our bikes and walk on a couple of occasions. However, we had enjoyed the kite festival and we'd done more miles than I had expected us to, so overall it had been a worthwhile excursion.