Monday 09.06.25

Tiverton - Taunton (should have been Bridgewater!) 49kms  1200'

The day didn't start as planned. All set to go and Alan noticed a flat front tyre! Something of a mechanical. Front wheel off and a pretty efficient replacement of the inner tube. However,  with the wheel off, it became obvious that the brake pads were in a sorry state, as in not really there. So Mr. Mechanic got on with the job of replacing them. ( I crossed the road to M & S foods). We did , after all, need lunch. Some 2 hours later, we were  ready to roll! 

An excellent start to the actual riding. Old railway, followed quite quickly by a canal path. Both charmingly flat. And people always keen for a morning chinwag. One couple had been chased off the canal by a ferocious swan which, thankfully, we didn't encounter. What we did encounter, if you haven't already sussed, was more of the going up things! Even the flat bits, and even  more so the down, require much vigilance as one could disappear forever in a pothole. These lanes have seen so much rainfall, that the banks have eroded and formed sand dunes in the middle of the road. Al thought to climb one and almost skidded into obscurity. It all adds to the excitement of eluding death from drivers hurtling along a single lane road. We met the daddy of them all today - an humongous tractor! Took up the whole road and looked like something from outer space. Really scarey as we were hard against the bank with tyres taller than me, just inches away from me and my bike. 

Anyway, all this meant that our original goal of 60kms to Bridgewater, didn't quite happen so Taunton was to be our next stop. I don't know who advised sacking Master Navigator, but this evening he has excelled himself and is definitely reinstated with all honours. He has led the way through Taunton, in the rush hour, without a fault. 11/10 mate.

That is why we have another comfortable night in a Premier Inn.