Surrey - Devon bikepacking

With a small window of time and excellent weather conditions, we wanted toe space Surrey and head to Devon for a few days away. The weather had been so good in the Surrey area it seemed such a shame to sit in a car for hours or on the train - why not ride it! How hard can it be....To avoid the heat we set a 4am alarm and were on the road by 4.45am. We had decided to ride by road just for efficiency purposes so we had more time in Devon - gravel can sometimes a little too much time to a route. At that time in the morning the roads were super quiet and dreamy. With the sun coming up behind us, the ride felt heavenly. We tried to stick to small lanes in a bid to avoid traffic but also because they tend to be more picturesque. We did have to jump onto a main road for a couple of KM's here or there, simply to link up sections. Generally they weren't too bad, just a little traffic.Once we hit Exeter we were on the home straight, just a few lumpy hills to navigate before dropping down to Dunsford. Once there we hit gravel sections from Steps Bridge all the way past Fingle Bridge before heading on the road up to Chagford.After a couple of days recovering in Chagford we navigated back to Exeter to jump on the train home to Hindhead.For us it was the perfect combination of covering big distances, travelling by bike and having a real sense of adventure and relaxation in a short space of time.