Head to the hills, Day 2 – #ExmoorEpic Bikepacking Devon by MuddyGoose - November 2, 20180 Day 2, early morning, the tarp and bivvy combination seems to be working a dream. I'm snug, I'm dry, it's raining, I got some decent sleep overnight, it's raining... Oh, no - it's raining. And so we have that dilemma moment; do I stay warm and dry where I am and slowly watch the time ticking by or do I get up and get wet packing everything away in the rain and starting the day's route in the rain? The answer is of course a scramble to find my phone, it will know what to do! Have I got a signal? Yes. Have a got a weather app? Of course! Will the rain stop? Probably, in about an hour. Time
Head to the hills, Day 1 – #ExmoorEpic Devon by MuddyGoose - October 6, 2018November 2, 20180 There really shouldn't be any need for an excuse to head into Exmoor for a couple of days of cycling. The north Devon & Somerset coasts host some outstanding scenery and provide a multitude of challenging hill climbs. However, for me the underlying purpose of the trip was to tick off some more of those hills in Simon Warren's book, numbers 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7 in fact. This along with the previous 45 that I'd completed so far would take me up to 50, a significant milestone for any sort of best 100 list! The fact that I could ride this as a two day trip with my cycling mate Phil and include a bivvy overnight by the
Dartmoor Epic 2016, Day 2 Dartmoor Devon by MuddyGoose - July 29, 20160 With Day 1 complete and some 60 km ridden with around 1500m of climbing under our belts it was onto Day 2. There were plenty of new trails to be ridden on this 2nd day along a new route that would take us to a tried and tested camping ground just north of Ivybridge. 862
Dartmoor Epic 2016, Day 3 Dartmoor Devon by MuddyGoose - July 29, 20160 The final day, Day 3. This is the day when the more tired want a direct route back, or maybe even one that skirts around the edges of the hills. They don't so much care whether it's still off-road or not as long as the climbs aren't too technical. On the other hand, those with energy to spare and miles remaining in the legs quite fancy finishing off in style and not allowing the trek to fizzle out at the end. I won't say who was in which category, you can make your own guesses! 872
Dartmoor Epic 2016, Day 1 Dartmoor Devon by MuddyGoose - July 23, 20161 But we've done Dartmoor already! In fact it was only last year too! However, in several ways, I didn't feel like I had truly "done" Dartmoor, not fully, not done it justice and so I was eager to return. Add to that the fact that I was eager to bring more people along for the ride this time and going back to somewhere that I knew had perfect camping locations just made sense. 844
Exmouth and the Devon coastal hills – Salcombe Hill #12 Devon by MuddyGoose - June 7, 20160 I knew it was going to be a tough hill climb when I started feeling a little queasy, in fact I had to come to a complete stop and even had to take a moment to compose myself. And I hadn't even arrived at the hill yet! 716