Devon Coast to Coast (Plymouth - Ilfracombe)

[Rupert]

Did this ride last week but cheated a little by starting from Tavistock as my friends live there and also did the ride. A lot of the ride uses off-road cycleroutes and is tarmacced in places too.  We also chose to cut out the dogleg that goes thru' Sheepwash and Petrockstowe.

Some very good cafes on the route at Torrington Station and Braunton before some tough climbing for a few miles.

Has anyone else done this ride?

[HeltorChasca]

I have done Porlock-Ilfracombe-Plymouth and back (back to back one weekend).

It’s lovely but helishly lumpy. I also wouldn’t recommend wearing Lycra on a Saturday night in Plymouth after midnight.

[bhoot]

Cycled it about 10 years ago as my niece wanted to do an "expedition" as part of her international baccalaureate course and younger brother wanted to tag along too. Having resolved a few technical issues (she needed a bike!) we started from Plymouth, day 1 to Okehampton for a YHA night and then finished at Barnstaple for train back to Exeter. The junior team then wanted to do their first night ride back down the cycle route to home in Exmouth. My partner and I did it on Bromptons due to concerns about not getting four full size bikes on the train, which I seem to recollect was only a 2 hourly service.
It was a bit lumpy and with only 3 gears I did resort to some walking.  It was enjoyable and a challenging but achievable target for relatively novice cyclists.

[humankeith]

I did it about this time last year from Ilfracombe. We shuttled and left one car in my workplace carpark in Plymouth. I enjoyed it as it's easy to follow, so no real route finding required. I would like to do it in a day next as I think it'd make a nice long day out. But perhaps this time take a train to Barnstable and do from there to Plymouth.