Route + Video: Riding 30 Miles on Devon's Muddy Lanes

We're currently trying to hit 50 miles a week with a mixture of running and cycling in the name of a charity goal at my partner's workplace. By 'we', I mean he's trying to hit 50 miles a week and I'm doing the same for some moral support.

To be honest, it's not much more than we were doing over the summer anyway. But it's not summer. It gets dark at 5pm and working days haven't gotten proportionately shorter. So we're trying to cram in many miles with less light. While we do often run in the dark, the bulk of the miles are done on bikes and that's considerably less fun in the dark.

On Saturday night, I plotted a route on komoot with 6% battery life on my laptop and no motivation to move the three metres to my charger. So I plotted the route pretty quick.

The 30 Mile Route

I live in Exeter which lies in a valley so wherever I ride, unless it's to the sea, is going to involve some hills. And Devon loves hills. Hills with chevrons on them because the gradient is so steep. It also loves lanes but then so do the locals, who aren't shy of taking them at 50mph.

With two national parks, a handful of AONBs (Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty) and two coastlines, I thought I'd plot a route that took us away from all of those things.

After all, there must be something in the gap.

As it turned out, there was. There was endless empty lanes, lots of ascents, lots of descents, lots of lambs (in November!) and a hefty dose of mud. It was blissful.

I highly recommend trying out this route if you're in the area. It's not horrendously hilly and the last half is pretty flat as it follows the River Creedy. The route begins climbing out of Exeter up to Cadbury Castle (a hillfort) before heading out west and down to the river.

Click on the komoot map below to see the route as it doesn't want to display properly.

This route can be done on a touring bike but it does include one short section of 'unmetalled road' which, in reality, is a gravelly track. You can skip this though, rerouting around it. It had very muddy sections with big puddles.

There are also no benches along the route to sit and much your flapjack on. So if you're looking for a snack break, either lock your bike at the bottom of Cadbury Castle and head up there or content yourself with a farm gate to lean on and make small talk with the white, fluffy locals who will also be chewing.

If you want a trip preview, check out the video below!