Thanks for the geography correction, rivers.

I began riding in Plymouth and intended to ride the entire Coast-to-Coast trail in Devon, about 99 miles long. I was there earlier this month, June, so I wouldn't call it early spring. The trail started out OK, but as I biked northward and gained altitude, it deteriorated. The trail became unrideable south of Okehampton. It was not raining, but I presume it had rained in previous days. Water was streaming across the trail in places and sometimes there was thick mud. The trail eventually disappeared in a meadow filled with sheep, Finally, some portions became a virtual swamp. I had to put my waterproof shoes in a bathtub that evening to get most of the mud out, and I put on soaking wet shoes the next morning.

https://www.sustrans.org.uk/find-a-r...coast-to-coast

The main problem on the narrow roads wasn't people overtaking me dangerously. Rather, the problem was the inability to see oncoming vehicles until the last moment. And since the roads were so narrow, I wasn't about to ride in the middle of the road. I felt I had a better chance of avoiding death if I could quickly go into the hedgerow, if necessary. Potholes presented a different issue.

When I got off the unrideable trail and was on a fairly major road for a stretch, fast-moving vehicles were overtaking me dangerously. And of course, there was no shoulder whatsoever. In France, there are now signs along the road showing drivers to leave at least 1.5 meters (nearly 5 ft) between the side of their vehicle and a cyclist they're overtaking. Nearly all drivers in France were leaving at least that much space when they passed me. And since the road network in France was much better than in southern England, combined with a lower population density, it was easy to avoid busy roads.