Today the Summer arrived at last. The organisers of the 'Out and About' audax must have been doing the sun dance for it to so fortuitously shine on them this Sunday. We set off from West Buckland at 9 am and immediately into a hill of not insignificant gradient which had S off and walking before we'd had a chance to take the first sip from our bottles. But after she got her breath back and adopted my sage advice of 'recruiting the glutes' (which is admittedly anathema to the female cyclist, who is doing her utmost to lose them most of the time) she managed to grind up the remainder without too much discomfort. After the initial shock to the system it was pretty much all downhill to the sea - which got me a bit suspicious knowing that it would have to be paid for on the return leg. Stopped at a nice cafe but too early for the advertised bacon buttie, so waited until the next one for the tuna sandwich. We arrived at Seaton in pretty good time. The yachting fraternity seem to have made this a bit of a base, with lots of new housing on the foreshore and some tasty gaffs on the hill overlooking the sea - one modern mansion in particular has two wings and even a small lodge at the end of their drive (presumably for the mother in law)! We progressed through Beer but alas not able to have one this far from home so made do with another swig of electrolyte which tasted like it had already been through the system once. Now it was mostly uphill via Honiton and a myriad of Devon and Somerset villages, all with inviting beer gardens but no time to stop, partially made up for by a serving of beans on toast at the finish in West Buckland village hall. But not before I got the arse with S for apparently questioning my navigational skill - she should try cycling half the 70 miles steering with one hand while reading the route sheet on potholed country lanes and simultaneously cross-referencing to the gps . . . and they say men can't multi-task.
Posted with Blogsy
No comments:
Post a Comment