We hadn't planned on staying longer than a night in Minehead but the heat over these past 2-3 days has taken its toll on us as we both awoke this morning feeling most unwell, and the lovely Indian meal we had last night could not be blamed!
Luckily no one else had booked the bell tent in which we are staying at the YHA (lovely under the cool of trees) so we opted to stay another night & enjoy a day in the garden here watching the grey squirrels play in the trees, the wee rabbits hop their way aroud the lawns and the horses in the paddock below nudge each other. We've lost our toothpaste so think one of the squirrels may have stolen it from the picnic table!
Anyway, the past few days have been such a mixed bag - beautiful countryside but treacherous hills; windless hot days & too few pubs; a great variety of wild life but too much cow poo on the roads!
Saturday 17th we set out from Tintagel YHA at 8.30am heading for Bideford, a good early start for us. We chose to avoid the hill of legend into & out of Boscastle so instead planned an inland route to avoid big hills. Ha! We forgot that English rural road signs can be notoriously vague & as we had only a cycle touring map (which doesn't have all the small roads marked or towns named) we managed to take a wrong turning where we couldn't find the NCN red on blue route marker. The heat of the day had already hit as were tackling our first big hill of the day & the route we chose looked cool but as it descended deeper to a ford we suspected we'd chosen the wrong direction. A farmer coming down the other side put us right so back we went, pushing our bikes up the steep ascent. Mind you the pushing means we have time to look at the nature of the hedgerows & forested streams - lots of Damselflies, Dragonflies, butterflies and spider webs....... and far too much stinging nettle which we've been stung by numerous times as we swing in close to the verge to let cars pass. Anyway, the stream running down that particular hill is kept within its banks by a substantial stone wall but as it runs into Boscastle it can no doubt be a raging torrent [Boscastle suffered a terrible flood in 2004].
Back up on the Bodmin Downs we found our turning to Lesnewth but found that also had a few grunty ups & downs before we descended to Tresparrett into Marshgate where we hoped to see a teashop or pub - none open! Onward through Otterham & Trelash where sat and ate some of our food stores in the shade of a red telephone box before climbing again to turn onto the NCN 304 [the Cornish Way] which took us through some lovely green dairying country and easier cycling. It is full on haymaking season so we had lots of tractors with threshers behind to pull over for. As we descended into Week St Mary we passed through lovely farming hamlets but the rural roads tend to be fairly cut up due to the cow dung deposited on them. At Week SM we found a rural store open so we bought two large bottles of juice & a packet of McVities dark chocolate digestives and devoured them!
With some energy restored we cycled on, turning off the NCN 304 to take a short cut through Titson (crossed into Devon) and Bridgerule to Bradworthy where thought we may stay. At Bridgerule we finally found a pub that was open & ordered large cups of tea, which the landlady duly brought out & offered helpful directions onward to Bradworthy. One of the locals came over to talk with me while Caroline was in the loo - he provided an interesting insight into a rural perspective on the recent elections and the Grenfell tower fire in London....."always wanting someone to blame!"
Across the A3072 and we were onto easier cycling territory with the ups & downs being less severe until we reached Bradworthy about 4pm where we again found a store open & bought cold drinks, which we drank while planning where we could stay for the night as Bradworthy only seemed to have high-end accommodation. Also bought milk, yoghurt etc for our breakfast the next morning whereever we were to stay. We decided to push onto Bideford to an adventure camp ground in Abbotsham (near the Big Sheep) - phoned & booked a site.
We had to head on as we wanted to be at the campground before nightfall and we still had a few hills to get over. Had to wait behind cars at one stage to let a large flock of sheep down the road - they skittered & jumped all over the place when they saw our bikes. Up over that hill we turned into at Littleham to begin a long, slow descent through a forest (watching for deer) into Bideford via the A386. Arriving in Bideford we got directions to the campground after the initial signs petered out (7.10pm, 25C, another hill & we'd done 53.62 miles /87 kms!) & directly under (or beside) the A39 we found our camp for the night. The manager was very kind & got us each a tea whilst we pitched our tent, & suggested that a pub 10 minutes walk away would be still open for food. We showered the road grime & sweat from ourselves & headed out to eat....... and what a feast we had at The Thatched Inn! We were famished & worn out by the heat & hills.
