Why this ride
117 km from Exeter to Exeter, about 2 h 51 of riding. It goes by way of Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks, River Sid, Dorset and East Devon Coast and River Axe.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Exeter afternoon · River Axe
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 117 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 51
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
River Sid → Dorset and East Devon Coast
Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did. Water arrives beside the road and stays for 13 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 16 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Exeter
Exeter's cathedral has the longest unbroken medieval vault in the world, a stone ceiling that runs for about ninety-six metres without interruption, and it looks like a stand of enormous palm trees sprouting from the pillars. The building is mostly fourteenth century, and its west front is crowded with weathered statues of kings and saints. It stands in a grassy close just a few streets from the centre of the city, which for a settlement of this age is quite normal. The Romans founded the town as Isca Dumnoniorum around AD 50, and parts of their wall still stand beside the cathedral and under the pavements.
Read the complete Exeter write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Exeter is where the day begins. Next is Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks.
2. Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks
Where the Otter meets the sea near Budleigh Salterton, the cliffs turn red. This is the start of the Jurassic Coast, the stretch of Dorset and East Devon coast that UNESCO listed in 2001 because the cliffs tell a continuous story of 185 million years. At the eastern end, at Orcombe Point in Exmouth, a stone sculpture called the Geoneedle marks the beginning, and from there the rocks run from the red sandstones of the Triassic towards the white chalk of the east. The section between Orcombe Rocks and Chit Rocks is the oldest, a wall of red cliff, sandy beach and sea stacks that look as if they were painted.
Read the complete Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks comes up about 22 km into the recorded legs. Next is River Sid.
3. River Sid
The river Sid is short, quick and small, rising in the hills of east Devon and running down the green valley past Sidbury and Sidford to the sea at Sidmouth, where it makes the shingle beach that the town grew around.
Read the complete River Sid write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
At least about 42 km into the recorded legs you reach River Sid. Next is Dorset and East Devon Coast.
4. Dorset and East Devon Coast
The cliffs around Lyme Regis are made of dark, crumbling clay and shale, and every winter storm brings some of them down. That is why fossil hunters love them. In the early nineteenth century a local girl named Mary Anning, the daughter of a carpenter, found the skeleton of an ichthyosaur on the beach and went on to unearth some of the first plesiosaurs, earning a grudging place in a scientific world that did not welcome women. The ammonites, fossil crinoids and sea-reptile bones that still turn up here are nearly two hundred million years old, and the whole coast from Exmouth to Studland, the Jurassic Coast, was listed by UNESCO in 2001 for its record of Earth history.
Read the complete Dorset and East Devon Coast write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Dorset and East Devon Coast, about halfway. Next is River Axe.
5. River Axe
The Axe is a modest river by most standards, rising in the hills of Dorset and winding down through east Devon to the English Channel at Axmouth, but it has a long history for something so unassuming. The Romans came up this valley, and the town of Axminster, about nine kilometres from this point, was a nodal point on the Fosse Way, the great diagonal road that ran from Exeter up to Lincoln. The river gave Axminster its name and the town gave carpets to the world: the first Axminster carpet was woven there in the mid eighteenth century, and the name has been on floors ever since.
Read the complete River Axe write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
River Axe sits at 54 km, about halfway. Next is back through Dorset and East Devon Coast.
6. back through Dorset and East Devon Coast
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dorset and East Devon Coast write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Dorset and East Devon Coast comes up about 60 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through River Sid.
7. back through River Sid
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete River Sid write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 76 km into the recorded legs you reach back through River Sid. Next is back through Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks.
8. back through Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks, late in the day. Next is Exeter.
9. Exeter
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Exeter write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 117 km.
Leg by leg
Exeter to Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks
Exeter → Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks to River Sid
Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks → River Sid is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
River Sid to Dorset and East Devon Coast
River Sid → Dorset and East Devon Coast is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Dorset and East Devon Coast to back through River Sid
back through Dorset and East Devon Coast → back through River Sid is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through River Sid to back through Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks
back through River Sid → back through Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks to Exeter
back through Orcombe Rocks to Chit Rocks → Exeter is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.