Why this ride
From Exeter it runs 390 km to Exeter; allow about 6 h 24 of riding. The stops in between: Dorset and East Devon Coast, River Axe, Lyme Regis to West Bay and Tamar Valley Mining District. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Exeter day out · Tamar Valley Mining District
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 390 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 24
- 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
Exeter → 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 51 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 44 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 Dorset and East Devon Coast.
2. 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 comes up about 44 km into the recorded legs. Next is River Axe.
3. 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
about 45 km into the recorded legs you reach River Axe. Next is Lyme Regis to West Bay.
4. Lyme Regis to West Bay
The cliffs between Lyme Regis and West Bay are falling into the sea, and that is precisely why people come. This stretch of the Dorset coast is part of the Jurassic Coast, England's first natural World Heritage Site, and its soft clay and limestone cliffs constantly release fossils from the Jurassic seas of around two hundred million years ago. Ammonites, belemnites and the bones of marine reptiles wash out onto the beaches after every storm, and at Charmouth you will see families combing the shingle with hammers and bags at low tide.
Read the complete Lyme Regis to West Bay write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Lyme Regis to West Bay, about halfway. Next is Tamar Valley Mining District.
5. Tamar Valley Mining District
For a few decades in the nineteenth century the Tamar valley was among the richest copper fields in Europe, and then, almost overnight, it became a major source of arsenic. The river divides Devon from Cornwall, and the hills on both sides are pocked with old mine workings, engine houses, spoil heaps and the cuttings of former railways. Devon Great Consols, near Gunnislake, was in the nineteenth century one of the richest copper mines in the world, and when copper prices fell the owners turned to arsenic, which was used in pesticides and paint, and for a time it made the valley a strategic industry. The whole area is part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, listed by UNESCO in 2006.
Read the complete Tamar Valley Mining District write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tamar Valley Mining District sits at 199 km, about halfway. Next is back through Lyme Regis to West Bay.
6. back through Lyme Regis to West Bay
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Lyme Regis to West Bay write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Lyme Regis to West Bay comes up about 330 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through River Axe.
7. back through River Axe
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
about 348 km into the recorded legs you reach back through River Axe. Next is back through Dorset and East Devon Coast.
8. 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, 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 390 km.
Leg by leg
Exeter to Dorset and East Devon Coast
Exeter → Dorset and East Devon Coast is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
River Axe to Lyme Regis to West Bay
River Axe → Lyme Regis to West Bay is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Lyme Regis to West Bay to Tamar Valley Mining District
Lyme Regis to West Bay → Tamar Valley Mining District is 133 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Tamar Valley Mining District to back through Lyme Regis to West Bay
Tamar Valley Mining District → back through Lyme Regis to West Bay is 134 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Lyme Regis to West Bay to back through River Axe
back through Lyme Regis to West Bay → back through River Axe is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Dorset and East Devon Coast to Exeter
back through Dorset and East Devon Coast → Exeter is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.