Day 13 – TIRED 😓 💤

After 13 days of eat, cycle, sleep, repeat, I’m feeling physically & mentally exhausted. All stops had to be kept to a minimum as any prolonged sitting may have ended with me sound asleep. I didn’t want to get out of bed this morning & by 60km in I was ready to call it a day, the next 60km were long & any beautiful Devon country side was lost on me.

Once we’d eaten multiple breakfast & managed to pry Milo away from the junior Kent’s & the football, we were on our way.

The run out of Bristol was brutal & vertical, with a few of the gradients pushing 25%, we had to do the unspeakable & push our bikes.

I found it tough enough & I’m not carrying any of our luggage or towing the 15kgs that is Milo & his trailer.

The steep hills & windy roads seem to be perfect motorbike conditions & before we knew it we had been engulfed by a hells angels peloton. We were sucked along for a little while before it happened, we started to descend & descend & descend. We were rapidly dropping down Cheddar Gorge & it was breathtaking, part of me briefly considered turning around & cycling back up it, just so we could do the decent again. It’s definitely on the list of places to come back to.

We found another sign… only another 181 miles to go, oh my knees!

We stopped for coffee & second or third breakfast, before making our way to another canal towpath.

The next few hours were heads down as we tried to get our average speed back up after a morning of hills. The headwind was not helping…

We came across a little Devonshire tea room & decide that it would be rude not to stop & sample some of the local cuisine. Scones, done both ways, so that everyone can be equally offended.

The weather had been kind, we’d only had to stop twice to briefly gear up for the fleeting showers.

Not long after we’d set off, came the distinctive hiss of my back tire & puncture number 4. Unfortunately I’d stopped my bike on top of an ants nest & with in a few minutes the little guys were all over us. Milo wasn’t quite sure of what to do. Ants removed & new tube fitted & we were on our way.

(Milo hiding under my bike after being attached by ants.)

We picked up the pace again as we tried to make it to Leslie’s (cousin not aunt) for tea. It was lovely to catch-up with her and Colin and she’d made her famous fruit cake!! 3 cups of tea & several slices of cake later, we were back on the bikes for the last 20km of the day.

Another mad rush as we had to get to the Tiverton M&S to pick up some dinner as tonight’s BnB is a little remote.

20:00 & we’re done, far to late to end the day that I didn’t want to start. We were shown to our massive room, with gorgeous country side views, but the best part was the unexpected bath!!

Lessons learnt

1 – Not all towpaths are created equally, today’s were smooth(ish) & almost pleasant to cycle along.

2 – If cycle touring keep daily distance to 100km or less, one looses the will to live once you pass 6 hours in the saddle

3 – check you have not parked on an ants nest before changing your tyre

Key stats:

123 km cycled (1341km total)

1355m climbing (12247m total)

5 lejog cyclists seen (73 total)

Cake of the day: Leslie’s homemade fruit cake