My Bank Holiday Monday afternoon ride along the Granite Way from Lydford to Okehampton. On this occasion I didn’t go as far as Okehampton. Instead I decided to cycle as far as the Pump and Pedal for a coffee and some cake. The granite way is an 11 mile (ish) multi-use cycling, walking, running section following the route of the former Southern Region railway line. There are some amazing views of Dartmoor along the trail. It is worth going the full length of the trail to Okehampton train station. The Okehampton train station was re opened in November 2021 and now connects Okehampton to Exeter. This is after a closure of nearly 50 years. The platform almost makes you feel like you have stepped back in time to the steam train era. This trail is really worth a visit, and I recommend starting your journey from the village of Lydford. There is a beautiful little church in the village, and also a small Castle. The pub, the ‘Castle Inn’ is also worth a visit!
Enjoy!
#thegraniteway #sustrans #lydford #cyclingadventure #keepingfit #cycling #okehampton #pumpandpedal #insta360acepro2 #meridabigtrail500 #cyclingtowards70
Here we are on a bank holiday Monday. I’m in uh a village called Litford and I should be starting from here. All the traffic stops making the noise. I should be starting from here and heading along a cycle path called the Granite Way. Um, so I’m just waiting for loads of traffic to come come past out of the way. When they’ve sorted themselves out, I can get going to show you a fantastic bit of parking while I’m here. I’m parked against the uh the wall here as you can see. And there’s some numpty parked right out in the road. As I listened to something the other day about stupid people, as I listened the other day on a on a YouTube video about stupid drivers, he said those sort of people not sure if I should say this, but those sort of stupid people don’t have a birth certificate. They have an um an apology letter from Jurex. I thought that’s a good description. I mean, how do people get through the day? The amount of space this thing has left between itself and the wall. Anyway, let’s get on with the ride. Here on my left is the Castle Inn in Lidford. It’s a lovely little pub. So, we’ll be popping in there on the way back. Have a pint of Jail Ale, which is also a cracking little pint. This is the village of Lidford. It’s a pretty little village. So, I’ll uh take you through the village. We cycle up the other side. It takes uh takes us through to a bit of a hill, although it’s not too steep and not that long. And then I’ll pick up the uh the cycle path, which is called, as I said earlier, the Granite Way. And that’ll take me eventually into Oakampton. It’s all relatively flat. Um, it’s about 9 miles long to get to Oakampton. But after about 5 miles, there’s a uh there’s a nice place called the Pump and Pedal at a place called Saon. That’s s o ur t o n. Saaton or Saon, whichever way it’s pronounced. And it’s a combination of a uh a sort of a cafe. They also make their own pizzas there. Um you can get uh a drink. You can they’ve got a licensed bar and it’s a bike shop as well. They sell bikes and repair bikes too. So they have bike spares there, clothing, etc. But obviously when I get there, I’ll show you around. Well, it’s turning out to be nice again. Been really lucky with the weather and the rest of this week is looking good. And I think it’s going into next week, too. There’s a very quick little downhill now, but as you can see the moors in the distance and it was sort of going down into the valley and heading towards Oakampton. But as I said just now, I’ll uh be heading into the uh pump and pedal and uh get myself a coffee and have a look around the shop and try try not to spend any money every time I go anywhere that’s bike orientated at all. I always end up buying something This is called Lake Vioaduct. Has a date stamp of 1874 on it. That there It’s a little bit uh a micro bit of off-road along this little trail. Need to keep a lookout for oncomers while they’re on bikes or on foot. So for people that come along here and want just a smooth ride, it’s just this little piece, which isn’t very long, with just a few stones on it really. I’ll take you through this section just to show you how long it actually is. And that’s it. Right, time to take a layer off. It’s getting a bit warm now. I’ve stopped uh by little church at Son and I’ll show it to you in a minute. Oh, that’s better. So, yeah, there we have the little church. If you can see the sign, it does say on the left hand side and where we’ve just come from Lidford, four miles. Actually quite close now to uh the pump and pedal. Oh, this is just beautiful. We have to get rid of yet another layer. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll stop and have my coffee first and I think I’ll change these for my sunglasses. This first pit stop on the left here. I’ve never been in here before, Cafe 27. We’re going to carry on into uh into we’re going to carry on onto the next turnoff, which is the pump and pedal. Hello There’s a runner that I’ve uh passed and he’s passed me a few times already. Thank you. We keep passing. I’ll have a lago. Yeah, me too. Let’s head into the pump and pedal. Well, I was right. I did buy something. Got some more of the uh mukoff dry loop. Myself here a black coffee and a bit of cake and a lemonade. I think I’ve got a black coffee unless they’ve forgotten me. I think it’s on its way. Cake. Thank you. Don’t need a spoon. Thank you. Yeah. The sun has decided to hide behind the clouds, which is a shame