Eight of us gathered at Bovey Tracey cricket club car park on a sunny but windy day, Myself + wife Sue, Ted Greenberry, John Durham, Graham B, Andy P. & Dave,Nicci on tandem.
We set off to join the cycle path that took us towards Stover and the Templer Way Trail alongside the old Stover canal, we had a cold NW wind to contend with & most people kept their jackets on, but the sun was still in the sky with a promise of getting warmer.Arriving in Newton Abbot we threaded our way through to go over the bridge spanning the Stover Canal & River Teign then alongside Newton Abbot race course on the cycle path.We stayed on the cycle path and foot paths to arrive at our first stop of the Passage Inn to find it closed, still it was nice & sunny so we sat down on the benches to admire the view and watch the goings on in the river, of dogs diving in and a group of people on a half submerged raft paddling along having fun, Dave went scrumping on a nearby apple tree to get his mornings elevenses. Finally the pub opened with the start of a black cloud & a drop of rain so we retired inside for coffee & Tea.
Outside again in to the sunshine we mounted up to tackle our first hills of the day, on the first hill Dave & Nicci came to grieve with the chain snapping on their tandem, we all tried several efforts to remove the broken link to no avail as the chain had riveted links, so we had to leave them with the prospect of a long walk back to Bovey Tracey.
The rest of us set off threaded through the streets of Kingsteignton and on to join Humber Lane and a long climb up to Humber. At the cross roads I normally turn right but decided to carry on for about half a mile to what was described as, Three Tree Lane, on the OS map it was down as a bridle path but on Google maps it was down as an actual lane, so thought give it a go. Well it probably was a lane years ago going by the lumps of tarmac here & there but now it was definitely a rough track were we all had to walk in places , but like true Plymouth CTC cyclists we cracked on to come out by Teignmouth Golf Course. On to lanes again we thread our way to the long downhill stretch to Teignmouth and taking in the lovely views over the town & Shaldon to join the long bridge over the water, turning right at the end of the bridge passed some nice terraced cottages alongside the river. Hitting the main "B" road turning right again to follow the river road to Combeinteignhead and our second stop at Coombes Cellars pub alongside the river, which was packed with people. On arrival at the bar we found it was a pub with no beer, they had apparently run out due to high demand, so had to settle for Cider instead, which still went down well.
Out of the pub and through Combeinteignhead heading for Lower Netherton, at the top of another steep hill we were met by Graham feeding a - herd, flock, swarm - of frenzied hairy pigs with the remains of his Malt loaf that he had failed to eat. I mean is malt loaf part of a pigs diet ? still I hear they will eat anything and judging by their grunting & squealing and banging at the gate we decided to beat a hasty retreat before they broke out and ate us and our bikes. So then it was on to Buckland & over the foot bridge spanning the main A380 to join cycle path again, passed the race course and back in to Kingsteignton,were we threaded through the streets again for Gallows Cross were we turned right on to Roman Road the turned left at New Cross on to cycle path again and on our way back to Bovey. On arrival back in Bovey Tracey we decided to have a last coffee in the Cycle cafe before heading back to the Cricket grounds to load up the cars and say our goodbyes.
I had been in touch with Nicci on the mobile and found they had walked back to Newton Abbot and managed to get a new chain fitted at Halfords before riding back to Bovey Tracey, so not all bad, at least they didn`t have to walk all the way back.
Only had 25.3 miles on the clock but seemed longer, especially for Ted.
Trevor
We set off to join the cycle path that took us towards Stover and the Templer Way Trail alongside the old Stover canal, we had a cold NW wind to contend with & most people kept their jackets on, but the sun was still in the sky with a promise of getting warmer.Arriving in Newton Abbot we threaded our way through to go over the bridge spanning the Stover Canal & River Teign then alongside Newton Abbot race course on the cycle path.We stayed on the cycle path and foot paths to arrive at our first stop of the Passage Inn to find it closed, still it was nice & sunny so we sat down on the benches to admire the view and watch the goings on in the river, of dogs diving in and a group of people on a half submerged raft paddling along having fun, Dave went scrumping on a nearby apple tree to get his mornings elevenses. Finally the pub opened with the start of a black cloud & a drop of rain so we retired inside for coffee & Tea.
Outside again in to the sunshine we mounted up to tackle our first hills of the day, on the first hill Dave & Nicci came to grieve with the chain snapping on their tandem, we all tried several efforts to remove the broken link to no avail as the chain had riveted links, so we had to leave them with the prospect of a long walk back to Bovey Tracey.
The rest of us set off threaded through the streets of Kingsteignton and on to join Humber Lane and a long climb up to Humber. At the cross roads I normally turn right but decided to carry on for about half a mile to what was described as, Three Tree Lane, on the OS map it was down as a bridle path but on Google maps it was down as an actual lane, so thought give it a go. Well it probably was a lane years ago going by the lumps of tarmac here & there but now it was definitely a rough track were we all had to walk in places , but like true Plymouth CTC cyclists we cracked on to come out by Teignmouth Golf Course. On to lanes again we thread our way to the long downhill stretch to Teignmouth and taking in the lovely views over the town & Shaldon to join the long bridge over the water, turning right at the end of the bridge passed some nice terraced cottages alongside the river. Hitting the main "B" road turning right again to follow the river road to Combeinteignhead and our second stop at Coombes Cellars pub alongside the river, which was packed with people. On arrival at the bar we found it was a pub with no beer, they had apparently run out due to high demand, so had to settle for Cider instead, which still went down well.
Out of the pub and through Combeinteignhead heading for Lower Netherton, at the top of another steep hill we were met by Graham feeding a - herd, flock, swarm - of frenzied hairy pigs with the remains of his Malt loaf that he had failed to eat. I mean is malt loaf part of a pigs diet ? still I hear they will eat anything and judging by their grunting & squealing and banging at the gate we decided to beat a hasty retreat before they broke out and ate us and our bikes. So then it was on to Buckland & over the foot bridge spanning the main A380 to join cycle path again, passed the race course and back in to Kingsteignton,were we threaded through the streets again for Gallows Cross were we turned right on to Roman Road the turned left at New Cross on to cycle path again and on our way back to Bovey. On arrival back in Bovey Tracey we decided to have a last coffee in the Cycle cafe before heading back to the Cricket grounds to load up the cars and say our goodbyes.
I had been in touch with Nicci on the mobile and found they had walked back to Newton Abbot and managed to get a new chain fitted at Halfords before riding back to Bovey Tracey, so not all bad, at least they didn`t have to walk all the way back.
Only had 25.3 miles on the clock but seemed longer, especially for Ted.
Trevor
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