Four of us went on a bimble around the lanes in East Devon following on from recent storms and very heavy and persistent rain.
My mate Jim Weedon (long time DTRFG member but has a low profile these days) organised the run and was lucky to have found the one dry day in between weeks of nasty wet and windy weather.
He asked me to organise a route and to lead the run so that he could be TEC (Tail End Charlie) to look after our newbie John on his chunky Kwacker KLE600. I planned the route (using the wonderful Memory Map software) avoiding all the lanes with fords or where they run along river beds but it was still going to be pot luck as to what we found!
The sun was out for quite a bit of the time which, whilst lovely, did cause a few issues as it is very low at this time of year and caused glare from the wet road surfaces.
As expected, the lanes were wet, muddy and very slippery - brilliant in fact
Apart from one cross-rutting incident (which made John decide he needed a lighter bike!) everyone stayed sunny side up although we all experienced some hairy moments where our front wheels washed away or the rear end fish tailed after just a whiff too much throttle
We did our bit for lane clearing as there was a lot of small stuff impeding progress including moving a "stopper" on 192-166 - a long dead tree that two burly blokes were able to move atop the adjacent hedge. There were a few obstacles in 192-179 that looked deliberately placed but were easy enough to drive around apart from a biggish pile of tree prunings at the bottom end opposite the school which look to have been strategically placed to disguise the lane entrance. With the cut ends pointing uphill they were just waiting to catch in spokes or de-rail a chain
As run leader, there were a few worrying moments when coming across long stretches of standing water and trusting that they weren't going to be deep enough to drown the TTR!
Anyways up, we all made it safely (although a bit later than intended) to our lunch stop at Cara's Diner at Greendale for some hot cuppas and all-day full English breakfast fry ups
We did 35 miles and rode 33 lanes in 2hrs 52 minutes according to the tracklog. But we spent another couple of hours in the cafe talking motorbike bollox.
Good to get out but I am definitely not bike fit. I was absolutely knackered when I got home and still feeling a bit old this morning
I never manage to take many photos when run leader but these are what I have. If anyone can work out what lane ends feature in pics 1 and 2 then I will hold them in awe
We avoided 192-136 as I have a recollection of someone saying it was overgrown at both ends and needed clearing. Has this been done or is it on the "waiting list" please? If the latter then maybe I could put my hands on some heavy duty loppers
I think you're all mad but it looks like you picked a good day out of a load of rainy ones.
Well done.
Is picture one 192-166 at the western end before the junction with the road.
I know that picture two is the northen enf of 192-185 after the old badger hole (now filled) bend. I wait there for Liz walking Jedi on the way to Sir Walter.
Picture three is the Sidmouth lookout 192-170 as we all know.
Marttyn
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TTR250 but now a mobility scooter Budleigh Salterton