The four of us from Buckfastleigh headed out to Bovey a little shaken by the nine o'clock start. There we met Nick and Graham who had set out from Marldon. We made our way up the Teign Valley, then down Longdown into the outskirts of Exeter. As we neared Thorverton the milometer read more than our map estimate, so we didn't need the extra loop through the village we had planned just in case.

We stopped in Crediton for lunch - a ghost town out of season. Thus rested we tackled the long but steady climb up through Hittisleigh and on to Whiddon Down. Now we knew it was mainly downhill and made good speed to Moretonhampstead, stopping for tea, and on to Bovey. A few extra miles turned out to be necessary after all to make up the official distance, but we were satisfied to have completed a moderately easy route on a pleasant late summer's day.