I had an unexpectedly clear weekend and so I decided to do the East Devon Trail which I read about in Cycling Weekly. Check out the new East Devon Trail bikepacking route spanning 185km / 115mi | Cycling Weekly Day One The "official" trail starts at Exeter train station but I started outside Exeter near Collumpton - I doubt I missed much going in and out of Exeter. In retrospect I think it would have been better to start the route by travelling a little further to the east of Exeter as the first 10k was spent navigating roundabouts in and around the M5 though it is worth aiming for Topsham. Once I hit the route proper around Topsham this was a fantastic first day. A nice mix of road and bridleway track. It was just lovely just ambling along easily and getting glimpses of the sea and rolling into the various seaside towns (Budleigh Salterton, Seaton, Sidmouth, Branscombe Beach, Beer and Lyme Regis). Overall the gpx route was easy to follow though there was one part just outside Sidmouth where the trail seemed to point up a clearly marked private road / garden with no obvious track and so I had to divert around this. I camped at the Hook campsite about 1.5 miles (up a hill) outside Lyme Regis - a friendly owner, clean campsite with a shop. Cycled into Lyme Regis for a portion of chips on the seafront and then back to the pub just by the campsite for a pint. Very impressed with my Alpkit soloist tent went up in a few minutes and easy to pack up in the morning. Day Two The weather the following day was a bit grey and I got an early start. The first 5K was very hilly - this is where the route got a bit disappointing (maybe because the first day was so nice) - the route didn’t have the great feeling of reaching another town / landmark. The route just climbed up (steep) hills and then dropped down again with diversions to take on some gravel sections quite a number of which were unrideable loaded or unloaded. For instance one section was a rooty stream side trail about a foot wide which crisscrossed the stream about five or six times in 150 m each time requiring a carry across the steep sided stream - another section was a 2K push up a chewed up track. In a few cases it looked like an unnecessary diversion had been taken just to fit in an unrideable section of trail. May have been fun on an MTB / day ride but these sections just weren't doing it for me. As time was getting on, and rain looked possible, I decided to cut out the middle 30K section and get back for the end of the Giro. In retrospect a better day 2 might have been to go to Lyme Regis in the morning for swim, coffee and decent breakfast and then head back on quicker trails and B roads. But the first day was awesome and would do again anytime. PS - I ordered a new gravel bike.

The club is running the flat 100 on Sunday. Any tips on how to complete this distance?