I had been itching to get away for a weekend of fresh air, autumnal scenes, and chill pedalling for a couple of weeks. Ayoob was keen for the same and so we decided to book up a bed for the night in Minehead, and planned to pedal down there on Saturday, stay over, and then head down towards Newton Abbott for a train home on Sunday, taking in Haytor on the way for some proper Dartmoor scenes, and linking up with good friends and Ex-Neighbours John and Kat.

If you’ve read a few of my other posts you’ll know that between a small group of friends we have a tendency to plan some fairly ambitious days out (Often known as ‘Sam Rides’, which I’m sure he wouldn’t object to!). These are usually a bit savage and leave you in a state of total physical and mental exhaustion. This time we had a slightly different goal, and wanted to wake up Monday morning feeling refreshed from a chill weekend of wholesome outdoors time.

Ayoob put a route together for Saturday, heading out over the Mendips, down cheddar gorge, and skirting around Bridgewater before heading up over the Quantocks. His route planning was first class and I really enjoyed it. we stuck to the slow quiet lanes where you can enjoy good conversation without the fear of being run over, and took in some great climbs. On top of planning a great route, he also brought me a slice of home made ginger cake, which is my single biggest weakness. If you’re ever looking to get a favor out of me and you turn up with a ginger cake, you’ll be at the top of the queue.

Planning a relatively chill 80 miles per day meant we could leave late, take it easy, and arrive in Minehead with time to spare. Our bed for the night was in the world famous Duke Of Wellington Wetherspoons, which I had been warned might be a little rowdy on a Saturday night at Haloween. Turns out this warning was totally unnessecary and the place was very chill. Having set off late and been enjoying the lanes so much we had both forgotten to eat lunch (unless a shandy counts as a meal?) so were super hungry by the time we arrived. I ordered some obscenely huge ’empire state burger’ and a big double gin, which was almost concerningly cheap. Ayoob lost his mind when faced with the menu and ordered two dinners. What a legend.

Sundays route was my task. we headed up out of minehead towards Wheddon cross (the site of my most successful road racing moment ever, dont you know!) and down the valley road to Exeter. This was a great bit of road, although It did go on for quite a while and we were chewing into a stiff head wind. On reaching Exeter it was pizza time. We’d thought about sampling Wetherspoons pizza the night before, which I was expecting to be awful but wanted to try anyway, but they’d been all out. Franco Manca came to the rescue with some premium circles of dough. I’m not sure ‘Spoons would have been of the same standard.

From Exeter we met Kat and John in Mortonhamstead, grabbed a cup of tea and chatted about all sorts. It’s lovely to see freinds moving and settling in a new place, especially when it has such dreamy roads. I’ve not spent a whole lot of time on Dartmoor (although I did once ride a skateboard down Pork Hill) and am looking forward to spending more time down there in future.

All in all it was a top weekend and really good to simply enjoy cycling without it being especially epic or challenging, just pootling along the lanes and having a nice time. It’s very good for the brain, and i’m planning on doing a whole lot more of it. Let me know if you’d like to come along for the ride!