Devon TRF Group Forum

Another South Hams run (new route) 25-01-2015

Riders

Russell11031967 (Russell)

Kwakageoff (Geoff)

Forestcat (Damian)

ALG SP (Neil)

jay (Jay)

Martin (Somerset TRF )

All Lanes 202

After a few  texts and emails from Mark last year telling me he was moving down from Somerset to Ermington, just along the road from me, we tried to arrange a ride out a few times, but one of us could never make it, then we finally agreed on the 25^th January, so I asked Geoff and Damian if they also fancied it and they were both up for it so that made the numbers up to four and as I was happy to take a couple more I  put the ride out  up on the forum and quickly had two replies, one from Jay, who had contacted me before Christmas as a new member and we had gone out the following day with a few non TRF mates and the other from Neil who I had not met before, so we had six.

So a new route was needed and swiftly designed 102 miles and 102 lanes, when I contacted Mark and told him he couldnt believe that there were 102 lanes let alone that we were going to do them in one day, apparently they are few and far between in Somerset.

We all met at the garage in Ivybridge, the weather was meant to be fine until around 3 and then light rain coming in. After introductions had been done from new and old, we set off.

First lane was 170 going up through the slippery farmyard and levelling off towards the end ,next was the thin C159 where there was a football match going on in the field at the end, then down to WooHoo 154 and as they had never done any of the lanes before we thought a tour of this one was only fair before attempting the steps on it (as I have found out in the past this is not always a good idea as riding them blind is often better) Geoff set off first and ended up being the only one who didnt need any outside assistance with everyone else struggling to differing degrees, Neil struggling the most with the heavy XR400, made much worst once dropped as it didnt like starting too much.

Back on the road and down to a relatively new lane, 450, slightly downhill and right next to the A38, then across the bridge, over the A38, down the slip road and towards South Brent and 127, then under the A38 once more and passing 386 back under the A38 again and on to 122 scrapyard lane where the centre gully you would rub your footpegs on last year has almost gone, next 121  which was quite slippery at the bottom, then 120, which now has a concrete gulley for water at the bottom after being washed out last year, then 338, then through Harbourneford and into 095 trying to ride the centre rut without dabbing.  After shutting the gate on the roadside we continued towards 084, a great little lane, but halfway there we came to a stop as Marks KTM rear wheel locked up, on inspection the pads had locked to the disc and all was red hot, looked like Mark had been resting on the rear brake without knowing it and after a few minutes cooling down we were good to go and we carried on to 084, where the large boulder to stop 4x4s has been pushed to one side, next was 085 another great lane swapping from side to side to avoid all the gullies, then down 086 ,the first time Ive ridden it downhill I think, then up 076 which is slowly returning to its old self after being regraded a few years ago. Then a pleasant ride through Buckfastleigh to 063 (Suicide Alley) where Neil had a few issues on the step halfway up and wore himself out trying to kick start it again.

A quick break at the top of Suicide alley.

Next on to 055 and then 064, then past the travellers on 077, next 087 where on entering the farmyard the farmers wife happily opened the gate for us and we popped out onto the main A384, next was the nice 096 were I met Neil halfway up at the slippery slate section having a few problems with keeping it upright and then trying to start it once more, it took both of us to try kicking it over and a couple of attempts to pull away again before we got going and met the others waiting at the top , then along the short but muddy 109 and down Water Lane 097 with a stream running down it, once we joined the A384 again Neil had decided to leave us at this point as he was knackered, we waved our goodbyes and carried on to 088 and 089 followed by 090, then onto 294 and the pretty Woolston Green, next was 065 with water running down it then we dropped down into 057 and 056, next a  couple of really long beauties, 058 and 066, then on and into Broadhempston and the flat and easy 070 and 071, then 078 with water splash, then into 098, where we waited to enter the lane for some horses and were met with a polite thank you, then down to 099 Tally Ho, we warned the others once again about this one and set off with a bit of a gap between everyone hoping everyone would make it up. It was not to be this time as no one cleared it and most needed a little help, some more than others.

A few pics from Tally Ho.

