Well the day started VERY well with yet another full English (good
thing I'm burningvthis off) prepared by Bill at the Rose Cottage B&B.
soon I was on the two castles trail heading out of town, but it was
proving to be a pile of rotten eggs. looking at the map, I was adding
a rediculous number of miles onto the journey all in the name of
seeing a few more trees. After 2 miles of messing around with
farmland and blocked styles, I hopped over a fence and got back on the
road.
I was making reasonable time when all of a sudden the pain killers
numbing my lower right leg wore off. With every step I could feel my
ankle tightening up, but with cars shooting past, I couldn't really
stop to get out the medical kit. diving into a gap in the hedge, I
administered a comical amount of deep heat to get me going again -
later realising that Deep Heat REALLY needs to be washed off your hands!
At lunchtime I stopped at a post office in the sleepy village of
Lifton in order to post home some unwanted kit, as well as get a stamp
on my route sheet. In no time I was chatting with the lady who ran
the shop who clearly loved my cause. in fact she loved it so much
that she bought my entire lunch, throwing in goodies left right and
centre! with a smile on my face and a spring in my hobble, I was off
again.
sticking to the main roads which seemed to make a beeline for
Bridestow, I made good progress - even with my leg in pieces - and was
soon at the campsite.
when I started this walk, I really felt like I wanted to remain
anonymous; moving from place to place just getting the miles under my
belt. my mood has totally changed now and there's not a soul I pass
who isn't informed. this seems to have had the fantastic fantastic
effect of bringing out the charitable side in a lot of people. If
worked with Marie in the post office and now it had the same effect at
the campsite, so a massive thank you to Graham at Bridestow campsite
for letting me stay for free!!
After getting settled in and enjoying the last of the sun, I hit the
pub... purely for medicinal reasons of course.
As I sat by the bar writing this entry in my notebook, I saw umpteen
people glancing over to sneak a peak at who I was and what I was
doing. soon enough, the first of a lot of people came over and
introduced themselves. they were so welcoming, especially once they
knew what I was doing... our troops certainly have a serious lot of
support in the south west.
Tues 12th May - Bridestow to South Zeal...
The previous evening I'd asked numerous people what the forecast was
for today. it seemed there was a landslide victory in favour of it
raining so much that I'd need an arc. much to my delight, I woke to
clear skies... even if the wind blew my ears off and shook my brain
like a marracca!
Today was mainly following a route called The Granite Way, which does
exactly what it says on the tin. it's the tarmaced route of an old
granite railway line that crosses some viaducts. luckily on a day
like today, they've been windproofed.
The remainder of the trail is dull as dishwater; continuing to follow
Tarmac and gravel until finally breaking off at okehampton to follow
the Tarka Trail. with the amount of water around, I assumed this had
something to do with Tarka the otter but had no time / want to find out.
I was very hesitant about following this trail due to its general
direction; DARTMOOR! how wrong I was and on a glorious day like
today, I'm over the moon that I grew a pair and overcame my fears. it
was a beautiful trail with some sections requiring me to cross the
river back and forth via stepping stones, aswell as climbing near
vertical steps with sheer drops either side.
After thoroughly enjoying my speed date with Dartmoor, I was back
strafing the river Taw in the direction of South Zeal. for the first
time in a while, I had a smile on my face whilst walking; although in
hindsight this mayhave been due to the Adam & Joe podcast... still, a
smile's a smile!
Arriving in South Zeal I refuelled at the local store before hunting
down the campsite marked on my route. "hmm, that's funny?! this looks
less like a campsite and more like a hole in the ground" I thought.
yep, you guessed it, it's no longer there. this day had to cock up
somewhere.
I'd spotted a pub with rooms on my way into town so off I marched...
really gotta start checking my accommodation more, but it's easier
said than done in the middle of nowhere.
As I got into the pub I really hoped that did have rooms as there was
a huge roaring open fire in the corner. unfortunately even with £25
off the price it still cost me too much. I was over a barrel so
anything was better than nowhere to stay.
one thing that took the pain away from the price was the fact my
roomhad a bath, which the B&Bs and campsites I'd states at obviously
didn't go in for. I felt all the miles washed down the plug hole as I
collapsed in a heap in my comedy sized four poster bed. it's a hard
life...
