Day 9 done: Pooley Bridge to Leadhills?! (Crawford)

The observant ones amongst you will notice that we have broken with tradition and handed over blogging responsibility a day earlier than the baton handover of the navigational duties. In addition the renaming of Andrew to Dicky and Paul to Ace means that you are reading the words of Ian 'Mad Jock' Deane.

The handover was expedited a day due to a mishap in the handover point between Dicky and Ace. Dicky's memory was Leadhills whilst Ace's was Stirling. The direct result is that Ace is now trying to bridge a 60 mile gap!!!

Today was a day of two halves (or more accurately a day of 3/89ths and 6/89ths) plus two significant milestones, a first event and a lucky break. All in all it has been an eventful day that has seen us move 89 miles closer to a big session in John O'Groats and made me feel more at home in the land of the ginger beards.

We set out from Pooley Bridge at 8:45,after consuming our lunch boxes in the car park, expecting a hefty climb and then a slow meander into Carlisle; how wrong we were. The hefty hills never really arrived and after passing a classic car show being set up, we were serenaded to a procession of classic cars. Based on the strength returning to our legs we were confident of a quiet day up to Leadhills. However our troubles were about to start...

Back in the car park at Pooley Bridge Dicky noticed he had a flat front tyre and had to carry out his third tyre change of the tour. You would have thought three novices would have mastered this simple task by now, but a few fumbles later we were requiring John to step in and we were lamenting his pending departure at the Scottish border.

As we were passed by the procession of classic cars Dicky's confidence in his front tire was reducing by the pot hole and decided that some maintenance was required in the next passing point. This 20 metre trip resulted in his inner tube exploding with a mighty bang; our first tyre blow out of the tour. 

Closer inspection revealed some tyre damage, so Big Mike was dispatched on a whistle stop tour of The Lakes' bicycle shops on a grown up scavenger hunt to get a replacement tyre. Also, after the roadside kangaroo court, Fergs was convicted of the crime of continuing his one man mission of sabotaging our LEJoG efforts (see earlier blogs for his previous escapades) through providing a pump with a dodgy pressure gauge that resulted in some serious over-inflation. My rough calculations resulted in the 90psi we pumped in equated in reality to 140psi.  A new pump was ordered via the 'Official Logistics and Dispatch Fast Active Response Team' or 'OLD FART' for short. Seriously having Big Mike today has proved a god send, as later will testify.

45 minutes down and 3 miles travelled, the difficulties across the Bull Field was reclassified as a minor blip, and we knew we had to put in some serious knee grease to get back on track. Luckily the route included a few  roman roads and we were able to rock into Carlisle at a respectable average of 15 mph after 'pump gate'.

A few miles on, post back slaps and pictures all round at the Scottish border, we said goodbye to John at Gretna, after coffee at a soulless retail park. The three musketeers were on their own once more and we were missing John; partially due to his superior bike knowledge and common sense but mainly due his laid back persona and dry wit.

At this point a truly miraculous transformation occurred and we morphed into a seasoned well-oiled cycling outfit and formed a tight knit peleton with the leader buffering the other two from the increasing winds. With ten minute stints at the front followed by rotating leader we were up to an impressive 18 mph average and making large chunks into our allotted miles for the day. We quickly caught up with Big Mike at our lunch stop with him stooped in the driver seat. He testifies that he was trying to tune into the cricket but our suspicions were of a mid-afternoon snooze.

As we continued to churn our way to Leadhills, bobbing and weaving under the motorway and railway we were hugging we were met with Big Mike travelling the opposite direction, lights flashing, horn blaring and a rather serious look across his face. "I'm not happy, the accommodation is CRAP" came his shout out of the window. It seems that a lack of local knowledge has finally caught up with us and that Dicky, at the dying embers of his management reign, had booked us into a near-derelict hotel. A quick roadside meeting later, we were booked into new hotel in Crawford and we were off.  On arrival we were met with the most welcoming hosts, beautiful panaroma and an impressive hotel. We all concurred that we were fortunate to get through the first half unscathed and that Big Mike was becoming the last vital cog in our cycling machine. Cheers Mike!!!

