Monday June 16, 2014

We were awake early and packed and ready to leave by about 8:30 am.  We had a short chat with Farmer Somerset about the floods that had happened “ere abouts you’mm, the cows were up them knees in warter- almost swimming they were.  You coulda had um western movie going off ere”.  Then we were of to Cheddar.  It was a lovely ride to Cheddar, relatively flat – that is why they are called the Somerset Flats.

We passed through a village called  Mark.  The next village had a scarecrow festival.  A myriad of scarecrows from Darth Vader to James to Bond to Miss Piggy.

We arrived in Cheddar at 10:30 and had lunch.  We then went to the YHA to see if we could check in.  They had beds available – one in the ladies dorm and one in the men’s dorm – 16 pound each $64.00 for separate beds.  Ralf saw on his map that there was a campsite in Cheddar, so after a discussion as to whether we could cycle out of Cheddar and find a campsite or stay in Cheddar we decided to stay in Cheddar.

We needed to get some washing done and after the ride on the tow paths yesterday the bikes were very dusty and needed to be cleaned.  We were settled in to the camp site by 1:00p.m.  Ralf went to explore the village, Cheddar Gorge, and did the shopping for dinner and I did the washing and cleaned my bike.  When he got back, I cleaned his bike.

The road up to the gorge is quite hilly, but without panniers Ralf found it relatively easy.

There is only one shop in Cheddar that actually makes Cheddar cheese.  Of course it is very expensive.

The gorge area is a popular spot for climbing.

After dinner we planned our route again and that is when it gets frustrating.  We can plan a route for 50 or more kms but then there is no campsite or hostel.  We will break the budget if we stay at B&Bs or hotels every night and there isn’t always a warm showers host available.  We planned our route to go past Bristol, a distance of 50kms because there was supposed to be a campsite.  Then we checked the campsite and it doesn’t allow tents!  I checked on warmshowers and there were two hosts north of Bristol, I sent them an email and one responded straight away with a yes.  We aren’t doing the distance we wanted to do, but at least we have somewhere to stay.  Both of us are getting frustrated with the accommodations situation and I am not sure how we can solve it.  If there isn’t tent sites available in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset (big tourist areas) I am not sure what we are going to do as we go up the country.  We might have to wild camp.  – Definitely dirty nails, Celeste.