Sunday June 8, 2014

Another lovely ride today.  We left Tim and Jayne around 8:30 and picked up the Tiverton to Burlescombe Canal route.  This followed the Tiverton Canal for about 15 kms.

At the start of the ride in Tiverton, there is a cafe that is on a narrow boat, and you can take a short trip up the canal on a horse drawn narrow boat.

The canal towpath was very good, and not too busy for the most part.  There were areas close to a village where there were more people walking their dogs or just out for a walk on a Sunday morning, but everybody shared the path.

Ralf and I really enjoyed the vacations we took on the steel narrow boats and even toyed with the idea of buying one to live in.

We crossed an aqueduct over a train line.  The Canals were built before the trains, to ship lime from the kilns to Tiverton.  When the train lines were built the canals went into disrepair.  Now the canal paths are being used again and the train line is no longer in use  may be they will convert it to a cycle-way, but at the moment is an overgrown path.

We joined the A38 briefly to get into Taunton.  We stopped for lunch at a Tesco (meal deals – sandwich or pasta salad, fruit and a juice for 3 pound) and I chatted to a couple of ladies who told me about the Taunton to Bridgwater Canal route.  We initially decided not to take the canal route as it is a little slower than on the road.  However, we came across the canal further down the road and decided we weren’t in any rush, so why not.  We deserved a flat ride after Cornwall and Devon hills. Again it was a lovely path along the side of the Taunton to Bridgwater Canal.

We met an older couple who were on a couple of electric bikes and chatted to them for a while about our trip and the fact that they wanted to retire and had their house on the market.  They didn’t think they would do anything as adventurous as us, but wanted to travel.  They had only been out of the country 3 times.

They also told us about the “Stop Line” this is why there are bunkers along the canal.  The bunkers were built in the second world war as a defence line from invasion.  Amazing that there are so many of them are still in tact.

The canals also have a variety of wildlife.  We saw two set of swans with cygnets.  This pair had six cygnets.

We arrived in Bridgwater at about 4:30 pm, again we stopped in Tesco to get our dinner and breakfast things as we were not sure about the facilities at tonight’s campsite. We called the campsite for directions, but there was no answer.  Ralf gave me the ‘phone saying that he could not understand the owner when he was speaking.

It took us a while to find the campsite – as we couldn’t believe that the farm field was the actual camp site and there was no one to ask.  Eventually Farmer ‘Somerset’ arrived and told us we could camp anywhere and showed us the toilet/shower block!  It was quite rustic, although the water in the shower was hot.  The site only cost us 6.00 pounds and .50p for the shower each.

Farmer ‘Somerset’ was very chatty, he had the broadest Somerset accent, and I could see Ralf trying to understand this guy, but was really struggling. After he left, Ralf said that is why I wanted you to talk to him, I have no idea what he was saying.

We made our dinner on our little cooker and were in bed by 9:30.  We have decided on a short route tomorrow to Cheddar.  I remember it as a lovely village and it has a YHA.  Well worth the visit for Ralf to see and taste real Cheddar.