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A Day's Ride from Honiton, lead by Gary "TJ" Bishop

Words and pictures by Gary "TJ" Bishop.

Date of run: 29.08.09
Duration: 8hrs 10mins
Riders: 10
Lanes ridden: 41
Distance: 71.4 miles
Average speed: 8.46 mph

As I had not ridden the lanes near Honiton, I thought it was about time to explore this area. I posted up a run and it quickly filled. After a few changes in the line-up the final roll-call was:

Nobody was late so we set off from Honiton at the pre-arranged time of 10am. The planned route was given to me by Brian "TTR" Sussex after I asked him about the lanes in this area. Along with Brian's route and advice I also received an e-mail from Ian "Wackyracer" Collins which contained info on the current state of ford crossings in the area, so big thanks to Brian and Ian. So off to 192-048 (Devon TRF lane number) and the start of what turned out to be a long and enjoyable day. 048 was followed by a series of pleasant lanes with only one report of a badger (Devon TRF-speak for a mild fall from a bike!). We were meeting up with Nic en-route as he needed to collect his XR250 from the repair garage that morning.

Clayton:


Rich:




Mike:


Me! Photo by SteveXR:

The lanes flowed nicely. 192-019, the most northerly of the days lanes, proved a little difficult as there was no clear indication of the route in the middle section. Brian had told me it ran through the field, but I was a little worried as there were no tyre tracks to follow. The farmer was at the top of the field and the last thing I wanted to do was follow an incorrect course. I remembered that Brian had mentioned the farmer being a nice chap so the simple answer was to go and ask him. The farmer and son were indeed nice guys and pointed out the approximate route across the field. I waved the rest of the guys up from the bottom of the field and while they made their way, the farmer explained to me about the sick cow they were treating and the use of the implement in this photograph:

The group making their way across the legal route:

A few lanes later we came came to 192-046. I'll let the following photographs do the the talking. To be fair, I had received a 'phone call from Paul Studley (Devon TRF member) the evening before and during our conversation he had told me that 046 can be a problem. As I had not recieved any other warning regarding this lane, I assumed Paul was being over cautious on my behalf. Perhaps I'm too suspicous but I wondered whilst taking the photographs if the usual east Devon riders were at home with a big smile on there faces:

"SteveXR" suffered the most by taking the worse line straight up the middle:






Steve is turning the fuel supply off to avoid any spillage:

We eventually got through 046 but we were all very tired, in particular, my shutter release button finger was getting very sore! We were now running about an hour late and with the rendezvous with Nic to keep, we needed to make up time. The next lane didn't help as I couldn't find the entrance to it. Strangely, you need to ride up past the entrance to a Hotel, which felt awkward at the time, to find the lane. 193-006 followed and then the very enjoyable climb on 192-054. Clayton's chain broke on this lane but he quickly fixed it. The next lane invovled crossing a ford, which I checked for depth before riding across:

SteveXR:


Clayton:


Paul:


StevePT (photo by SteveXR):




Clayton:

After "Wacky's Lane" we went into Axminster to meet Nic and get our pasty fix. Nic was there as arranged but said that his XR was still not right after its repair. He said he would do some lanes after lunch and see how it went.

Lunch stop in the town square, Axminster:

After lunch a few more lanes followed, and at one my SatNav decided to go potty and show us 500 meters away in a field. A quick reboot sorted it though and it even continued with the same tracklog which was a surprise. More really good lanes followed including the brilliant 192-052, my favourite of the day:

We got back to Honiton just after 6pm completly exhausted but I think everyone enjoyed it. A great days riding on unfamiliar lanes, in very good company. Excellent!