We'd 13th May - South Zeal to Crediton...
In the morning I was totally confused as to whether the price had
includes brekkie as nothing had been mentioned the night before. I
hoped it did and as I tiptoed downstairs, I fortunately saw a pot of
coffee on the go and a place set for me in the restaurant. my mood
shot from about 10% happy to about 1000% as the landlord Mark offered
me a full english, freshly made with all the trimmings. this turned
out to be sausages the size of my leg and bacon as thick as a slide of
bread!
being in an altogether great mood, I tried the black pudding and much
to my suprise couldn't get enough... who knew?! I've had great
breakfasts, but this one put me on top of the world.
even looking outside to see the mist and rain didn't phase me, neither
did knowing my phone was totally dead. maybe I'd just come to accept
some thins were out of my control. whatever the case, it allowed me
to laugh off events of the day which previously would have brought me
near to tears. these included being splashed in the face by a van's
wipers, not being able to see more than 20m infront of me and the rain
proof cover ripping ok my bag.
so ok I plodded, a campsite just south of crediton my goal and a smile
on my face. the walk itself was pretty indescript, due to both the
drizzly mist preventing me from seeing much and the hedgerows that
made me feels about 2 feet tall.
maybe due to the lack of rubbernecking, I was there in good time,
setting up the tent before hobbling over to the cover of the only hut
around. no one was there, but soon enough a little old lady on a
quadbike came chugging up the drive. I explained what I was doing and
she let me make myself at home for only £2... "as much as I could at a
place with no electricity, a toilet with no light and all in the rain"
I chuckled to myself. she let me know I could use a matress from the
shed, and looking back at the size of my tent I could only laugh at
how it was going to fit, but thanked her all the same.
we soon got chatting about her farm that sat on a hill south east of
the campsite, barely visible through the drizzle. they'd only just
secured themselves a place in the world of farming again after being
totally wiped out by foot n mouth a few years back. I remember seeing
the stories on the news but it really hits home when you see someone
who's lived to tell the tale. with that sobering thought, she jumped
back on her quadbike and shot off to the frantic world of farming.
looking up at the ominous sky, I had a painful urge for a hot meal so
after a few stretches I was back on the road heading into crediton...
shame I ended up walking 3 miles more just for fish n chips. I guess
things could be worse, my phone could be dead - oh wait it is...
Thurs 14th May - Crediton to Tiverton...
The day began exactly the same as yesterday; misty, drizzly and yet
strangely quite chipper. I emerged from my cacoon like a damp
butterfly and switched over to auto pilot as I packed away my soaking
wet tent. I even slept in my waterproofs last night in order to save
me wriggling into them in the rain (which I was very smug about to
myself).
the route out of crediton wasn't too bad and I was making great time.
this was soon changed when I began moving north; crossing hills which
were cut into deep valleys by the river Exe's bastard tributaries. in
no time I was as wet on the inside of my waterproofs as I was on the
outside, but at least I was eating away the miles.
thankfully, I left the killer hills and moved along the A396 which in
hindsight was a mental idea. it was either trudge through mud and
long grass, or follow a busy road that headed towards Tiverton... the
road won hands down.
it's funny what you see when you venture into tucked away areas, and
Bickleigh castle was one of these sights. as I walked along a tiny
lane with my head down and iPod in, I was suddenly faced by vast metal
and oak gates that announced the beginning of this vast 14th century
building. as I nearly wondered over the side of a bridge with my eyes
locked on this miracle of architecture, it was time for more walking
and less sight seeing.
I finally left the A-roads and arrived in Tiverton, the guidebooks
destination for the day. it would have been nice to have relaxed now,
but I didn't have that option as I was heading for a campsite 6 miles
east.
This meant eating into tomorrow's miles which was nothing but good
news (although my feet didn't thank me).
one silly mistake was to look at the section of canal and think it's
east just because it's flat... it's not! the Grand Western Canal is
more like the Monaco F1 track and took another 3 hours to complete in
the rain.
by the time I arrived at the campsite, the heavens had really opened
and it didn't look like stopping amy time soon. it was a great site
I'd picked, with everything I needed in the morning to dry all my
gear. in the meantime this tent wasn't gonna put itself up.
as I stood in the rain setting up my tent, aching and shattered, I
heard the words which made me forget everything bad about my
situation...
