Synopsis: A mountain bike ride on foot. Confused? Well, in part the aim of this walk was to provide detailed route notes for a new MTB route from Exeter to Exmouth first ridden about 2 weeks ago.
(selection of photos from Flickr photo set – use link above to view album)
Note: Woodbury Common is used on occasion for military training purposes. In the event that exercises are taking place there may be access restrictions in place. Should you consider following in my footsteps, my advice would be to carry a map such that an alternative course can be plotted if circumstances dictate.
To explain further my hint in the synopsis that this walk was undertaken as part of a mountain bike (MTB) planning exercise. A couple of weeks back I combined an off-road route over Woodbury Common combining elements of a previous cycle route of mine with part of a MTB route ‘Woodbury Common fun single track - England, United Kingdom’ found on the EveryTrail web site. The proved a really good ride but I needed to make some small route changes and gather some route direction notes, hence today’s walk.
Having walked a little way past Clyst St Mary my GPS required a battery change so I inserted my spare batteries only to find these held little charge. Dilemma – what to do? I decided to walk back to the convenience store in Clyst St Mary to purchase a pack of AAs. A bit frustrating but not a show stopper. I reached Woobury Salterton a little after 2pm where I stopped on a familiar bench to eat some lunch.
Woodbury Common, with Devon hills all around
One of the advantages of walking rather than cycling this route is that there is greater time to take in the various views. Woodbury Common is a rather unusual landscape for Devon, and one that I find attractive. I believe it is described as a pebble heath. It has a rather wild and primal quality. Seen beyond the common are the substantial hills of Devon circling all around, and on a clear day the coast is just visible in the distance.
Woodbury Common - steep valley crossing
The off-road cycling is fun and a little challenging in places, but involves nothing that need daunt the casual mountain biker such as myself. The few streams encountered can be easily crossed on bike. There are a few steep sections, such as the one photographed here, where a little care is required. Generally the track is dry and hard but after heavy rains mud is to be expected, but of course that makes the mountain biking all the more fun.
I really enjoyed today’s walk, and after 19 miles, it left me feeling well exercised. I came off Woodbury Common following a relatively direct route to Lympstone where I arrived just in time to catch the 8:26pm train back to Digby & Sowton, Exeter. I had accomplished my goal of checking out route navigation points and had the information needed to complete the cycle trail route as intended. And, although rather late, it being June and the days long, it hardly seemed to matter.
Note: I’ve edited the tracklog of this walk to clip out the section I backtracked to Clyst St Mary which I did merely to buy a pack of batteries for my GPS. By editing this out of the tracklog today’s route will be more clearly seen if a little shorter (1.6 miles, 36 minutes) than the actual statistics given below.
Note: I’ve made available from this blog post the GPS cycle route I’ve prepared. This is the cycle route as plotted from Exeter to Exmouth which is primarily an off-road route, being a mix of lanes, tracks, paths and a dismantled railway line. This I’ve made available from the second set of links above entitled ‘Cycle route for GPS’. Should you utilise this route it will get you to Exmouth, so then there’s the journey home to be considered. I’d recommend the Exe Estuary trail be used, as this provides quite level cycling along a route that’s largely free of traffic and affords excellent views of the River Exe. An alternative option would be to use the train from Exmouth to Exeter. Cycles are permitted but restrictions apply and I would advise that you make yourself aware of these prior to committing to using rail as your means of return (First Great Western – Cycle Policy).
Walk Statistics:
Total Distance: 19.0 miles
Moving Time: 6hrs 42min
Stopped Time: 1hr 05min
Total Ascent: 621 metres
Maximum Elevation: 175 metres
Buses: (none)
Train: Lympstone to Digby & Sowton (single fare £3.10)
No comments:
Post a Comment