Exeter

[rjb]

I'm a cream on top of the jam on warm buttered scones.
The Cornish way despite being a Devon boy.

[Rob D]

That's just weird! Do you put butter on top of jam too?

[amediasatex]

Thanks guys for the preparatory advice, we've finally arrived and had our first few rides. My fitness levels will need a little improvement but the scenery more than makes up for it.

What I hadn't realised is how cycle friendly Exeter is compared to Northampton. The school run is awash with cargo bikes and motorists have patiently followed me whilst slugging up the Dartmoor hills.

All good news

Welcome from another Exeter Resident and cargobiker

If you did indeed end up at Countess Weir then make sure you explore the lanes behind Exminster up and over Haldon Hill, they are quiet, plentiful, scenic, and hilly, and within easy reach from CW without having to use busy main roads.

Likewise there's plenty to the East of Exeter too over towards Woodbury Common which you can reach easily from CW as well, it takes a while to get to know the routes and how to get to places while avoiding the main roads but it is entirely possible to do so.

There's also a surprisingly good amount of lanes to the North West as well if you go exploring, and if you put all the above together you can easily put together increasing distance circumference rides around the city from 30-100+miles without ever really using any of he main roads.

As I'm sure you're aware too Dartmoor is within relatively easy reach, and the route up through Longdown to Moretonhampstead is gorgeous and only about 11-12 miles from the city centre to get you onto the edge of the Moor. You can head up over Haldon and down through Chudleigh towards Bovey too as another option.

There is an active CTC group in Exeter that meets during the week if you're interested in group rides, I'm not an active participant but a number of my friends are. I run/herd the Exeter Wheelers Social rides on a Saturday morning and Wedesday eve instead which are still mellow but a little pacier.

[Vetus Ossa]

I'm a cream on top of the jam on warm buttered scones.
The Cornish way despite being a Devon boy.
Scones5LowRes.jpg

Same here, the rest of the family think it wrong.

[Stradageek]

Thanks guys for the preparatory advice, we've finally arrived and had our first few rides. My fitness levels will need a little improvement but the scenery more than makes up for it.

What I hadn't realised is how cycle friendly Exeter is compared to Northampton. The school run is awash with cargo bikes and motorists have patiently followed me whilst slugging up the Dartmoor hills.

All good news

Welcome from another Exeter Resident and cargobiker

If you did indeed end up at Countess Weir then make sure you explore the lanes behind Exminster up and over Haldon Hill, they are quiet, plentiful, scenic, and hilly, and within easy reach from CW without having to use busy main roads.

Likewise there's plenty to the East of Exeter too over towards Woodbury Common which you can reach easily from CW as well, it takes a while to get to know the routes and how to get to places while avoiding the main roads but it is entirely possible to do so.

There's also a surprisingly good amount of lanes to the North West as well if you go exploring, and if you put all the above together you can easily put together increasing distance circumference rides around the city from 30-100+miles without ever really using any of he main roads.

As I'm sure you're aware too Dartmoor is within relatively easy reach, and the route up through Longdown to Moretonhampstead is gorgeous and only about 11-12 miles from the city centre to get you onto the edge of the Moor. You can head up over Haldon and down through Chudleigh towards Bovey too as another option.

There is an active CTC group in Exeter that meets during the week if you're interested in group rides, I'm not an active participant but a number of my friends are. I run/herd the Exeter Wheelers Social rides on a Saturday morning and Wedesday eve instead which are still mellow but a little pacier.

Thanks so much for this as it confirms my initial OS map trawling and the experience of my first few rides. Woodbury area is indeed good and after visiting Dartmoor on Monday I came down Six Mile Hill to Longdown, very scary on a recumbent! The ride up to Haldon forest using the Starcross road was lovely and I shall definitely try the diversion to Chudleigh.

What does 'mellow but pacier' look like? In flatter Northants I'd tend to average around 15mph but my 4 hour Dartmoor excursion dropped that to nearer 10mph. I blame the climb out of Moretonhampstead and my 68yr old legs

[basingstoke123]

1) If you like climbing hills, then you're moving to the right place. The West Country seems to have a more or less straight line policy when it comes to road construction. Why build hairpins to reduce a hill to 8-10% when you can just go straight up it at 20-30%?

