Wednesday 23 September 2015

Lejogle - Day 19

Last night was the first time that I’ve slept in a bed since the first day of the ride, all other nights I’ve been in my sleeping bag on a roll mat. I must say that beds are really comfortable and are likely to catch on. I therefore had a good night’s sleep. Dad, on the other hand, didn’t.

Dad was eventually picked up at about 19:00, by man who had first been to pick him up at Sedgemoor Services on the M5 in Somerset (dad was on the A38 in Gloucestershire). He was taken to Exeter Services, where he arrived at about 21:00, but there was no one there to collect him. On phoning up it was found that no one had been booked to collect him. That is why, at 23:20, there was something ringing me to say that he was on his way. Dad got home at about 3:00, that’s thirteen hours after he broke down.

I set off at about 9:40, having been well stocked with food by Adam and his mum. I hadn’t intended to eat them out of house and home, but my supply of food was in Cornwall. I found my way into the centre of Bristol but then twice took wrong turns and had to go back on myself. I eventually found the A38 again and then from Bristol it was just a case of following it all day. There seemed to be quite a bit of cycling into headwinds and I think the bike is starting to show that it’s done over 1,500 miles this month but luckily today was a short day.

I arrived at the pub next to the campsite at about 15:35 and dad was already here and had booked in. He’s come up in his van and brought everything that had been packed in the sidecar and trailer, so I’ve got my home comforts (well, I’ve got my blanket to keep me warm tonight and when eating breakfast in the morning).

We put the tent up (still wet from Monday tonight) and then I swapped over the rear wheel as it’s not as smooth as I would like and I don’t want to damage it. I now can’t get all the oil off my hands though despite having washed them twice and having had a shower.

Tomorrow we will cover a large part of day two in reverse, going across Devon to the north of Dartmoor and crossing into Cornwall at Launceston before going over Bodmin Moor and down to my mum’s house. The weather forecast is for showers overnight but hopefully they will clear by the time I get up and it should be a dry day although there might be headwinds.

Tonight is our final night camping (tomorrow I get the luxury of a double bed!) and so I thought that I’d end on a camping joke that a friend sent me the other day before it’s too late (thanks, Heather)

Why can’t you run in a campsite?
You can only ran because its past tents!

Distance Today - 69.4 miles
Distance from John O'Groats - 747.3 miles
Total Distance - 1636.7 miles

No comments:

Post a Comment