And so on the 1st day of August, I leant my fully loaded bike up against the wall of the house, said goodbye to George and Sarah and watched them drive off to Cornwall. It was so quiet, the sun was warm on my arms and I was alone, with my bike. It was both a relief and scary at the same time. I’d been feeling both excited and shit scared for this moment. Scared that this choice I was making was doomed to fail and I’d not be able to do this journey…but also excited that this moment had finally arrived and at times it felt like it would never come. So here I was, at last, facing my fears and accepting that this was it, and then I was off…and it was good J
Devon was beautiful to ride, despite the up and down nature of the county, gave me good practise for climbing and I was starting to get a real sense of how the bike operated with a load heading up hills – yes it’s slow, but this is where the Rohloff hub comes into its own – it’s so comfortable climbing and along with the Brookes saddle, this is where this bike belongs, on tour, carrying a load, climbing hills (and mountains one day!).
After the 2 days riding from Bath I repacked my bags, leaving a few items with George, cutting a good few kilo’s of stuff like my 2 spare tyres. I’d also left my D-lock at Nicks (on purpose) and a good bottle of whiskey – enjoy Nick J
The road to Tavistock was pretty good, mostly tarred road with a few km’s of single track across the moorlands.
The campsite was really nice, cheap and I managed to wash clothes and practise setting up camp, cooking and cleaning, packing and unpacking – which was difficult as I couldn’t remember where I put everything lol.