After a short chat at the top we continued to 100,101,102 and 324 where we met a mountain biker coming up over the slate slab and had to change my line for him, these four lanes were all filled with quite a bit of water, then the covered  326 and across the main road and into another great lane, 103, where the puddles were deeper than I thought and I got myself a little wet, next down to the beautiful lake behind Berry Pomeroy Castle and quite a few walkers  and 119 where we could see across the field someone had already been there before us by the tyre marks and they had failed to shut the gate then down through Berry Pomeroy and along to 117, 116, 115 and past more travellers with a wind turbine and solar panels and into 118, then down into Totnes and a fuel and food stop at Morrisons garage where we talked to three lads  out on their own run, once they realised we had a route to follow and knew all the lanes they were very keen to tag along and asked if they could join us.

Once we were all fed and watered and fuelled up we continued to 123 and some big puddles on 311, we waited at the end for the three lads, but only one turned up and said his two mates had drowned their bikes in the puddle and for us to carry on without them, so they managed less than two lanes with us.

Next was 304 and 133 and then down  onto the main road and along to the whitey 421 where the railway sleeper I installed a few years ago is still doing a good job of letting us cross the deep ditch easily once over the bridge its very sticky on the other side and a bit of a gap is needed to avoid a roistering, next 131 uphill and then 142 Reservoir  lane (thats its real name Geoff) with a fair bit of water in the puddle down the bottom, but still easy enough to get through and we all survived the down  141 which looked like a few 4x4s had been through recently.   Next was 147 and down the slate steps used in the Ten Tors as a special section and into 148 where we stopped to admire the very rare glove tree in this lane (REMEMBER WE ARE VERY NEAR TOTNES, BUT STILL NOT SURE WHY SOMEONE WOULD WANT TO ADORNE A TREE WITH LOTS OF DIFFERENT GLOVES) then up to 149 where we watched from the piles of hardcore, used as another special section on the Ten Tors, a few riders  practicing in Gregs field on the motocross track before continuing on to the narrow 176 where we met another dog walker and saw that most of the barn conversions at the end have almost been completed, then 177 and  back along the main road towards Totnes, we stopped at 144  where we decided to give 144 and 143 a miss as we had never ridden them with the water level as high as it was so we carried on to 295 which is now very boring compared to how it used to be due to regrading, then down the muddy 156 and then 155 with the SLOW, BEWARE PUPPY sign is still up after about 10 years, lol, then up the short 321 and down to 444 Bow Ford, no accidents crossing, but Jay chickened out and used the bridge, not sure why, then up the nice 160 and 309 again with a fair amount of water along the top, next down to 164 and the bottom part of the Corkscrew and turning right into 328, then up past Tuckenhay Mill and into 163, then the brilliant 162 where Geoff had a little moment with a  tree stump and the hedge, next the short and regraded  186, then down into Washbourne and along to everyones favourite (NOT) 185, the lane of pain where we stopped briefly at the end as a few of us had a slight burning feeling in our thigh muscles, then the short 334 to the main road and down to the nice rocky and steep  198.

Just up the road I stopped to speak to Trevor, one of the guys I work with who was looking over his gate and I was wondering what had happened to everyone when they turned up and explained that Geoff had lost every other tooth on his front sprocket and that it wasnt sounding too good, Geoff decided to carry on and just take it easy on the throttle, we knew by now that we were going to have to cut route to finish before dark so we started to cut some out from here the first being 197, we then did  204 which had another deepish puddle, then  the nice 205 and 212, after this we made our way towards Loddiswell where Jay was going to leave us as we were starting to head away from his home at this point. After this we cut out most of the lanes around Loddiswell and just did the lovely 243 which is also slowly returning to its former glory after being regraded a few years back, we then headed to Aveton Gifford and another travellers lane, 237, it had started to steadily rain by this point as we headed for 222 and the slippery 221 where Damian  had a moment on the junction of the two lanes, then we made a dash into Modbury to do our last two lanes of the day, first the brilliant 210 runaway lane followed by 209 where Mark managed to get cross rutted in a puddle  about a 100m from the end of our last lane and threw himself and his bike to the floor, we rode from here down the main road to Flete  together where we said our goodbyes.

Thanks for a great day out guys, 97 miles and 84 lanes by my calculations and a few badgers I think