clairedavieswriter

Every picture tells a story. Today was wet.

Like the Inuit and her snow, the cyclist has a number of terms for rain, starting with ‘not very nice’ and escalating through ‘a bit damp’ to ‘are we having fun yet?’. Today was definitely a ‘fun yet?’ kind of a day.

In fact it was quite testing all round – as well as the wettest, it was also my longest day of riding so far this trip and on the most difficult terrain – poorly surfaced roads or trails like the Ruby Way: traffic-free but rough.

It wasn’t a day for enjoying the views, but there were some highlights: I crossed the Tamar at Bridgerule and entered Devon, my second county of the trip. It welcomed me with relentless hills – and did I mention the rain?

My pit stop on the corner of the square in Holsworthy – imaginatively named The Corner Café – deserves a mention for its excellent baps, enormous Great Dane and cheerily rotund baker in a floury pinny who came over to chat and wish me luck.

At the 45k mark the sun came out, which felt worthy of celebrating with a picture. Sadly it didn’t last, but at least the rain held off for the rest of the ride.

For the last 35k I followed the Tarka Trail north and east, past old stations…

… the SBS training base at Instow (all I can say is I hope we don’t need their amphibious landing vessels at low tide) and into Barnstaple, where I was extremely happy to stop, exactly 9 hours after I’d set off. Tomorrow: Bury, near Dulverton.