Hi guys….well as per tradition here we go!
Last night we were lucky enough to eat at The Globe in Sampford Peverell. We ate well….once again 😉
Halloumi, prawns, fajitas, grilled chicken and fish and chips were all finished off as the norm with a couple of cold ones.
This morning there were some additional duties to be performed. Thomas had been complaining about the friction coming from his long hair that had just become so uncontrollable this last fortnight. So the razor was out, and Mark was seconded to help out! 😊
We set off at 8:45am for our planned day that would see us travel 68 miles over what we knew would be terrain to challenge us. Our first checkpoint was at 15 miles in the village of Puddington.
On the way we were able to take our next special picture….
We do hope you’ve figured it out by now!
Five miles into our day and we got the first mishap. We got our first puncture of the whole trip this far. Alans back tyre took a fatal dig from a jagged piece of old iron, probably on the canal toepath. We set about the repair and were back on the road again within 30 minutes. No drama! 👍
No further mishaps befell us before the first checkpoint other than the first of ‘Alans liveners’ that to be honest, happened all day. We travelled through Tiverton and on to meet Mark at the checkpoint and had to travel up a hill that whilst not overly steep, was about 2 miles long. It was a taste of the welcome that Devon was giving us! 😆
We pushed onto checkpoint 2 suitably refreshed when Alan decided to test the strength of Thomas’ friendship. At the foot of a meaty climb he instructed Thomas to proceed, only to shout out when Thomas 50 metres up the hill, ‘No, my mistake, not that way!’
Here’s the Strava to prove it! 🤣
After the next checkpoint at Hatherleigh Cricket club at 37 miles, Mark was travelling on the same route as us and caught us on camera for a few seconds.
Take note that at this stage, it is still dry, though Thomas is starting to feel the cold and is already wearing a waterproof layer.
Take a look at the difference as we set off from checkpoint 3 not an hour later.
The last two hours of the day were absolutely miserable. The rain and wind came in and made conditions really tough. It was compounded by what seemed to be non-stop hills, one of which was recorded at 17% incline. A lung-buster….the worst among several others.
The run in to meet the RV for the night was on the A39 in torrential rain with traffic passing us at all sorts of speeds. And of course, we had to overcome more hills before we could turn into The Wainhouse Inn for our hot showers, food and the rest for the night.
But we feel great. Another 68 miles done, bringing us to 858 miles in total. Almost there! 😊👍
People continue to see the pow21 and the OYF message.
At the campsite this morning before we left, we received more donations for the magic bucket from Jacky & Nicky and Lesley. Thanks so much guys!
But please continue to spread the word. As at a few moments ago, pow21 had raised £7,021without Gift Aid! And we have another £396 in the bucket. This means without the Gift Aid, we have so far collected £7,417! Amazing!
Please consider donating via Justgiving here
Thank you so much!!! 👍😁
We couldn’t do this without you all.
Once again thanks so much for all your support and donations.
Tomorrow’s journey is from Bude to Goonhaven, expected to be another 50 miles.It’s our penultimate day! And we expect more climbing but hopefully not as bad as today!!😊
We are all set to head off to eat now.
Signing off….more news tomorrow…
I wish you good luck and good weather tomorrow guys. Almost done !!