This route starts from and returns to the really trendy 'Union Road. Moto-Velo' motorcycle shop/cafe that has top quality accommodation (B&B) above the shop/cafe. Check them out in the link below.
This route will give you a real flavour of South Devon. It begins with a great twisty road to the beautiful Bickleigh Bridge. The route uses more country roads as it makes it's way to a coffee stop at the Aviator Cafe at Dunkswell Aerodrome, a WWII airfield where you can watch the light aircraft take off and land while enjoying a coffee or breakfast. Then it is onto the town of Honiton, from here you will join the A35 and you'll notice that the landscape has changed to one that is more hilly.
As you travel along the A35 you get the occasional glimpse of the coastline to your right and ahead of you.
The route joins The Jurassic Coast at Lyme Regis and then follows it west to Sidmouth where I have suggested another coffee stop next to the beach. The Jurassic Coast is a UNESCO World Heritage site and was awarded this status because: The layers of sedimentary rock along the Jurassic Coast can be read like a book. They reveal the history of Earth across 185 million years and form a near complete record of the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.
The route leaves the coast and heads to Dartmoor National Park, the roads leading to the park are narrow, twisty and steep so a little caution is required.
Dartmoor is known for it's beauty and wild open Moorland (and Dartmoor Prison). I have suggested a lunch stop at The Cafe On The Green at Widecombe in the Moor. They serve great food and coffee and have outside seating in a beautiful setting.
After lunch you'll travel to a well known beauty spot called Dartmeet. As the name suggests Dartmeet acts as a meeting point of the two major streams of the River Dart, the East Dart and the West Dart. The road bridge over the East Dart was built in 1792, while another partially collapsed medieval clapper bridge sits to the side of it.
A clapper bridge is an ancient style of bridge that uses large granite slabs, or clappers as the roadway. You will definitely want to stop here for photos of this beautiful location.
Another gentle climb up to the open moorland will take you to Dunnabridge Pound and The Judge's Chair. The pound is a prehistoric enclosure for keeping livestock and is perhaps the easiest prehistoric site to visit being just a few metres from the road. Some academics go further and suggest that the pound could belong to a Bronze Age settlement. The Judge’s Chair is a later, 16c addition used as a shelter. Whatever the date, Dunnabridge Pound and The Judge's Chair is worthy of a visit.
Onto Two Bridges now, so called because there are two bridges!
After Two Bridges you take a left signposted for Princetown and you will see a group of austere looking buildings on your right this is Dartmoor Prison.
HMP Dartmoor is one of the UK’s most famous and notorious prisons. It’s gained such a reputation that it even has its own museum! It’s located in Princetown, in the heart of Dartmoor. The building was originally constructed in the early 1800s and was built to house prisoners of the Napoleonic Wars. Its high granite walls dominate this area of the moor. In 1920, Dartmoor began housing UK criminals. It would develop a reputation for housing some of Britain's most serious offenders that included murderers, gangsters, thieves, spies, and robbers. I’m sure that the beauty of their surroundings is lost on the inmates!
From here you'll leave the open moorland of Dartmoor and return back to Crediton, about an hour from here.
Enjoy