cuz it’s got a lot cooler. It’s getting too cold again. So, I’m going to have to put that layer back on just to uh stay warm for a while. Okay, that’s a bit warmer now. This is the little church, uh the s church I showed you earlier from the other side or just up the top of the road here. I was hoping to go through the gate that’s behind me and go around the other side, but it’s a private um track, I think. As you can see, the clouds aren’t looking very friendly. It’s looking quite black up there now. In fact, it could turn to bloody rain. So, I better get myself back to Lidford and possibly back to the castle, which is the pub next to the castle. And um might treat myself to pint. I don’t like these threatening clouds. Anyway, we’ve gone a little bit further. I did turn back a lot sooner than I thought I was going to. I was going to go to Oakampton, but just couldn’t be bothered. There are a couple of these along the side of the trail. I guess there must be old railway waiting rooms perhaps. I don’t really know. Can’t think uh what the use would be really. Something for storage perhaps. Pre-fabricated. If anybody knows, please put in the comments. And if you do comment, please subscribe as well on my channel. Right, going to carry on now. this way. Well, at least I got out. That’s one thing. I’m not sure if I’m going to go straight back to the van. I’ll see how I feel. But again, it’s still nice to get out and about. I did go out because the other harp is having a hair done this afternoon. Um, but that’s been cancelled. So, I could have stayed at home and we could have gone out and done something together, but never mind. I’m out now and uh enjoying it. There’s another one of these little hutty things behind me here which will go inside in a second. Take a look inside. This seems to be a little bit wider than the other one. Don’t know what the difference is or why. Bit of graffiti Again, I’m not sure what these places are for or what they were for. There’s loads of like a big uh concrety granite seat, I guess. It’s got a what what looks like a chimney at the top. Maybe they had a fire inside. Another one of these National Cycling Network milestones, I think. Yeah, it says up there. This is one of the 1,000 mile posts funded by the Royal Bank of Scotland to mark the creation of the National Cycling Network. Lid for 3/4 of a mile in this tab stock as well. Millennium Project National Cycle Network 27 and then three miles to Son top there and 7 and a half miles to Oakampton. This is very pleasant, quiet. A few people walking past every now and then with their dogs. A few cyclists. The sun was out just now, but it’s um it’s gone back in. Well, the cloud has cover it covered it again, but it has warmed up a bit. It was really cold earlier after being warm. But I’m going to keep this layer on this top layer as bright as it is. And then I shall soon amble back to the van. It’s only about a mile and a half away. But if ever you’re down this part of the world or the country in the southwest, um Lidford, the village of Lidford, that’s spelled L Y D F O R D. Um it’s a lovely little village. It has the really quaint old quintessential pub called the castle, which I think I mentioned earlier on. It’s next door to a castle. It’s very nice, very pretty. But from there, if you want to go along the Granite Way cycling, you cycle up through the village about 45, not 45, about 3/4 of a mile, um maybe a mile, and then you turn off left to the the Granite Way. And you can go along the Granite Way, which is relatively flat most of the way. And uh there are two places you can stop, one of which is the pump and pedal. We’re about to cycle down into Lford. Well, we’re actually in Lidford now, but right down into the village from where we started. Sure. This car is doing As I said earlier on, it’s a lovely little village. Nice and quiet. Although, I’m guessing it must get busy. Peak season, people coming to visit. If you do decide to visit this village, um the car park in the center of the village used to be free and now it has a pay and display machine, but it’s not well advertised to the fact. So, uh be aware that if you don’t pay, you may well end up with a parking ticket, which I nearly did when I came here. the last time because I always park for free. Parked my van up, thought, “Oh, this car park’s nice and empty and it was empty when I came back and I was the only one parked there luckily without a ticket.” I can’t do that again. So, I parked along beside the road. You can stick their car park where the sun doesn’t shine. There are a few cars in there, but not as many as you would normally have. I think I may well go into the pub. There’s a beautiful little church in there. Absolutely gorgeous. In fact, we will go in there. There’s the actual castle which is next door to the pub that’s called the castle. Just been sitting in the church. I’m not a religious person but it’s very calming and I sat there for a good five minutes just sitting there. It was lovely. No one else in there and it was really quiet. I’m sure buildings absorb people’s memories, people’s emotions and stuff. It’s just a nice church to be in. I’ve seen some or lots of beautiful nice places, churches, etc. that um I used to go to to do my wedding photography. So, I’ve been to lots of them and um always interesting buildings. Right now, I’m walking to the pub, which is actually right next door to the church and next door to the castle. And um I’m going to treat myself to a pint of Jail, which I always have in here. It’s a great little pub.