As we reach the end of Dicky's stint it wouldn't be right for Dicky's achievements at management to pass without note:

- Derelict hotels booked - one
- Border crossing - two (Wales and Scotland)
- Special guests hired 18.
- Getting us up the Kirkstone pass and supping in the highest inn in England
- Finding two shapes that resemble the Uk (toast and a cement repair of a pavement)


Stats for the day:

Significant milestones - Scottish border crossed and a reduction of peleton size back to the original three
Lucky break - changing from a derelict hotel to a plush country house
Funny towns - none, but as a southerner who associates the sign for 'The North' with the Watford Gap it was amusing to see one leading out of Carlisle 
Race courses passed - 1 At Carlisle
Miles covered -89 miles
Total  miles - 668
Falls 1 (Ace)
Punctures - 2 including one tyre blow out
Beers consumed on route - none (true athletes)
(And for all you animal lovers) Roadkill - zero

'Richard Finn' Beer Trophy: Belhaven Best 7.5/10

The food at Heatherghyll was just what the doctor ordered. Home cooking and big portions were accompanied by four very quiet people...

Tomorrow we start Paul's management and continue on to Stirling. I am sure it will all go smoothly but I can also see some panic calls to his wife, Miriam, to help him through any tricky points!!! I am fully confident of no further B&B mishaps as they were all researched and booked by his better half! 

Day 8 done: Thornton Cleveleys to Pooley Bridge

Due to the local nature of events today, Dicky is back in the blog-seat today. 

Well what a 24 hours to report. We are not sure if it has been reported yesterday but the old dears (Dicky's Mum and Dad) did a grand job at looking after us last night. The hungry cyclists from leg 7 were joined by additional special guests to help devour the fantastic spread put on by Mike and Sheila. Special mention to Wally for supplying the beer but his brownie points from that were quickly lost when he failed to secure an anchor man for the tandem and therefore didn't pitch up for the ride out on leg 8. I hope Stevo's hip reflexor gets sorted quickly. 

The barrel of Lytham Blonde slipped down very nicely and we were able to eat our dinner outside In the fresh Blackpool air. Surprisingly early exits were made by Fergs and Pickers, proof that maybe the 75 miles had taken a little more out of them than expected.

The LEJOG boys slept well and were up and ready for the next big challenge of getting up to the North Lakes. Rumours reached Thornton at about 7.45am that a professional peleton was winging it's way from South Fylde. 
Iiterally 5minutes later and Dani and Evo led the Lytham cycle club into Station Road after pulling them across the Fylde at a steady 22mph.  The Lytham club of 4 were then supplemented by the North Fylde club pulled together at short notice by Mark Roberts. The mottly crew included JR, Martin Dickens and Sturat Carter. By 8.15 we thought we were off. Unfortunately Paul was late out of the gates (again) and I had forgotten that not everyone the party was from Blackpool. Most of the riders were off up the hill but a wrong turn at the first roundabout and poor old Paul had an extra mile on the ride for today. 

The peleton of 14 reformed as we rode over the Wyre and we enjoyed a fabulous 60mins ride through the Fylde plains, learning what is is like to ride in a proper cycling group, hand signals, lots of talking, a little leaning on each other and plenty of team work. Before we knew it we were in Lancaster and still making good progress. By just after 10am we had made it to Carnforth Station for a cup of tea and a scone. Ian 'train spotter' Deane got a little over excited by the Hornby model trains on show. Just to add to the excitement and a real, full size steam train trugged through. A memorable brew stop was completed when the three LEJOGers were requested to "autograph" the visitors book!

At this stage most of the old boys from North Fylde peeled off and headed for home. Fortunately Stuart 'Pathfinder' Carter stayed on the front to guide us through some amazing lanes and parks of the Southern Lakes. Another quick 10miles and the Lytham contingent peeled off. dani and Evo led them home for a decent 105mile ride. The LEJOG group were now down to 6 with the 3 full timers, John '3 days is enough for me' Bigley, Robbo and Stuart left to keep up the pace. Next rendezvous with the support car was the Watermill at Ings for a spot of lunch. 

Front of mind for everyone now turned to the rapidly approaching Kirkstone Pass. A climb of 1,500 feet that has caught the odd 1,000cc engine out in the past.  I decided to prepare for this by abstaining from the usual shandy, Ian prepared by moving from his usual shandy to a straight pint and Paul decided to prepare by taking his bike apart. The problem seemed to be an annoying noise coming from his front wheel. At one stage the solution proposed by Paul was to rip his mud-guard off with his bare hands. Fortunately, sense (and Stuart) intervened and Paul decided to merely adjust the guard and put the front wheel back on. 