The campground was mainly focused on adventure activities & caters for hen / stag groups wanting a good time - luckily those groups were located far from where were camped but we were next to a friendly family grouping celebrating a birthday (pretty quietly I must say). We slept soundly enough & were up by 8am packing ready for the road. We ate our museli & yoghurt then andered over to the camp cafe to buy a cuppa; it was full of the hen party groups eating a "full English" & talking loudly about who did the best on the adventure challenge course which we could see from the deck.
Sunday 18th We made our way back into Bideford & took some time looking around this river port - jolly fascinating and, by the looks of the tour notices, a place one would pass a good few enjoyable days. As it was we had some miles to get under our tyres so we found our way onto the car-free Tarka Trail, disturbing a mayoral occcasion in the process, and zoomed along toward Barnstaple following the River Torridge to it's mouth then the River Taw - wonderful birdlife along this tidal zone with marker signs all along the trail telling of the significant natural or historical aspects. Half way along a chap with a cycle-trailer was selling coffee & muffins but we just waved, passing on by to our lunch stop at the Barnstaple Station Masters cafe. Yummy food & a cool respite from the intense heat!! It was already 28C, windless & predicted to get hotter.
We decided to take the inland route over Exmoor rather than what looked like an even hillier route round the coast to Minehead. Where to stay was our next issue - we looked online & found the Westermill Farm campground just out of Exford, and phoned to book a site. "No problem, just pitch up & pay in the morning". With that concern off our shoulders we pedalled out of Barnstaple up through Westacott Valley (pushing as the gradient was really steep and heat intense) where not a soul was moving, even the hedgerows were still. There were parts of the constant uphill I managed to cycle (Caroline's hill work at home proving its worth as she pedalled most of the uphills except the 1:5s) but there was a goodly amount of pushing until we reached the true moor. The truly frustrating thing about the day is that we followed the NCN 3 route which seemed to take us round in a bloody big circle & down some nasty descents round a sharp corner into an equally nasty uphill. Our touring map had run out at Bideford so we relied on the NCN route markers which were totally confusing (a local cyclist has told us since that sometimes locals fiddle with the signs to frustrate cyclists!) and meant we did many more miles up & down that we ought to have done. I mean, did we really need to ride a poorly maintained off-road route into Bratton Fleming then turn sharply uphill onto a busy road, when the route could have taken us straight through Brayford much earlier?!
At Brayford we finally found a sign to Simonsbath which we knew we had to pass through to get to Exford but in the heat I had used up almost the last of my energy reserves & couldn't even manage a reasonable rise - my legs were like jelly. As I was pushing upwards & Caroline was cycling (when I felt like having a paddy & sinking to the side of the road) a couple came by in their car who had seen us earlier in the afternoon and offered us a lift up to the tops. I accepted, so duly unloaded my gear into the back of their car with the bike on top & we drove up hill for what seemed like ages! They deposited me at the border with Somerset border where the NCN 3 meets the NCN 277, looking out over the moor stretching below me in all directions, then went back to bring Caroline up. Such kindness at just the right time - we couldn't thank them enough.
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| The car of the couple who helped us to the top, aftr dropping C off. |
We still had another 8 miles to cycle but the hills were not quite so bad & in fact the descent into Exford was delightful, with sheep dotted over the hills, cute wee hamlets nestling in the valleys & forested streams. BUT, one still had to keep an eye on the road as the it was not in the best of conditions. Exford seemed a lovely village & even has a YHA but as we'd booked a campsite we knew we had another 2.5 miles of uphill to go. Sensibly we stopped in Exford for a meal at the Crown Hotel (17th C, family run inn) after seeing another cycle tourist outside enjoying a cooling beer. We chatted to him for a bit but as he too was camping at Westermill we knew we'd catch up with him later. The food was excellent but we must have looked a sight as we got some very strange looks from the locas..... Caroline finally suggested that I may like to go to the washroom & take the zinc off my cheeks & lips!
Meal over we rode on up the hill through forest & passed a couple of hamlets to Westermill farm camping where we did indeed catch up with Steve (Mancunian, late of London now living in a small village out of Barnstaple) and talked cycling (he cycles off camping whenever he can & had great advice for routes had we the time), UK politics & the state of the world while swatting midges away. In the end we were forced to retrest to our tents for the night after a well deserved shower. We'd traveled 42.24 miles with only 5H 31m of that long day actually riding! My average speed was 7.6mph! But at one thrilling stage I reached 24mph! Temperatures all day above 25C.
