Murky day in Devon

Day 14, Thursday 18 th Sept

The weather today has been very humid and murky; to the extent that we've struggled with photos. It has also made the cycling a bit uncomfortable, we have been going along feeling decidedly dank today; normally you get cooled by the breeze as  you go along but not so today. Not that we can complain about the weather, still only one day of serious rain since we started and today was another with a good, helpful tail wind.

John H eating blackberries at Bloom Hill

 We started out from Bridgwater relatively late after deciding to wait for the traffic to clear, so we were able to be a bit more relaxed than usual getting ready. On the road at 9:40 am we made steady to rapid progress further along the A38. The only time we came off this road was In Taunton, where our route took us on to the Bridgwater and Taunton canal. This was a delightful experience, revising John H's opinion of the place. The surface was good and we went through pleasant suburbs, past the cricket ground (game in progress) and in to the centre in pleasant, tranquil conditions. We eventually had to give up this pleasant progress and transfer back to the noisy, busy A38. Beyond Taunton we crossed in to Devon; quite a moment actually as we suddenly realised that we only had one more county left.

Cycling down the Bridgwater-Taunton canal 

We finally broke away from the A38 just about at its end (we'd done almost it's entire length from Bristol, starting the previous day) and headed through Cullumpton. From here our route changed character, being much more and steeply in and down, through steeply banked narrow winding lanes.

We lunched at the pretty village of Bradninch after an impressively steep descent. We all remembered stopping here 10 years ago. We were immediately greeted by the local publican offering to fill our water bottles. After a pleasant half an hour, we then headed on, crossing the river Exe and then on to the village of Bow. At various stages the sun tried to break through, but although it became warmer, we only ever had brief glimpses through the murk.

Railway route nr. Okehampton 

Country lane on the last stretch towards Okehampton

As we headed ever closer to Okehampton, our ultimate destination, John H 'bonked'. Now, before anyone gets upset about my unnecessarily crude language, I should point out that this is the official cyclists version of 'hitting the wall'. John had run out of immediate energy. We stoked him with some flapjack and other bits and pieces, before continuing. Finally we rolled into Okehampton. But our Travelodge was about 2.5 miles further SW along the frantically busy A30. Fortunately we had picked out a route that used an old railway line. Slightly trepidously, since our previous experiences with such routes had been a bit mixed (see Day 10!), we followed the signs to this route (The Lydford Line, or NCR27). Inevitably this involved a serious climb up through the posh side of Okehampton. Eventually we were there, and it turned out to be the 'best surface ever'. Smooth, wide tarmac, and well labelled too. So off we headed, enjoying a view of Okehampton castle on the way out. But the best was yet to come; we reached the Meldon viaduct, a high span over deeply incised land, and giving splendid views of Dartmoor and the Meldon dam. From there it was a short way to our Travelodge. And then the sun finally came out ...!

Meldon Viaduct

Dartmoor from the Meldon Viaduct

View of Dartmoor from outside our rooms

One thousand up, or is it?

Depending on whose trip computer we use we have either done just 1000 miles together, or about 990 miles. Either way, by mid morning tomorrow we will definitely have reached the magic 1k since we left London. Quite an achievement we think, but we'll wait until we have finished the entire trip before we celebrate. It's interesting to think that it is longer than many peoples entire JOGLE / LEJOG.

One day out, for some

When we checked in here at the Travelodge in Okehampton, we were told by the receptionist that he sees a lot of cyclists staying here. Apparently many of them do the trip from here to Lands End in one day. At first we were a bit taken aback, but then we realised for a lot of the cyclists doing a JOGLE, they do the ride supported (ie their baggage is carried for them, as it was when we did the LEJOG 10 years ago) and they do much of the route on main roads. We're very happy to be doing the scenic version, as there are so many things we would have missed; for example today there would have been no Bridgwater   to Taunton canal and no Meldon viaduct. Lands End from here is a pretty impressive achievement, however, so we applaud those that manage to do that.

Shorts returned

Those of you that have been following the blog for some time may remember that John C left his two favourite pairs of shorts (I'm still working on finding out their names) in Oban youth hostel. Well done to the staff there, as they have now turned up at home. It's very rare for someone's shorts to finish the journey first though!! 

It's official, we're bottomless pits

So said the waitress tonight, who cannot believe how much food we are eating; admittedly we have had two mains each instead of a starter and a main. "You've had as much as most people have in a week", she reckons .... We're about to have pudding.....

Stats of the day

Distance 66 miles

Average speed 11.3 (max 38)

Total climb 1537 m

Energy 3772 cals

Bananas 

JC 4

JH 2

JR 2

That's the most bananas since yesterday! (just checking to see who reads this bit:-)