After a jolly good lunch we set off for the next 30mis or so of pain. Despite the screaming legs and very slow progress everyone made it up the hill. The fact that the highest pub in England and a celebrating drop was awaiting had nothing to do with it. Robbo sprinted up in little over 20mins, Stuart next up, followed by Paul, Ian and John. I decided to make sure everyone got up safely and brought up the rear. The main thing was that everyone got up and another significant milestone was achieved.  For the cycling enthusiasts it must be noted that Robbo also decided to drop off down the struggle and then back up for an addition pain and pleasure moment. 

During our well earnt beer tasting the weather closed in and we had to undertake the descent in the Lake District drizzle. The last 10 miles of the day around Ulswater was a bit of a slog but the amazing scenery and knowledge that Pooley Bridge was not far off kept us going.

All in all, probably our strongest day in the saddle which must be put down to our lead out crews from across the Fylde and also the addition of the support vehicle carrying our panniers. Special thanks must go to Stuart for his fantastic pathfinding across the back roads and lanes of the Lakes and to Robbo for seeing us all the way in to Pooley Bridge. 

A great day was finished off with a decent feed at the Sun where Robbo and Mrs Robbo joined us for a really fun evening. Well done Amy for providing the support vehicle and driving all the way home with a snoring Robbo for company!

Today  also marks us crossing the halfway mark, both in time and in miles.  We are now cycling for home! 

So to the usual summary.

There were plenty of beers tasted during the day
Beers at the Kirkstone Inn (the  highest pub in England) included the red scree, old faithful, kirkstone black. We decided the Red Sce was top. The Sun also had the full range of Jennings ales in. Probably the top of the charts was the Cock-a-Hoop scoring 8 /10.

From Lancashire, beleve it or not but after careful deliberation the Lytham Blonde makes it through as the Lancs champion. 

Stats of the day
Today's mileage - 74
Total milage - 579
Height gained  - 1455ft
Beard update - slowly developing but looking a little multicoloured....
Zero falls (thankfully Fergs couldn't ride out today) 
Barnet update - Dicky's is still growing fast!
Silly name spots: a quick fly through Slaphead (well spotted Dani)

We have another challenging and long day ahead tomorrow where we will get over the Scottish border. JB is aiming to get us into Scotland before he peels off back to catch the train south. 

TTFN

Day 7 done: Chester to Thornton Cleveleys

Today's Blog comes courtesy of the fresh legged guest bloggers Picko, Kate and Fergs. The other fresh legs of John, have already retired to the in-laws for a well deserved bath, he has another three days in the saddle whereas Pickers, Kate and Fergs have seen sense and are calling it a day.

So to today's exploits. On meeting at Chester station we were expecting to meet with a beliguered Dicky, Paul and Ian, instead we were faced with a fresh looking Cadel Evans, Mark Cavendish and Sammy Sanchez; there goes the gentle pedal we'd hoped for.

All was going well until the first stop about 5 miles into the journey when Fergs tried to dismount, but failed to remember to unclip... In one effortless move, he wiped out half the tour; this was a re-occurring theme through the day.

We then spent the next 3 hours on the most beautiful dual carriage ways, industrial estates, roundabouts, and ring roads that Runcorn, Widnes and St Helen's could throw at us.

Progress was slow in the morning reaching The Farmer's Arms south of Leyland. Ferg's wasn't impressed with the Reggae Reggae Wrap and I'll leave the beer commentary to the regular LEJOGers.

The pace was cranked up after lunch partly due to the introduction of Jev's NOS injected super tri bike. The first puncture of the journey slowed us slightly at Preston, but we were soon back on track. To try to slow the rest of the crew down especially Jev on his F1 machine Pickers with his cyclo cross bike decided to introduce some off-roading on the way out of Preston. Dick Dastardly's plan was foiled and all made it across the off road section in one piece.

Some good road side support at Woodplumpton from Papachu, Mamachu, and Grannychu provided some good energy drinks and biscuits.

The rest of the ride through the Fylde Coast was far more scenic and pedalling was strong. Only slight issue was the group being split by milking time at the farm and cows crossing. Fergs managed to unclip safely this time so no cows were hurt in the making of this journey.

