I think Wetherspoons generally provide good value for money so, when I was looking for somewhere to stay in Minehead, the Duke of Wellington was an obvious choice. A bed for the night at £86 is rather more than I’m used to paying on these trips, breakfast adds another £8 or so, but when I looked round there was nothing cheaper – Minehead is expensive. So, the Duke it was
I ate in the restaurant, perfectly acceptable steak and kidney pudding with chips and peas and apple crumble and a pint of Ruddles cost £18.60 and an extra pint of Ruddles was an astonishing £1.79. Apart from the beer, it wasn’t as cheap as I would expect from Spoons but they’ve got to make a living.
The weather forecast for today was pretty awful, especially later in the day so I decided on an early start. I wasn’t especially hungry so skipped breakfast and was on my bike by 7.30. I was headed for Porlock, one of the iconic climbs in British cycling. The A39 out of Porlock ramps up to 1 in 4 but I decided to take the toll road from West Porlock which, although steep doesn’t hit quite those extremes. I passed a couple leading a young horse along the road. The horse took grave exception to my panniers and threatened to cart the owner; but I talked to him, and he seemed to settle down and allow me to pass. I thought that I knew what I was doing but when I reached the toll house there was a sign on the gate saying “no bicycles”, use the adjoining footpaths. I set off in hope of finding a way and had to push the bike up a steep path, at one point encountering a fallen tree.
I unclipped the panniers and lifted everything across and kept going only to find steep steps in my way. At least once past them there seemed to be a ride that would take me back to the road and after having to unload once again, I joined the toll road just above the house and cycled the two or so miles of substantial gradient to the top, where I was surrounded by pheasants taking off in all directions for the next couple of miles. Apparently the Lilycombe shoot.
Having got up on top of Exmoor I was now trying to stay as close to the coast as possible. The A39 was fairly benign and I got a bit of rest from climbing until I reached Countisbury with a steep descent into Lynmouth
Now I knew that Lynmouth Hill that leads up to the town of Lynton on the top of the hill, although quite short, has gradients steeper than Porlock, but there is no alternative for a bike, although foot passengers can use the cliff railway, a nifty device that works on gravity, pumping water from one car to the other to provide motive force
so I gritted my teeth and, with maximum assist from the motor, made it surprisingly easily. However this was only about 18 miles into a 60 mile journey so I was fairly fresh.
From Lynton the coast road goes up and down, once again taking to a toll road (this one accessible) and providing stunning views of the craggy coast
On past Lynton I encountered some very steep climbs and the amount of motor I was using was taking its toll on the battery, to the extent that I was seriously worried as to whether or not it would last the day. On to Combe Martin
to which I descended with a horrible screech of brakes, frightening a dog walker on the way. Another climb out towards Ilfracombe, past Watermouth Bay and the golf course until I found myself on an old railway line with an excellent tarmac surface which allowed me to get to the top of the last major climb without using the motor.
Even so I was now down to about 15% capacity, knowing that I still had about 16 miles to travel, mainly along the Taw and Torridge Estuaries from Braunton to Bideford with strong winds and rain in the air.
I stopped in Braunton and bought a Mars Bar and some flavoured fizzy water which raised the energy levels, but I was cycling into a head wind, and it was hard work. At Barnstaple I crossed the river and made my way back up the other side of the Estuary, now with the wind at my back but with incessant rain. At Appledore, now no longer the centre of shipbuilding that it was in past times, I joined the Torridge Estuary, necessitating a change of direction that, once again, brought the strong wind across me. Finally after 61 miles I crossed the 14th century Long Bridge into Bideford, only to be faced with a substantial climb. Given the battery now showing 10% at most, I GOAPed until I reached a relatively flat area. For some unknown reason I hadn’t picked up that Ridewith GPS was taking me around the houses, including along some woodland tracks, before arriving at the Clovelly Road, home of the Premier Inn where I am staying tonight. Very annoying at the end of a long hard day but I finally arrived at about 5 pm. Hopefully I’ll get a decent night’s sleep before another gruelling day heading for Wadebridge tomorrow.
