Day Two - Tavistock to... Taunton

Today’s Weather Gods: somewhat agitated (raining all day and head winds).

Today’s Bottom State: mildly tender.

We awoke to rain. Yuk.  We had breakfast - after putting on shoes: (‘We will not serve you at breakfast if you are not wearing shoes.  Health and Safety’.  What is that all about then?) after which Geri took us to the point we had finished at yesterday.  We unloaded the bikes, I lowered myself gently into the saddle and we headed off. 

Our route for today took across Dartmoor and then onto Exeter before heading up to Taunton and then across the Somerset Flats to Glastonbury.  At least that was the plan.  The first few miles were slow and hard work, heading up onto the moor in the rain and into a head wind with the beauty of the place lost in the cloud and mist.  At one point, cycling across the top of the moor I noticed a vehicle with a bike strapped to the top heading along the road in the opposite direction.  Strangely, my immediate thought was: 'who the hell would be mad enough to bring a bike up here in this weather'.  And then I noticed it was Geri in our support wagon.  Once off Dartmoor it was then a back road to Exeter (and more hills).

Up onto Dartmoor

It was Exeter that proved to be our downfall.  At first we thought fate was smiling upon us when we found a bike shop on our route through the town.  And this was not any old bike shop, this was the bike shop emporium of bike shops.  Not only did I manage to get the necessary replacement to fix my bike after yesterday’s problems but Paul found the hard to come by pedals to replace those on his bike which were playing up; the bearing had gone on one and the attached clips for his shoes were also causing problems.  Given that the only time it stopped raining all day was the forty minutes we spent sorting all this out in the shop we should have guessed that fate was not playing fair.

That post-Dartmoor Look......

We were trying to make our way across town on minor roads to bring us out to the north east and up to Taunton, not easy with a soggy map of small scale.  In fact, not easy to the point we ended up to the south west of the city and on the wrong road completely heading out of town.   Our plan to cut across country to regain our route was fine but it was very slow going along roads that were barely tracks.  We reckon we added a couple of hours to the estimated timings for the day and given the extent to which the route over Dartmoor had slowed us down, this was going to be another late finish.  We did make good timing once we regained our original route but it was never going to allow us to get back on schedule.  The worst thing was we had planned to have dinner with Tony and Louise, good friends near Glastonbury, and the time of our arrival was slipping ever further to the right.  Furthermore, Geri was already there and we had to ask (as politely as we could) that she not drink in case we needed to be collected.  Which is exactly what happened.  We made it as far as Taunton, but given the weather and the fading light, decided not to press on further; Paul’s front light was playing up and mine was in the support vehicle so cycling as dusk settled would not have been wise.  We met Geri at 8.15 and headed to Street, not far from Glastonbury, where we were spending the night in the Youth Hostel.

To cap it all it took ages to find the Youth Hostel.  Nobody in the town seemed to know of its existence, which is not surprising given that by the time we found it I reckon we had driven halfway back to Taunton again.

So a big ‘Thank you’ to Geri as she has been running around rather a lot today rescuing us from our self made dilemmas (and who will be taking us back to Taunton bright and early so we can do that leg of the trip).  And another for Louise who made a great cyclists dinner of Spaghetti Bolognaise along with an apology for being just too late to make the most of it.

What, I wonder, will tomorrow bring?

Taunton - End of Day 2

Woke early and looked out the window. It was dry. 15 minutes later the rain started and it never stopped all day. A short drive back to Tavistock to take the boys back to the exact point they had finished the night before and I asked Mark which route they would be taking out of town and I duly set off, leaving the boys behind while they checked out the statue at the entrance to the town. 

I knew I was looking for the route across Dartmoor and a signpost for the Two Bridges but it never materialised. I checked the map and realised that I was well past the ’ B’ road I was supposed to be on but found another which would connect up with where the boys would be. When I reached the junction I parked up and waited for the bikes so I could get some photos. After a considerable time it dawned on me that they may have already past that point before I arrived and were en route for Exeter. It’s one of those dilemmas, were they in front or behind me. I decided to quickly drive back down to see if I could find them and sure enough, about half a mile away where three very tired and wet cyclists, battling against the wind and rain. Took some photos and on to Morehampton for a pasty and a coffee. Mark later admitted that he realised that he had accidentally sent me off in the wrong direction but knew I would find them eventually! 

We all set off for Exeter and I encountered the same problem that the boys did, trying to locate the ‘B’ road out. I finally had to resort to the google navigation on my phone to get me out. Again, I had no idea where the boys were. With the amount of time I had wasted getting lost in Exeter I felt sure they must be ahead of me. So I decided to press on towards Pilton to stay with some friends, Tony and Louise. Of course I knew at some stage I would have to drive back to Street to drop off the luggage for the boys and there was much discussion about when to do it so that I could relax with Tony and Louise and tuck into the fab Spag Bol that Louise had very kindly prepared for us. After much debate, we decided that if both Louise and I drove separate cars to Street, I could leave my car there with everything in it and then collect it in the morning. We were just setting off when a call came through from the team that they would not make it to Street that evening under cycle power and could I come and collect them. So I abandoned Tony, Louise, the Spag Bol and a large glass of wine and headed back towards Taunton where I found three very wet, tired and colds boys. Loaded up the bikes and headed towards Street. Another mini ‘Exeter’ moment while we tried to locate the YHA before dropping off Paul and John and heading back to Pilton. Finally managed to eat my dinner and enjoy some delicious red wine before heading off to bed for a jolly good night’s sleep before we were up at 6 to get back to Street in readiness for day 3! 

Geri and Clover (slept like princesses!)