The campground itself is divided into 4 fields, one of which you are allowed to have open fires. These fields are in a valley with the river Ex running through them while above is the farmed land with sheep grazing or crops growing. Two fields share a toilet, shower & dish wash building but there is nowhere to cook or to plug in electronic gear, nor are there picnic tables scattered around on which to sit so we borrowed a set of steps from the empty caravan next to us rather than sit on the dewy ground in the morning.
Monday 19th Over breakfast I wished Caroline a 'Happy Birthday' & promised that the present I'd bought her would be given that evening. We weren't feeling too festive as the thought of the hills before us felt rather daunting especially as the heat was already palpable at 9am! At least we had the YHA in Minehead booked so we didn't have to worry about our bed for the night.
To get out & away from Westermill we had to descend for about 1.5 miles then cycle & push up for another 2 miles on the road toward Porlock across the edge of Dunkery Beacon, the top of Exmoor, before turning toward Luccombe (a very pretty thatched village in a valley). We cheked with a couple enjoying a picnic near the beacon with their dog that we were taking the right route before descending into a wooded valley. The descent was fairly sharp & at the bottom we had a slippery ford to cross - nearly lost it there & tyhen on a bit before we stopped by a wee bridge across a stream in a dingly dell for lunch. A very pretty spot & obviously popular with locals for walking or just picnicking. Further on I spotted a stoat with a baby bird in its mouth running along the gnarled roots of the hedgerow - I didn't feel the same disgust of them as I do at home. Just on past Wootton Courtenay, another lovely thatched village with obviously a bit or money around, we turned toward Dunster on a back road rather than risk the notorious A39. We were pleased that we did as the ride was relatively flat through delightful countryside with sheep peering from behind hedges & cows looking up briefly from their grazing.
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| Were the stoat ran |
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| Looking toward Wales |
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| On the moor |
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| Top of a hill |
Our picnic spot
As we cycled into Dunster we spied a teashop - we stopped in for tea & cakes then, leaving our bikes locked up went for a wander round the medieval heart of the town but decided to forego a visit to the castle. It seemed a lovely wee town, worth exploring further but the heat put us off doing much more. We found the back route up to the YHA in Alcombe arriving about 4pm so lay on the cool grass under a tree to await the formal opening. The last bit up to the hostel was real mountain biking territory so needless to say I wasn't keen on jolting over cobbles with 23kg of gear so pushed on up - thankfully under the shade of beautiful old trees. We had covered a mere 17.01 miles, taking our time to enjoy the countryside, nature & a cafe in an historic town ....... the journey is what matters not just the points at either end or the distance covered as we were reminded by Steve the cyclist the evening before.
The Minehead hostel warden, a friendly chap, helped us sort the washing machine & also suggested places in the village to eat once we'd finished washing our clothes & ourselves. He even suggested route out of Minehead that would see us weaving on & off the A39, which seemed the only way out of the area over the Quantock Hills but cycling blogs are full of warnings about the route. AND, then I saw a brochure for the West Somerset Railway, a steam train that runs daily from Minehead to Bishops Lydeard & from there we could pick a safer route over the Levels into Bristol.
We discussed the options over a tasty meal at the Alcombe Tandoori but really decided on that route when we both woke feeling definitely below par with dodge tums & sore muscles.
So we have spent a lovely day in Minehead (not surprised people holiday here), both at the hostel retreat under the grand tree and down in the town enjoying a late lunch at the Toucan Cafe & Wholefood store - highly recommended. We went to the station and bought our tickets for Wednesday's journey and had a lovely conversation with the couple running the office about how sensible we were to choose the train rather than the treacherous A39, especially as the temperature is supposed to be even hotter than today! The station is right on the beach and many people were out enjoying a swim or paddle, eating icecream so we joined them. I chose a blackcurrant sheep's milk icecream - very yummy but it does leave one with a faint taste of the shearing shed afterwards! After buying some groceries for the evening meal & tomorrow's lunch we made our way slowly back to the hostel - it was almost too hot to walk & we were balls of sweat by the time we got back. The rest of the afternoon we have pottered, caught up on news & emails or laid down in the cool. Whilst our tums are still not a hundred purr we are more rested and ready to tackle, after our initial train journey, an estimated 45 miles into Yatton, Bristol where we will stay a few days with friends of Caroline's.
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