Arrived at Chez Dickinson just after 5.00, Lytham Blonde and BBQ at the ready.

Stats for the day.
Falls 2 (both Fergs)
Punctures 1 (Paul drops behind in the puncture sweep)
Miles 74
Total miles 505
Peleton members 7 (8 for about an hour)

Day 6 done: Clun to Chester

Apologies for the late posting, to be fair to Paul it was a dead battery that caused the dalay!


Sorry for the delay in posting day 6, while a perfect cycling day it was a relatively slow news day.

We said goodbye to the lovely Clun, cycling past the castle and straight into the Shropshire hills...great!    Thankfully the ride ahead looked good and the weather fine, the only thing missing was the usual morning chorus of birds but instead we where heralded out of Clun by the unforgettable sound of the the incredible greater belching Shropshire sheep! Anyway, while the start of the day was painful, for much of the rest of the day we had a relatively easy ride through Shropshire and into Cheshire, with the odd excursion into Wales. This was the perfect antidote for yesterdays marathon ride, and the mere 70 miles no longer held any fear for us, although the Lake district and then the highlands are still looming!

Andy has definitely warmed to his navigational responsibilities and did a fine job today, the only concern was another closed road, which we decided to risk and managed to make it through a freshly tarred road with the wheels still in tacked. Today was not only an easier day of riding but also one in which we managed to keep out of trouble. The only significant cycling incidents was a collision between myself and Ian, and Andy having a continuous issue with his gears, hopefully now resolved! We made good time through the day so decide to finish a great but uneventful day of cycling with a few stops to sample the local beverages in the new county of Cheshire. The main contestants for the beer of the day were, Tom Watkins BB and the Boader Cast light Mild,  of which the Mild has been put forward for the Richard Finn appreciation trophy.

The village names are definitely getting more sensible the further north we come the only exceptions today was, the villages of Shelf, The Bog, Knockin, and Halfway House.

The focus is now on tomorrow, hopefully we have saved the legs today and tomorrow is a big day where we will be joined by several friends for the trip into Blackpool, where we have been promised a warm reception and BBQ. Our biggest concern is keeping Andy sober during these celebrations marking the end of our first week and the addition of Andy' father Mike to our team where he will provide support for the final week.  Andy is currently petitioning for a duvet day!

Our day finished with a trip to a  chinese restaurant followed by a quick pint in the strange but nice Albion pub with live folk music, it was all very pleasant but not enough to keep us awake, thankfully we were joined by John who will also be with us tomorrows ride.

The new things to report are Andy's incredible ability of seeing the outline of Britain and the extent of our journey in the weirdest places - currently toast and road repairs, which you will be happy to know he has photos of. We also seemed to have developed a walking style that means we don't need to bend the knees!

Stats:
Miles in the day: 73 miles
Total miles: 431 miles
Road kill - 3 dead badgers
Punctures - all square on the puncture sweepstakes, we are all still on zero.
Collision - 1, imaged to get a little closer to Ian's backside than I wanted to, but we survived that.

Day 5 done: Bristol to Clun

As with the navigation handover, today also sees the handover of author duties on the blog. Dicky's sector is done (hence i will be referred to as Andy for the next fee editions).  I write this paragraph to pass the baton on to Mr Richards. Not known for his social networking activity we are hoping Paul pulls through for the silver surfer generation.

Today was the big marathon cycling day, Bristol to Clun and over 90 miles, that's over 20 more than our average. With Andy taking the navigational reins we were confident we were in good hands. That was until we got about 5 miles down the road with Andy congratulating himself on doing such a great  job of getting us out of Bristol to find he had not only taken us down the wrong route but also down a road that was closed off for repairs. We looked at the options of jumping into the field to work around the obstacle but decided against this based on yesterday's experiences and the rather large cows taking too much interest.  However, Ian provided one of his motivational speeches and we were soon off and racing towards the Seven Bridge and into Wales - another major milestone reached. 

Today's cycling was marked by not only the amount of miles covered but also the amount of counties covered, we started in Avon and then flew through Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and finished in Shropshire, while also briefly entering Monmouthshire and completing our first country border crossing into Wales. For the latter, Andy was proudly wearing his Welsh T-shirt, all for charity of course, although it should be noted that Andy is still struggling with the welsh  national anthem, his attempt was the Irish rugby anthem with Wales added instead!

