30 July 2012. 65
miles
Overcast, slight headwind, sunny spells, rain at the very
end of the day.
After a lovely night at Anne and Hugh’s – thanks for the
best cake of the ride so far from Jane (luvu Wembury Sister Jxo) - or at the
local pub for Dave, Charlie and Andy- we
gathered for departure at a lazy 10am, dressed for the showery weather
forecast. Fortunately for us all, Charlie’s
Andy took our bags by car to the B&B today, making light work for us
all. Thanks Andy!
The sun soon caused all the jackets to come off along the
Strawberry line. There was a very dark
tunnel…spooky!
Fran’s Alan’s Uncle Bill had got up really early from Newbury
at 5.30 to meet us by the roadside, assuming our usual 7:30 start….sorry Uncle
Bill :]. Bill tagged along for another 20 miles and was excellent company and
support (he had a bag full of double decker and twirl chocolates, yay). Uncle Bill had had his bike since his teenage
years, had cycled all his life and several parts of the bike are now officially
“collectable”… he scoffed at our modern
contraptions!
We stopped at Bridgewater for a bike shop adventure (new
tubes after Dave’s three punctures) and Jan bought a book about the world
record for there and back - Land’s End to John O’Groats to Land’s End again in
four days with 2 hours sleep… amphetamines anyone? – as inspiration and added weight.
On the way to Taunton we stopped at a roadside ‘bistro’
caravan run by Claire and Dot for a luvly cuppa tea and snacks from Charlie’s
tuckshop. Again more of Jane’s best cake
in the world :) Cheerio Bill, who turned back. xxx
We also took in the sign to the Walpole Depot. Jan was delighted her family shared a
placename with something so dear to her heart – a big dump! Charlotte shares her name in France with a
cake, funny that.
We sped on along the A38 towards Wellington (and the monument high on the hill) and stopped for
another comfort break at Willowbank garden centre. More cakes - not as nice as Jane’s. Charlie had Elderflower cordial.
Our legs are heavy after any stops. Quads and gluts (bum) and unmentionable
regions are feeling the strain. And our
eyeballs…. all tired, Dave has been sporting a red eye in sympathy with his
friends Mike and Stuart. But despite our
aches, Joe’s fresh legs carried him and towed us onwards and upwards towards
those Devon hills.
We stopped at Tiverton for the last of Jane’s cake (did we
say it was excellent) and an orange to prevent scurvy. Tiverton is quite posh. Blundells’ school seems to own the town and has been educating the local darlings since the 1600’s. There were lots of smart folk in Tiverton. So we… had to leave!
Past some beautiful thatched cottages into the centre of
Devon at Bickleigh, which was lovely until the 12% climb up and up and up and up
towards Crediton.
On the way we had one of the most inspiring experiences of
the journey so far. A Ghanaian Olympic
bike rider overtook us all. He had one
working leg, the other he rested on the rear brake caliper. Dave and Joe took chase and were knackered by
the time they caught up. Joe’s tennis
elbow and Dave’s lack of pace meant little chance of staying with “Haleb”, but
we look forward to seeing him and his team of four riders in the Olympic road
race. Finally, he accelerated up a sharp hill
leaving us gasping for air in his wake. Awesome.
Through the longest High Street in the world at Crediton
(another hill) and finally at the Farmhouse B&B as the rain started. Angela was waiting at the door for us and we
quickly made ourselves at home.
Showers
then a taxi to the New Inn pub at Coleford where Carol and George served us
beautiful dinners and Captain the parrot kept us entertained, though it was a bit
too willing to say “Goodbye!.. Goodbye!.. Goodbye! ”. There were other creatures spotted later on, even 'Charbacca':
Two days to go. After the middle bit of Britain that was
very tiring, the end is in sight, and by now we can smell the Cornish pasties
and the clotted cream scones. Our adventure has to
end sometime soon, but we genuinely don’t want it to. The girls are already planning the next
adventure! Charlie’s family
tomorrow. Short day. The overnight rain is due to clear early in the morning... what luck.
