G
GearóId Ó Laoi/
Guest
I recently did a tour of these counties with my wife. We had wonderful weather and a marvellous
holiday. The people were very nice and the food and accommodation excellent, though accommodation
is expensive in England. We started in Plymouth, went down to South Hams area, through Salcombe,
above it, to Kingsbridge, up through Dartmoor to Tavistock, to North Coast, along bike trails, to
Padstow, then along more bike trails, to Land's end, back to Plymouth via St.Mawes, Penzance and
other places.
A word of warning to anyone who's thinking of this.
The terrain is FIERCE. The hardest I've ever come across in more than 40 tours. In Devon you have
multiple severe gradients all day, 15% or more is common, and we had to walk three hills which were
unridable to the ordinary man. 30% was marked on 2. You should get a minimum gear of 22x28 for this
terrain in my opinion and it would be easier if you had front panniers to stop your front wheel
coming up.
Another thing, odd missing or confusing signs means you must also have the detailed ordnance
survey maps.
holiday. The people were very nice and the food and accommodation excellent, though accommodation
is expensive in England. We started in Plymouth, went down to South Hams area, through Salcombe,
above it, to Kingsbridge, up through Dartmoor to Tavistock, to North Coast, along bike trails, to
Padstow, then along more bike trails, to Land's end, back to Plymouth via St.Mawes, Penzance and
other places.
A word of warning to anyone who's thinking of this.
The terrain is FIERCE. The hardest I've ever come across in more than 40 tours. In Devon you have
multiple severe gradients all day, 15% or more is common, and we had to walk three hills which were
unridable to the ordinary man. 30% was marked on 2. You should get a minimum gear of 22x28 for this
terrain in my opinion and it would be easier if you had front panniers to stop your front wheel
coming up.
Another thing, odd missing or confusing signs means you must also have the detailed ordnance
survey maps.