The day began with an 8:45 meet at Ivybridge fuel station. Russ and I arrived slightly early with a view to grabbing a coffee and a sausage bap before our Essex friends arrived but they were earlier than anticipated. The weather was bright and sunny but cold and our friends early commute from Totnes had chilled them to the core so they were only to glad to take a moment to chat and warm themselves back up whilst we had our coffee and baps. Bikes and bellies fueled up we were ready for the off heading towards Cornwood via Hartford.
The river-run lane at Cornwood didn't disappoint and gave the first opportunity for some camera action. There was a tree down shortly after entering the left-fork lane of the two (as you head north) but this was easily ducked-under after a quick dismount. The raised bank near the exit of the lane is slowly getting further eroded away by the watercourse and it's off camber to which adds a little additional challenge to this lane. In order to get ahead of the queue for picture opportunities I dropped into the stream to exit that lane. This is aways a good fun challenge.
Looping back around we entered the right fork of the lane the joins back at the start of the other lane. This is always rather slimey and slippery especially today with the addition of a rather large flooded section of the lane which I've never witnessed before. To be expected given the amount of wet weather we've had this last month!!
Onwards from Cornwood towards Lee Moor, Wotter and Shaugh Prior then Hele Lane (201-047) which takes you a short distance across the open moor. At the northern exit of this lane we met an extremely grumpy horse rider who took the liberty of incorrectly telling us we were not allowed to be riding on the open moor. We responded - politely at first - that the lane we'd ridden was a legal byway and we're therefore well within the bounds of the law. She continued to be forthright and somewhat aggressive in her stance on the legality of our actions at which point she was making notes on her phone and said she was going to notify the Police. Russ presented his bike with numberplate in full visibility - he even wiped it clean for her photo. Off she trotted in a grump and full of her righteousness and off in the other direction we headed. Full of the joys of spring she was ...... NOT!
Our route took us to Goodameavy then Hoo Meavy then the ford at Meavy which was too deep to cross. At Burrator Reservoir we took a quick look at the dam which was in full flow. We skirted around the reserviour but didn't ride any of the lanes as despite being legal there were a lot of walkers so best pass through quietly and not annoy anyone.
We gave Peak Hill farm lame a miss but rode the other short and rocky uphill lane near Walkhampton and met two horse riders here but thankfully they were much more friendly than our earlier encounter.
Through Horrabridge and up across the top of the moor to Grenofen where the temperature dropped noticeably but at this point it was still bright and sunny so not to complain.
Grenofen provided another camera opportunity but as I walked back to my bike from my filming spot a herd of Dartmoor ponies appeared and were about to block my route but upon starting the bike they fled off in the other direction. Next stop the fuel station in Tavy for fuel and elevens-is (if that's how you spell it?) - a coffee and a snack.
Out the back of Tavy we headed towards the infamous Horndon lane which is always a good challenge made slightly more tricky by the rain which had just started as we entered the lane. On the descent we witnessed our first badger of the day, just as I started filming although I missed the actual 'off', DOH. Dave had a wee front end slide that saw him trapped under his bike against the bank. Dan to the rescue and a quick kick of the rear brake lever back into shape and we reached the bottom of the lane. Now the more challenging ascent up the boulder section. Fair to say everyone made it no issues.
Onwards towards Brent Tor we descend the rocky lane into Blacknor Park then rode past Lydford Gorge and onto the lanes along the old railway line at Lydford. The lane that drops us onto Fenworthy downs was muddy and slippy as always then across Fenworthy downs there were lots of deep puddles. The water splash at the northern end of West Devon Way was pretty deep catching a few riders out and provided a decent filming opportunity. At this point we were in and out of heavy downpours which were cold and rather unpleasant especially on the longer road sections like heading towards Lewdown and Jethro's old place but we continued on.
The long lane at East Raddon was muddy and sloppy - it usually is - then on to another favourite challenge which usually provides some action and today was no exception - Angels Steps.
Circulating back around Brent Tor in the heavy downpours we hit a fave lane of mine at Meadwell. I love the whoops along the length of this lane and the slidey surface that's not such a bad rutt you can still enjoy the lane. There was a very large and deep puddle towards the start of this lane which I've never seen in lane before so that added to the appeal. A short stop at the end of this lane to warm the hands on the exhausts then onwards to another fave lane of mine at Willesley. The eastern end of this lane is normally a single centre rutt with the hedges almost meeting in the middle - definitely one for the visor down. However, there were 4x4 tracks in this lane which I've never seen before and the eastern end gate was badly broken. Hmmmm.
A late lunch (15:00) at the garage at Collacombe Down - a lovely pasty and Mocha whilst we sheltered from the heavy showers in a delapidated box trailer. At this point we decided that the full extent of out route taking us across Lopwell Dam was probably not such a good idea given the recent incident at Lopwell due to the force of the water across the causeway and the fact we were all very wet and pretty cold, so we headed on the route to Tavy then headed for home on the roads. A few additional good lanes along the way however. The lane through the farm at Beera (I think?) was stinky as always with cattle slurry but the lane immediately after provides a fun challenge due to the water erosion that's carved a winding gully along the latter length of the lane.
Final lane of the day was across the fields exiting on the road leading to Tavy rugby club and it was a challenge to get any traction. Descending into Tavy we headed out on the back road towards Grenofen then onwards to Yealverton. Here I parted company with the rest of the gang as they headed across thr moor towards Ivybridge. I stopped at the jetwash to have a rinse down then headed home to strip off and start drying everything for tomorrow. So until then .......
I would have thought there would have been far more comments on a lovely ride report & photos than we see here, great to read someone else's experiences when out on the trails
These people who show great interest in producing such ride reports will fade away (hopefully not) until someone pops up and says "Where's those lovely ride reports"
Real shame
Anyways a beautiful ride report on both days, thanks Geoff indeed for all your work & effort in producing such a report shame no one can comment
Cheers Ian, appreciate the comments.
I write the reports and share them on Facebook as they often pop up as memories on that platform so it's nice for me to relive the experience years down the line. It's easy enough to copy and paste them here to for people to read, which I can see they have, so as long as they get the views I'm not too fussed about a lack of comments, I'll keep posting them regardless so fear not (you can't get rid of le that easily, ha ha)
ch more friendly than our earlier encounter.