Why would you add a hairpin bend? If you are straight going down (or up), do you want a hairpin bend to then go back up (or down)?

But longer hills (particularly on the many country 'lanes') do often have a sharp 90 deg corner - usually at the very bottom! And sometimes another one at the top.

Where I grew up in the Exe valley, most of the hills had sharp bends at the bottom. The exception being the hill outside our house. The longest and steepest hill nearby was one mile continuous down, with a sharp corner near the top, then relatively straight until the 90deg corner at the very bottom, covered in gravel. And just around the corner was a short up which you had to peddle hard despite having just enjoyed a 1 mile descent!

[Jon in Sweden]

Why would you add a hairpin bend? If you are straight going down (or up), do you want a hairpin bend to then go back up (or down)?

But longer hills (particularly on the many country 'lanes') do often have a sharp 90 deg corner - usually at the very bottom! And sometimes another one at the top.

Where I grew up in the Exe valley, most of the hills had sharp bends at the bottom. The exception being the hill outside our house. The longest and steepest hill nearby was one mile continuous down, with a sharp corner near the top, then relatively straight until the 90deg corner at the very bottom, covered in gravel. And just around the corner was a short up which you had to peddle hard despite having just enjoyed a 1 mile descent!

The idea is that you don't just go straight down the hill, but rather at an angle across and down, with a hairpin/switchback to further descend at a sensible incline.

Living in Sweden and having done a reasonable amount of cycling in Norway this year, the insanely steep roads with no run off would be suicidal here in winter.

[RJS]

Another cream on top person; I was shown that way by my grandparents, who were both born on Dartmoor, and generations before them; can't get much more Devonshire than that. I'd just like to know who decided that there was a Devon way and a Conish way
As for pasties, Cornwall decide to make a "thing" of them being made there, but the first written record of them is in Devon
Cherrs, Rob.

[Rob D]

Surely cream on top is Cornish! I've never heard of a Devonian doing such a thing. Was it a typo? I lived on Dartmoor for 32 years, now very close to it, married to a real Devonian, some of whose ancestors farmed on the moor. Always jam on top - as you would with bread, butter ... and jam. :

[richardfm]

Surely cream on top is Cornish! I've never heard of a Devonian doing such a thing. Was it a typo? I lived on Dartmoor for 32 years, now very close to it, married to a real Devonian, some of whose ancestors farmed on the moor. Always jam on top - as you would with bread, butter ... and jam. :

My wife was born in Exeter and me in Sidmouth. My side of the family has been in Devon for generations.
It has always been jam on top (and in the good old days with my aunt's homemade clotted cream underneath).

[basingstoke123]

The cream goes on first (on your scone, strawberries, cornflakes, or whatever). The jam, if applicable, goes on the cream, and is optional. (You wouldn't have jam on cornflakes, for example).

I grew up on a dairy farm in Devon and we used to make our own cream. Longer ago dairy farms often kept a Jersey or Guernsey cow for cream.

[arnsider]

Long before I retired, I worked for a while in Exeter City, by the Central Station. I used to stay week nights at what was then, the Exeter Youth Hostel at Countess Weir (YHA Vandals closed yet another gem!)
I rode my bike to and from and remember it was a lovely way over the river and along the canal into the City.
If you can get your bikes onto the trains, there are lines radiating in all directions with quite a numjber of stations within the City.

[Stradageek]

All true arnsider. We live just beyond Countess Weir on the Newcourt estate. Shopping trips to town and our regular ride to volunteer at 'Ride-on', a bicycle recycling charity, use that same very scenic route along the river and canal. Every time we ride it I can't believe how lucky we are to be in the area.

On the other hand, getting back on the bike after a three week layoff and not having quite recovered from a heavy cold I was defeated by the hill from Clapham to Haldon forest. The first time it has beaten me

[Rob D]

And of course you have good access to the the Double Locks and Turf Hotel. What's not to like??

[Stradageek]

And of course you have good access to the the Double Locks and Turf Hotel. What's not to like??

Exactly! The only downside being the Turf closing for the winter (open 10-5 weekends only) because it's only really accessible by bike or on foot

Using Double Locks, the Passage House in Topsham and The Prospect on the Quay for now