£3.68 cold drink, Bounty bar, yoghurt-coated peanuts from Sheepwash community village store
£18.50 accommodation in Westward Ho! YHA bunk house
£10.02 food from Westward Ho! village shop (tinned chilli con carne, pack of bacon, eggs, carton orange juice, pint of milk, pack of six beetrot, one tomato, orange, and banana)
£3.15 pint of beer in The Village Inn, Westward Ho!
Whilst I love camping, the faff of packing everything away in the morning slows down progress. I left the campsite at Wainhouse Corner, just south of Bude, at 09:45 and I was already panicking slightly about the day's ride as I knew the hostel for the night only had a narrow window of time for checking in.
I soon forgot this, however, when I found myself on a fantastic coastal road with incredible descents and hairpin turns. Unfortunately, a car pulled up right in my camera shot just as I was about to take a photo of the view, and the passenger proceeded to stand gazing at the view for a ridiculously long time. Reasoning with myself that they had as much right as me to enjoy the splendour of the English countryside, but still miffed that they'd left the car engine running all this time, ruining the fresh air I'd been savouring until now, I patiently waited as I knew I may never pass this way again.
No sooner had I managed to get my photo and set off again, than I was faced with a 30% incline. Ah, a fast descent usually means a nasty climb the other side. Having misjudged the hill and not changed gear quick enough, I decided to go back to the bottom, take another photo, and get into my lowest gear to attempt the climb. I didn't get any further up the hill than the first time, so slowly pushed my heavy and cumbersome bike up, thinking about the hostel closing time. I hadn't even reached Bude yet, and I didn't know what kind of terrain and trail surfaces were waiting for me. Giving myself a good talking to (I mutter to myself a lot when riding alone, especially when the going gets tough), I reasoned that I could book into a B&B in Bideford if, as before, I ended up arriving at my destination in the dark.
As I cycled through Bude, I lost the signs for the National Cycle Network route 3, which I'm following all the way from Land's End to Bristol. Following my instincts (something I'm becoming pretty good at, as the NCN signs can be erratic), I saw a sign to a cycle hire.
"They'll know where I pick up route 3 again" I thought.
I'd also noticed that my front tyre was not as inflated as I'd like when I checked the bike over before setting off that morning, but had resisted using my small pump in case it did more harm than good, so thought the bike hire could lend me their track pump.
What lovely people! Not only did they lend me the track pump, and help me when it looked like the valve was playing up again, but they admired my Roberts, had a long chat about my LEJOG route and Sustrans, noted my blog address, and took a photo for their Facebook page. Oh yes, and told me where to pick up route 3 right on their doorstep. I heartily recommend them to anyone passing through Bude - http://budebikehire.co.uk/
A lovely stretch of traffic free shared use path got me on my way again, and helped lessen my growing anxiety about time, having spent so much unplanned time in Bude.
I passed from Cornwall into Devon soon after Bude, and noticed that the riding became a bit dull. There were less severe hills (hurrah!) so I kept in the saddle more, but almost all the small country roads that route 3 used had high hedges on both sides, so there were no views to distract from constant re-calculation of arrival times and the sharp pain between my shoulder blades that seemed to be the only real ache I suffered from cycling the Roberts for full days.
When I got to Sheepwash (yes, that really is the name of a village in Devon), I decided to have a short break as the weather was getting hot, I needed to check how dry the washing from yesterday evening was (drying on the back panniers), and Sheepwash had a community shop next to a tree-shaded central square with benches. Ten minutes in the shade sorted me out a treat, and I decided to get my Ibuprofen gel out of the pannier and rub it into my neck, rather than heroically wait until the end of the day's ride.
Off I set with a spring in my pedalling, and soon reached the highlight of the day, the Tarka Trail. This is a disused railway line, re-purposed into a shared use path all the way up to Barnstaple. These paths are usually relatively flat and even though the surfaces can vary from tarmac to gravel and everything in-between, they are quiet, with no need to stop for oncoming traffic or feel pressurised by vehicles following you as you slog very slowly up a hill.
If you are ever passing through Devon with a bike, I urge you to cycle on the Tarka Trail. It's glorious. I went through shady woodlands, alongside the banks of the River Torridge, and even through a tunnel that cut under a hill. I came out with fantastic views of Bideford, having cruised along at 15 to 18 miles per hour, and being in danger of arriving at the hostel before reception opened!
Whilst Bideford is on NCN route 3, Westward Ho!, where I'd booked myself into the YHA bunk house, is not, so I navigated myself through Bideford and out to Westward Ho! in the rush hour traffic. I arrived at the hostel to find the staff were caught in traffic, but happy to give me the code for the bike store over the phone whilst they made their way through Bideford to Westward Ho! When they arrived and showed me to my dormitory, I found I was the only one in the room, which was also en-suite, and with a full evening ahead of me (I arrived at 5:30) I looked forward to a relaxing evening. I got so carried away in the local shop, I bought the ingredients for a full English cooked breakfast as the hostel kitchen was well equipped, and porridge pots were beginning to become a bit bland.
A pub around the corner with wi-if (yay! No need to cycle anywhere for a beer!), and my day finished perfectly.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Sounds like you're headings a great time. I've ridden the Tarka trail to Westward Ho! yHA too, it is a fantastic ride, we had an owl flying alongside us when we rode it in the dark and got to the YHA past closing but the owners came back from the pub to let us in, very friendlier and helpful! Very memorable part of a lovely cycle trip around North Devon, a part of the country. Molly (PPYCC) says "Have a good time!"
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