Unfortunately there was little to report on the best place names, other than we seemed to enter a weird Eastend twilight zone halfway through our 5th day. We initially entered Millwall (or Milkwall but close enough), with shellsuits  and fighting dogs followed by Mile End and Walford. We were lucky to get out of there with our shins still in place, but we were soon back to the lovely countryside and the beautiful views of the Wye valley?

Halfway through the day we decided to mark this milestone with a well earned drink in Hereford. Andy's confidence in his navigational skills seem to gain there previous height's at the start of the day and he decided to take us off plan down the Hereford pedestrian only high street. Unfortunately the local constabulary recognised 'people not from these parts' and immediately put pay to our ideas of a quick drink, although more for his 15 min directions to the nearest pub than anything else.  Anyway, with a promise to only drink something refreshing for the ride we made it to the pub for a well earned Cider. Our brief rest went without further issues, although this was interrupted by Ian deciding that the young girls playing hide an seek where just not doing it correctly, subsequently he treated everyone to a master glass of hind and seek skills amassed over 30+ years!  Anyway with the new lesson well an truly imbedded we soon headed off for the final 35 miles. However, at the first cross-roads we met with some stiff comments from the local youths, initially they seemed quite impressed with Andy's shirt, 'king of the mountains' Andy explained, 'more like Noddy' came the response, Ian soon stepped up to defend Andy's honour stiffly explaining Andy was more like Big Ears!

The rest of the day went well and we made it close to our home for day 5, stopping 10 miles out in what can only be described as the perfect pub - next to the river, local beers and bar snacks to keep us going. While the 10 miles seemed to go on forever we finally made it into the lovely town of Clun, not in any small part to Andy's map reading skills.  The day was finished off with special guess appearances from Ian's wife Becs and her sister Emily and we finally got our high carb meal missing from last nights  adventure into fine dinning!

Hair update - Andy and Ian's mops are now only just allowing them to get their helmets on, my attempt at beard to match Ian's is now looking like it will need to be reduced to a goatee and Andy looks like he is trying for a Amish beard!

The beer sampling was surprisingly good after a drop off in the Bristol area. The ride through Herefordshire was marked by discovering the refreshing powers of a cold cider. 
We sampled two over the course of the day. Firstly Sowcrow in Hereford and Weston. Both lovely and cold and solid 7s. 
On the bitter from we had a glut of quality ales. The Clun Slop drop was brewed in the back yard of the pub we had dinner in and went down very easily. We also tried the Butty Bach, Three Tuns and Ludworth. General consensus was that the Butty Bach was the best and goes through as Hereford County Champ and the Clun Slop as Shropshire's representative.  

Stats of the day:
Miles completed - 93
Total miles - 350 (it is growing)
Counties - 5
Countries - 2
Road kill - lots, including a large boar
Falls - zero

Today sees us head up and over the hills of Clun and head north via Oswestry and Wrexham to Chester. Looking forward to seeing some friendly faces tomorrow morning! 
 
TTFN

Day 4 done: Taunton to Bristol

The end of day 4 is the first of our mini-milestones as Ian passes the navigation and team lead baton over to me. This marks the end of our first sector and it would be amiss of me not to single out a few of Ian's achievements over the last 5 days:
- successful train trip to Penzance with our bikes. If you have ever booked using Great Western customer services then you will know why this has to be noted as a major achieve.
- 5 nights perfectly comfortable accomodation with the highlight of Week Farm - see day 2 blog
- generally calm and accurate map reading. Obviously there were a few exceptions. The A366 around Launceston and another gem I will tell you about later in the blog.
- his truly unique cockney poetry. The best to share was when halfway up a tough Devon hill Ian turned around to Paul and I to proclaim 'remember lads, this all adds to the tapestry of the ride'. Just brilliant! I am sure we will be able to share more classic over the comig days.

We also feel like today is momentous us as we reach the top of the long leg of the south-west and tomorrow will see us start to make some serious progress north.

