Friday June 20, 2014

Our longest day to date cycling in England.  We had a short day yesterday and we felt we needed to make up some distance due to our meanderings in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset.  We took the A49 all the way, there was no headwind today and it was a head down and go kind of day. Again, for the most part on the A49, there was a shoulder.  Although, we did stop in Church Stretton for lunch.  We popped into the Outdoor Store and chatted to the owner, who had “done” LeJog in May this year.  He had a medal to prove it.  However, he had only cycled from Lands End to Church Stretton, his friends had carried on and completed the ride and got him a medal.  He couldn’t afford to take the time away from his store to do the whole ride.

We decided to cycle through Shrewsbury to our campsite as I didn\’t want to go on the A5 – a very busy dual carriageway (think Highway 11) with little in the way of a shoulder.

We booked into the most expensive camp site to date 26 pounds per night and we are staying two nights – a rest day tomorrow.  The site is lovely, the facilities are clean but there are no picnic tables in the camping area.  There are two picnic tables near the office and facility block so that is where we had dinner and will have breakfast tomorrow. The site is located close to a ParknRide bus station which will take us into downtown Shrewsbury for 2.50. There is also a supermarket within walking distance as well.

Because of our alfresco dining we actually got to chat to some fellow campers, usually they are locked away in their own camper or caravan and we don’t get to chat to them like we did in NZ or Australia.

As we were having dinner there was a fella walking his miniature dachshund – it had very short legs, I commented on his little dog and the owner indicated that he was a bit timid.  After he had passed Ralf said “I would be timid too if my willy was that close to the ground”  I almost choked on my glass of wine.

Thursday June 19, 2014

It was a lovely sunny start to the day, but windy.  I cannot really complain about the weather as we have had sunny skies for over a week now.  For the most part we have also had tail winds up until the last couple of days, then they have changed to head winds.

I have been in the front since we started LeJog due to the fact that Ralf broke his mirror.  I gave him my mirror as I wanted him behind me to warn me about the traffic on the narrow country lanes and now we have decided to do the busier A roads I still like him behind me.  This means that I have been in the front and “pulling” since we started.  It is quite exhausting.

Today we cycled through the lovely Market Town of Ledbury.  It was a lovely surprise as we came down the hill to see the old market square and the old buildings.

England does have some lovely Towns.

We cycled through two Counties today Herefordshire and Shropshire.   Herefordshire was fairly flat but it got progressively hillier as we came into Shropshire.

By the time we got to the 50 km mark I was getting tired from the headwinds and the undulating hills.

We had two options for campsites today, one about 10 kms before Leominster, the other about 10 kms after Leominster.  We spotted the sign for the one before Leominster in Docklow and stopped.  Ralf called the second camp site but couldn’t get a reply, so we opted to stop at this farm site – Nicholson\’s Farm, no relation to the Nicholson\’s Farms in Barrie.

It was expensive for what they had to offer, but it was very quiet and peaceful.  We had the site to ourselves and we did have a picnic table.  Ralf also bought some fresh farm eggs and fresh milk, I mean really fresh milk – straight from the cow.

Wednesday Jun 18, 2014

We left our warm showers host at about 8:00 a.m., it was a little overcast to start with but the sun came out mid-afternoon and it was quite hot, for English standards.  We followed the printed route that Kirsty and Markus gave us, it was really helpful.  It was a nice route but we still couldn’t see over the hedges to see any of the scenery.  We decided to join the A38, it was supposed to be a busy route but we could see more scenery because the hedges were cut back.

The A38 also had a cycle lane for the most part.  Cycled into another County.

We got into the City of Gloucester by lunch time.  It is a lovely City and has done an amazing renovation to its dock/quay area.  It used to be a dirty dockland area now it is modern open space with shops and cafes.

We stopped to get something to eat and a couple came to chat to us.  They were from New Zealand, we had a great chat about our trip to NZ and their visit to England.  We both agreed that customer service was severely lacking in the UK.

We needed to get more calls on Ralf’s phone.  When we called to book the trains and the car hire, we had to pay 15p a minute and we basically used up all Ralf’s minutes!!  We got it sorted out and wandered down towards the cathedral.

The cathedral is absolutely magnificent.  Because of the bikes we went in separately.  I had a very quick wander around and then asked Ralf to try and not be too long because we still had about 20 kms to cycle to our campsite. It was really difficult for him to keep it short as the inside of the cathedral was incredible.

The cathedral has a team of stone masons working on the upkeep of the cathedral all the time.  We will have to come back into the UK this way so that we can both go in together and spend some time.

