Day 3

Monday, June 12
Drewsteignton to Bawdrip
97km

Another good day.  Shorter and less hilly than yesterday, but still a couple of really tough climbs.

It rained again last night.  It has rained each night that I have been camping, but not at all during the day (so far).  With my waterproof tent, I don't mind the rain at night.  The weather varied today between hot, bright sun and cool, cloudy and overcast.  Overall, very nice cycling weather.  We even had a bit of a tailwind on the way into camp.

The hedges continued to bother me today on the decents.  The roads were very narrow, with loose gravel in the middle, forcing us to ride near the edge of the road.  The hedges were frequently overgrown and would scratch our arms as we rode by.  There were also some really big (garbage truck sized) trucks on these tiny little roads that forced us to stand in the hedge as they drove past. 

Roe got her second flat tire today: this time on the rear wheel.  She hit a pothole on a steep downhill and got a pinchflat.

Andy is a quick young guy from Bristol, and we have ridden with him a few times in the past few days.  Today, we stopped for lunch together at a pub.  After passing by a few places to eat in Tiverton (always a mistake when cycling close to lunch time) we decided to stop in Holcombe Rogus...but the bar was closed.  Luckly, the barman took pity on us and made us some sausage sandwiches anyway.

The toughest climb of the day was into the forest near Cothelstone.  It was 17% gradient and lasted 1 mile.  It was the first climb of the trip that had me completely exhausted by the top.  I rode up with Andy, and we were both spent.  Roe was not very far behind either, which is very good for her on such a tough climb.

For dinner, Andy invited us over to his parents house to eat.  They live about 20 minutes from our campsite.  It was a great meal and they have a lovely old cottage in the country.