Friday 10 May 2013

The Exe Cycle Path




After a busy day helping customers book fantastic holidays in the West Country, our Deputy Sales Office Manager James Webb likes to dust off his cycle helmet, oil up his bike and head out for a trip to the coast along the Exe Estuary Cycle Path. Over to James for more:


For those of you who may not know, this is a fairly gentle route, which when completed will link Exmouth, Exeter and Dawlish as part of the “National Cycle Network Route 2”.

On Sunday, with the forecast good, it was time to set off on the first cycle trip of the year. Starting out from Exeter Quayside we headed off down the path on the Southern edge of the River Exe heading toward Dawlish Warren. This is an amazingly pretty route following the canal and you’re treated to some superb views as the canal filters into the Exe Estuary. 

There are several popular places to stop for refreshments along the way, including The Double Locks and Turf Locks, today though there was no time for stopping as a last minute decision left us racing to meet the ferry at Starcross. This ferry operates from Starcross to Exmouth taking about 20 minutes – and they’re happy to carry your bikes as well.

After a speedy crossing, and taking in some more splendid views we then decided to continue along a part of the path we hadn’t followed before and carried on to Budleigh Salterton. There’s a huge pebble beach here with a quiet town in behind. We definitely weren’t motivated to travel the extra distance by there being an excellent ice cream shop in the centre!

All in all, an excellent day was had … the only trouble being the effort required to cycle back after the ice creams! Still, as mentioned earlier, there are a couple of good pubs to help break the journey up…

Thanks James! Let us know if you'd like to hear more in the same vein from the HH team!