We continued to our camp site which was next to the Severn River and a pub.  The fella who ran the place asked Ralf where we had come from and where we were going and when Ralf said we were doing LeJog, he said that he really admired what we were doing and we could have the camp site for free.  He assumed we were doing the ride to raise money for a charity.  Ralf told him we weren’t and asked if he had a charity box  he would put some money into, he responded no you can put it in yours.

We ate at the pub for dinner.  Lovely chicken and leek pie for me and lasagna for Ralf washed down with a lovely local cider and Murphy’s for Ralf.  Dessert was English strawberries and cream mmmmm good.

Tuesday June 17, 2014

We had a bit of lie-in this morning 6:45!  We didn’t have a long distance to do and we could not go to our warmshowers host until 5:30 pm. We followed our route really well again today.

We knew we might get turned around trying to find the route over the River Avon, but we only got turned around once and we were on the bridge over the Avon.

The cycle path across the river was  added with funds from Sustrans – the British cycle organization.

Our warmshowers host (Kirsty) told us about the Blaise Estate, where there are 600 acres of grounds, a café, a museum and a castle folly.  We decided to stop at the Blaise ground for lunch and explore the grounds a bit and then go to Kirsty’s house at 5:30.

We spent a while looking at all the different people in the park.

Ralf went for an exploration and I updated the blog on the steps of the museum, which used to be the Estate House.

We chatted to a lovely couple who were a wealth of information about the Estate and the grounds.  The Castle \”folly\” was built in 1766 and restored in 1982 with funds from the lottery commission.

The castle folly was built by the original owner as a place to take his guests for an outing.  Of course all the food and drinks were taken up there by the servants to cater for the guests.

This is cave was man-made by the original owner.

The view from the top of the castle over the hills was lovely.

Our warmshowers hosts were really nice, we had a lovely shepherds pie with fresh veges for dinner.  They are planning a grand adventure of their own.  In August they start their trip to New Zealand – all across land including going through Iran, India and the Stans (Pakistan etc).  They are a really nice couple, and gave us a great route to follow the next day to Norton.

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.

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.

Saturday June 14, 2014

A lovely ride from Okehampton today.  We met an older Australian cyclist who was also getting frustrated trying to find his way out of Towns. He had a good map of Devon and still wasn’t sure which road to take.  We hopefully put him on the right road. We chatted about Australia and camping and how expensive we were finding England.  We didn’t get lost today, even though we were following B and C roads.  We had planned the route perfectly and followed it.  Ralf’s new Garmin (GPS) worked perfectly and for the first time in 7 months I kept my mouth shut and trusted the GPS!

It was a hilly ride but very scenic. Devon is well known for its thatched roof cottages.

The scenery was typically Devon countryside, rolling hills of farmland and pretty little villages with thatched roof cottages.  I am still amazed that on this small island there are 58 million people, but there is still an abundance of beautiful scenery and green space.

The churches in Devon have changed from the square stone built Norman churches.  A lot of the churches in Devon have steeples instead of towers.

We are staying with a warmshowers host in Tiverton tonight and of course he lived up a hill.  This host’s house was the worst one to get to to date, a steady climb out of Tiverton and then a right turn up an even steeper hill and then it kicked up again to finish.  I got of at the first right turn!

Tim and Jayne are really lovely people.  We had a good chat before dinner and Tim helped us plan our route.  We had a lovely chilli for dinner and then we sat down to update the blog and Tim and Jayne watched the world cup.  They were cheering for Costa Rica in the first game (they won) as they had lived in Costa Rica for 4 years.  The second game at 11:00 pm was England (they lost).  We were in bed way before that game started.

Friday June 13, 2014

We didn\’t have warm croissants this morning as we wanted an early start.

A short day today as all we really wanted to do was get back on the route to Okehampton.  We are now taking a different approach to our routing.  We are going the more direct route and not following the book I bought.  The book tends to go the back routes, which is not a bad thing, but we are not following the most direct route on the back routes.

However, today we started of following his directions out of Tavistock – through Peter Tavy and Mary Tavy.  This route was also the National Cycle Network Route 27 – this is a poor excuse for a cycle route.  We started of okay, on the back country lane from the caravan park, then we headed down a single track road to Peter Tavy, then it went pear shaped.  The route took us down a rough track and then an even narrower track onto a bridle-way.

At one point we could hear the river flowing beside us and I was absolutely dreading getting to the river and finding out that we had to ford it – but fortunately there was a bridge.

We eventually got on to A3047 towards Okehampton.  The drivers here are reckless.  They do not give us much room and if they do they will overtake at the craziest places, on blind curves, going uphill – awful.  We eventually decided to go down to Lydford to see what the Granite Trail was like.  If it was rough we would come back and rejoin the A3047 into Okehampton.

It was wonderful, 18 kms of paved off-road cycling.  We even met other cyclists that smiled and waved.  What a joy.

We crossed over the Meldon Viaduct, which was built in 1874 and spans 165 metres.

