Diary - Day 2

On the whole there is less to say about the second day, although there was considerably more cycling to do. We had to get to Minehead in two days, a considerable mileage, so the aim for the day was to get near to Holsworthy which turned out to be just over a hundred miles. We didn't get that far.

What we did have going for us today was the wind which continued to blow from a generally southern direction. Visbility was mildly better than yesterday as well although we did seem to get a little wetter on the whole and it was rare indeed to see the sun.


The photo above was taken just before we started on the Camel trail somewhere just West of Bodmin. We stopped in a tea shop on the side of the trail for fuel beofre heading into tragedy, well bloody annoyance, a few miles further. The trouble with rubbish weather and a schedule is that it tends to make you put your head down and concentrate more on moving than where you are moving to. We missed a turn and ended up halfway through Bodmin before realising the error and turning back. Half an hour at least wasted and an extra 7 miles or so added on for no reason. Great. The Camel trail itself is quite a pleasant ride though and progress was easy enough. It leads onto the cycle route that heads around the north-west edge of Bodmin Moor and that is always worth following, although low gears are useful here.

I came this way on an ill-fated LEJOG two years ago and recognised all of the landmarks. The weather wasn't going to put me off this part and we were happy enough climbing over the moor, which looked a little like this............
note the whiteness of legs at this stage. There's not much to see on Bodmin moor anyway so it may as well be dismal, the appeal is it's barrenness. I think.

Of course the weather had to play it's part at some point and it did it in a very cunning way. As we began to descend off the top of the moor we cycled straight through a load of sheep shit which threw itself up all over the place and found homes on our bikes and bags, shoes etc, for some time afterwards. Avoidance would have been smart, but the problem was that the constant rain had turned the road into a water-course and the sheep-shit had melted into the run-off, making it very difficult to distinguish between clean and unclean stretches of road. Sam's fear of germs and hatred of getting anything he owns dirty was put under immense strain here and the possibility of remnants remaining on his bike played on his mind for days. I was just happy it wasn't horse-shit and didn't bother to wash the bike at all.

That may be Brown Willy in the background, I forget, but if it is the title is misleading.

Coming through Davidstow it was getting late and we needed somewhere to camp, but it looked like we would fall short of Holsworthy. We headed towards the A39, stopped in Marshgate for a meal and a couple of pints, then found an excellent campsite on the way towards Bude. A camping and caravaning clubsite which had certainly had it's fair share of rain recently and was getting even more of the wet stuff when we arrived. Thankfully the facilities were good and we were able to have a decent shower before going to bed in the dampness of north Cornwall. Before we did so I picked up a slug thinking it was something else (camping is exciting isn't it) while Sam managed to keep his guts under control all evening, which was nice.

Day 2 review

Mileage = 95
Breweries visited = 0
Pints drunk = 4

• Doom Bar (x2) - Sharps
• Atlantic IPA (x2) - Sharps