"would you like a coffee to warm you up?" came a voice from the
campervan beside me. I dread to think what I looked like, sitting
under a tree in the rain with my coffee, but that didn't concern me
one bit.
like a scene from popeye, the coffee sprung me into action and the
tent was sorted.
handing back the coffee mug, I introduced myself to the lovely David
and Helen. just when I thought their kindness had peaked, I was
offered beans on toast with cheese... I could have hugged them both!!
trying not to wolf down dinner in one mouthful, we had a great chat
from the warm comfort of their caravan. I couldn't get over how lucky
I was to have pitched up next to them.
after another coffee and handing over a well deserved 'official nice
person' card, I retired to my writing and rain soaked bed... night
readers.
Fri 15th May - Tiverton to Taunton...
I woke up to the all too familiar drizzle that seemed to be following
me journey (can't wait to change this intro). weirdly enough, I seem
to have acquired the ability to not give a damn about the weather...
can't be anything BUT fantastic!
I couldn't help smiling as I packed away a soaking wet tent as Gene &
Alan from the campervan behind me not only brought me a morning
coffee, but a bacon sarnie too!
just before leaving for today's mission, u made sure I said goodbye to
David & Helen who'd made my previous evening so enjoyable. kindly
handing me some fruit for my trip, I waved them farewell and made
tracks.
minutes later, I bumped into a guy walking his dog along the canal who
stopped me and asked how far I was walking. "john o'groats hopefully,
I'm doing a charity walk for help for heroes" I explained. instantly
his ears pricked up and he explained that Major Phil Packer (the
injured soldier who recently walked the London marathon for h4h) was
one of his officers. with a huge smile and an even bigger pat on my
back, he was off and so was I.
after an annoyingly short amount of time, the canal towpath vanishes
and it's back to jumping over fences and avoiding the minefield of cow
and sheep crap. a week or so ago, I read mark moxon's story about
being confronted by bulls. until now I'd been lucky as the only ones
I'd seen were from a mile away on Bodmin moor... however today my luck
ran out.
I hopped over a fence and found myself cornered by about 10-15 young
bulls who thought it would be fun to charge at me before turning away
at the last minute to gauge my reaction. I already knew I had to
stand my ground, but it's easier said than done.
deciding 2 miles of backtracking was worse than these bulls, I walked
straight towards them and blew the whistle attached to my bag. It
only bloody worked as I laughed my way out of the temporary roadblock.
back on the road, I thought nothing could stop me from using the
public footpaths which made a straight line to Taunton - I couldn't be
more wrong. 1.5 miles down a tricky path, I saw a cow, then another
and then about 10 more. "nope, that's not an udder, that that would be
a bull"... nuts, so to speak.
the previous hurd of bulls were like bunny rabbits compared to these
bruisers who resembled rhinos rather than bulls. what's more, they
didn't even batter an eyelid when I tried the whistle, making me think
backtracking was going to be enjoyable compared to navigating this
mooing brick wall.
by early afternoon I was running on empty, so I popped into The White
Horse Inn for a steak sarnie. I was over the moon when the lovely
lady who ran the place paid for all my drinks to keep me fuelled.
with my batteries recharged, I made excellent time to Taunton and for
some reason whistled the song "English Country Garden" all the way -go
figure.
only upon entering Taunton, did I realise I'd actually left Devon a
while back and was now in Somerset. this was reinforced when I heard
my first really strong "ello thaair" since western Cornwall, causing
me to childishly chuckle to myself whilst repeating the accent.
certainly took my mind off my aching feet!
the heavy rain this week had totally fried my phone charger, meaning
I've had no contact with friends or family. with my fingers crossed,
I collapsed through the door of Taunton's Vodafone store and explained
what I was up to. disappearing for a few seconds, the shop assistant
returned with exactly what I needed and what's more, it was FREE!
seems even big companies have a heart afterall and with that
refuelling my smile and spirits, I hunted down a B&B and looked
forward to a rest day tomorrow.
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