We arrived at the YHA at 1:00 pm and after setting up the tent, having a free sandwich and a shower we headed downtown to Okehampton.  A ten minute walk down the hill and a 20 minute walk back up!  Okehampton is nothing to write home about, it is a small Town with some nice shops and a lovely stone church in the centre of Town.

The YHA is in a restored rail station.  We were camping, but were allowed to use all the facilities inside – the showers, kitchen etc.

The weather today was very hot (for England).  There will be a lot of sunburnt bodies tomorrow.  The English don’t always remember to put on suncream.

Thursday June 12, 2014

We were woken up to the lovely sound of English songbirds.  I went back to sleep and got up at 7:30 and put a load of washing in the very clean washing machines.  I made some coffee and we chatted about our day, then Ralf picked up the croissants and I got the eggs ready – what a great start to the day, fresh farm eggs – (scrambled) and warm croissants.  We decided to walk over the moor to Tavistock, it was about a 6 km walk.

It was a lovely walk and we saw a Dartmoor pony with her foal.  The ponies are wild ponies left to roam on the moor.  Ralf managed to get some really nice photos of the pony and her foal, but this is a lovely picture of the foal, the mare wasn\’t far away.

Tavistock is a very historic Town, and had two influences the Abbots and the Duke of Bedford, it was only in recent times (1800s) that the Duke did anything to help the Town, by building the pannier market and encouraging industry.

We had lunch in the pannier market (Devon slang for fruit and veg market). Tour buses drop people of in this area, it was a busy market area.

As we wandered the markets and streets, we happened to look up and notice the viaduct.  It looked as though we could get to it so we walked up a very steep hill and found the Viaduct Walk.  Great views of the Town.

We took a taxi back to the campsite.  We made a lovely meal of sausage, pasta and a spicy tomato sauce – not as good as the one Mat made us, but it tasted good, partly because the sausage was from a butchers shop – not the pre-packaged supermarket stuff.

After dinner, we went to the bar and planned our route for tomorrow.  We need to spend time planning the route, as we really don\’t want to get lost on these little B and C roads again.

A wonderful sunset and then to bed.

Wednesday June 11, 2014

We had a lovely ride from Camelford to Launceston.  We followed the A39 out of Camelford and then joined the A395, both roads were fairly busy, but after Davidstow we took a lovely B road through Egloskerry to Launceston.

It was beautiful English scenery and had me singing the words from Jerusalem – fortunately Ralf was behind and couldn’t hear me singing. The scenery was rolling hills and farmland, every village we went through had Cornish stone houses and a beautiful Norman stone church.

The B roads are narrow with high hedgerows, which can be a bit of a problem as not only are there lovely flowers in the hedgerows but also blackberry brambles and nettles.  They can be painful if you brush by them too close, but after Ralf’s incident with catching his pannier on the hedgerow, we have been \’taking the lane\’.  We saw two rabbits today and a fox and these very inquisitive cows.

We arrived in Launceston at 10:45 and that is when the problems started!

We stopped for directions and then stopped at a supermarket to have some lunch.  When we came out of the supermarket parking lot, we got totally turned around and headed off towards Plymouth.  I knew we were heading in the wrong direction, but we couldn’t find the right B road to get us going in the right direction.  We carried on, and at one point knew we were totally lost, not just misplaced but lost.  Eventually, we ended up in Tavistock, we were heading for Okehampton.

We crossed in to the next County – Devon.

Once we got into Tavistock, we realized that it is a lovely Town and is also a World Heritage Site.

I found the Tourist Information Centre (TIC) and found a campsite – it was another 3 miles out of Town.  Ralf and I decided that we would book into the campsite for two nights – a rest day already.  The reason being Tavistock is a lovely Town and needs a day to explore.  We will try to get to Okehampton on Friday.

Our campsite (Langston Manor Caravan Park) is lovely, it is in the Dartmoor National Park, it is very quiet and the scenery is lovely and we got a reduction in the price because we are ‘eco-travellers’ – arriving by bike or foot you get a discount.  The site has caravans, eco-pods, a restaurant and a bar and plenty of level campsites.  Langston Manor received a silver award for their environmental practices, solar panels on the utility block, recycled rain water used to flush the toilets and an excellent recycling program, the site is planted with native trees and plants.  The facilities are exceptionally clean. Friendly and helpful wardens work very hard in keeping the grounds clean and tidy.

As we were getting ready for bed, I heard a cuckoo, it has been years since I heard a cuckoo.  The sound of birds surround us as we snuggle into our sleeping bags.

We can have a lie-in tomorrow as we have ordered croissants for breakfast.  The campsite ‘wardens’ make fresh bread, croissants and choc-au-pain to order. This really is a hard life.