I've driven down the
road into Lynmouth many times over the years and I've even walked up
it to watch the Tour of Britain go by but up until now I've never
cycled up it. The roads round that part of Devon are steep enough to
give my car grief and on a busy summers day the smell of the sea is
usually overpowered by the odour of burnt clutch and ruined brakes.
Even though Lynmouth is
in a particularly steep part of North Devon the route was only graded
as a 3/10 and I was pleasantly surprised that the initial part of the
ride was pretty easy going. The ride up the valley road early in the
morning was really picturesque and the sound of my efforts was
drowned out by the River Lyn and bird song. I was even able to use
something other than bottom gear.
Once I turned off the
main road however the climb got steeper as it climbed through the
last part of the forest. At one point I was starting to think that
the gradient was never going to slacken off but after two steep
hairpin bends I slowly climbed onto the edge of Exmoor. Once up on
the top the views really opened up and I was able to stop wheezing
like a 60 a day smoker, get into a higher gear and rattle along at a
fair old pace. I didn't hang around too long up the top however as I
could see storm clouds gathering and the temperature dropped. Its
probably a ride I'll do again however as it was a great feeling being
up on Exmoor and I was sorely tempted to keep following the road for
a few more miles.
The view was rather good up top
The ride back down to
the car was lumpy to say the least. On the way up I'd been moving
slowly enough not to notice the rough road surface. On the descent I
was bounced all over the road. The footage of that part of the ride
is punctuated by the sound of me swearing and swerving all over the
place. Not good viewing.
No comments:
Post a Comment