The Diary - Part Three

Day 3 - Tuesday 4th July

Strangely enough, despite the stresses of the first two days, there was a renewed sense of optimism about today. We were still alive, we had beans on toast for breakfast and the sun was shining. What more could you want?

We set off early enough and planned to stop in Exeter to see if we could find a competent bike mechanic to true up Matt's wheel (or, alternatively, a shop that would sell him a replacement). And that we did.

After a spot of shopping in Tescos for lunch and snacks we were on our merry way. Even though it was after 1pm by the time we left Exeter and we still had about 50 miles left to cycle, we maintained the cheery spirit that we had woken with at Steps Bridge.

The hills were becoming longer and more sweeping (as opposed to the short, steep ones we encountered frequently in Cornwall) as we progressed through Devon towards Somerset. The type of road started to vary enormously from the busy A-roads (occasionally, but rarely dual carriageway) to the country lanes that were barely wide enough to accomodate a bike let alone a car or tractor.

At Talaton, we stopped for a late lunch and "enjoyed" a local resident's music which he/she had felt it necessary to share with the entire village. To be fair, it sounded pretty good.

Late in the afternoon, and much to our relief, we hit the Somerset levels. Finally, a decent stretch of flat where we could really get some speed up with minimal effort! And, as if the beautiful countryside and hill-less journeying weren't buoying enough to our spirits, we even had first-hand proof that the milk of human kindness flows thick and fast in Barrington when we were invited into a complete stranger's home to fill up our drinks bottles.

Having passed by some of my boyhood haunts in Shepton Beauchamp, we stopped for another swift break in West Lambrook before pressing on again to Somerton, and the return of a few unwelcome hills - including the very steep and long one leading up to our resting place for the evening - Street Youth Hostel (complete with [insert politically correct term for gypsies, whatever that might be] camped on the other side of the road).

Shock horror! - we actually finished the day's cycling before sunset!

In fact, we had finished so early that we had time to get cleaned up and head down into Street to eat and to purchase provisions for the next morning's breakfast. Everyone had neglected to mention that it was a 2 mile walk - exercise none of us felt we needed. Apart from Martin who, in a bid to ensure that he didn't miss a single minute of the World Cup, ran it. Little did we know this was a portent of things to come.

Dinner in Wetherspoons was, er, just like all other Wetherspoons. Tasty enough after a day's cycling and Doug clearly thought so when he bought his invisible friend a meal too. After a swift Guinness (for me that is - strangely, I failed to make a note of what the others drank that night), we caught a taxi back to the Youth Hostel to bed.

That night I slept happy in the knowledge that, for the first time, things had pretty much gone to plan today.

Day: 3, Miles: 70.8, Cycling time: 5hr 44mins, Ave Speed: 12.4mph, Max Speed: 42.0mph