With the weather forecast not looking very pretty I decided on an early start. Leaving Tiverton and heading north towards the Brendon Hills and Exmoor beyond , I was expecting a tough day and I was not disappointed! Following NCR 3 I climbed through the National Trust property of Knightshayes Court before arriving in the pretty village of Brampton.
Heading for Dulverton the skies got greyer and the wind increased. A strategic breakfast stop in the Mad Hatters tea room set me up for the lengthy and steep climb up onto the wilds of Exmoor. As deserted and as desolate as the north of Scotland, the rain added to the sense of isolation. A long free wheel down to Barnstaple was much appreciated by my knees and the final part of probably the hardest day of the trip, took me along the Tarka Trail into Bideford. The Tarka Trail is 180mile loop that explores the wilds of North Devon and named after Tarka the Otter! My good deed for the day?… Supplying a fellow e-biker with a tool to fix his wobbly handlebar stem!
Bideford to Bude Tuesday 12th July
The first 20kms of the todays ride was along the Tarka Trail heading from Bideford towards Holsworthy, Great cycling with gradual inclines and nothing too steep! Today was all about people! I stopped for lunch in a trail side cafe and met a group of cyclist who were heading to Sheffield from Lands End & like me would complete at a later date! Shortly after this encounter came Gary & Rachel from Bridgewater who were raising money for a charity and intending to take 4 weeks to complete LEJOG on their e-bikes . And finally came Marten, the Dutch guy who was meandering around the UK, having packed his job in because he disagreed with the principles of his bosses! I nearly forgot my encounter in the village of Sheepwash with Benny from Crossroads… he accosted me in the village square asking whether I’d been to Scotland.. when I told him I had, he went ballistic as he’d never met anyone from Scotland before…I don’t think he’d travelled much further than Great Torrington to be honest, and he definitely hadn’t travelled outside Devon.
I arrived in Stratton just outside Bude, slightly earlier than expected so headed down to the beach to watch the surfers . Lots of activity in the water and the sun was shining!
My billet for the night was the Tree Inn, a quaint and quirky 17th Century coaching inn. A pint and a bed was all I needed!
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