Now to the report from today. We got a great early start and each opted for our first non-full English. Obviously it was still a cooked breakfast but a slightly lighter start to the day. 1.5 laps of the Taunton one way system saw us eventually find the south-easterly route out and we were on our way. We had a pleasant first hour meandering through the narrow lanes of the Somerset flats. All was going well until we hit a sudden dead end in the tiny hamlet of Isle Abbots. On consultation with Ian's route we quickly discovered that an overexcitable highlighting mistake had linked a mile section of lane that was in fact separated by a rather substantial river. Thinking on his feet as ever, Ian spotted a footpath that signed a small village 1 mile away that would get us back on track. The first 500meters of the path were fine. We the hit the first sty that was negotiated with reasonable ease. I am sure there are many of you wondering why we didn't decide turn back at this stage, however, three stubborn men is all the answer you need. The next sty crossing saw us enter an electrified field. The alarm bells began to ring. However, atbthis point Paul decided that the bull field would be the perfect location for a bit of bike maintenance. By this stage we were attracting attention. Ian stepped up the the mark and quite literally took the bull by the horns and set off across the field accompanied with his bright red panniers. The story ends after a further 3 sty crossings. All in all, our 1 mile detour to get back on track was timed in at 38minutes.

Sense finally prevailed and Ian did a bit of replanning, taking the direct route on to Cheddar via Street and the Glastonbury Tor. A quick cheeseboard in Cheddar refuelled us for the challenge of the climb through the gorge. it was a fantastic ride up through the towering cliffs and within 20 minutes or so we were on the top of the mindip hills. Everyone thought the hard work of the day was done and we faced a pleasant 15 or so miles cruising down into Bristol. How wrong we were. The views down the chew valley were breathtaking. Only now did we start to realise that Bristol was not yet in sight and the Chew Hill lay beyond the Chew Valley. The final two climbs of the day were nothing if not sheer hell and we finally rolled down the hill into Bristol at about 5. A quick stop at Evans to restock the energy supplements and we arrived at our B&b in Clifton.

After a shower and a celebratory beer, Paul and I took 10 mins to review the route for tomorrow. Ian was given the task of seeking out a local Italian to carbo-load. He seemed very pleased with himself when he announced he had found a place only half a mile from us and had booked a table for 8. So we wondered down the road and entered a nice looking place called casamia. The penny started to fall when the maitre'd asked Ian if he would like her to hang his jacket (hoodie). We realised we were a little underdressed for their usual clientele. Only after sampling their five course tasting menu did we realise that we were in a one star Michelin restaurant that won last years Gordon Ramsey's best restaurant tv show. The food was fantastic and the portions were minute, hence we had to follow it up in the pub with a pint of bitter and a pack of pork scratchings.

Richard Finn Beer Appreciation Trophy update:
- potholder in Cheddar scored a 7.5 and was a smooth real ale
That was our last Somerset entry and after consultation the real Hatcher's medium cider romps through as county champion
Unfortunately no entries from Bristol as yet.

Local food consumed, cheddar in cheddar, to state the bleeding obvious!

So to stats of the day:
- 75 miles cycled
- 256 miles
- best funny town names, curry mallet and beercrocombe
- 0 falls for the second day running
- Michelin stars consumed = 1

Tomorrow takes us pretty much due north up to Clun. The first big mileage test measured out at 90miles. Hopefully another good day will be had and the transition to new management will go smoothly!

TTFN

Day 3 done: Bridgestowe to Taunton

Before we get into the cycling from today, first mention to the evening entertainment. Yes, I know is is supposed to be about the cycling but we need to keep Dr Mawdsley interested.

So we start with the evening entertainment. What are the chances, we were wondering into Taunton to find dinner and maybe a pint of cider only to spot a 40 over game at the county ground in Taunton. What could we do but head in and watch a bit of cricket. Fortunately they were also serving Somerset pork sarnies and proper Hatchers cider (the flat stuff, not the fizzy). Obviously we had to get involved and despite the odd rain break were lucky enough to see a real cliff hanger with Chris Read bringing Notts home with one ball to spare. The notable cider of the evening was the Hatcher's sweet which was a vivid orange colour. We were confidently told this is "what we drink in Somerset!".

now to the serious stuff. The morning started well. John and Margaret's hospitality at Week Farm was finished off perfectly with a killer fully English. The sausages were enough to set you up for the day. We then headEd out to get past Okehampton as soon as possible and continue north. We had a great but tough morning meandering through the mid-Devon countryside. We met
a coupe of cyclist at Monkokehampton who suggested Ian's beard was nothing more than bum-fluff. South Molton was reached by about 12.30 and a suitable pub found for lunch. Proper Ian's mums doorstep rolls sorted us right out, along with the obligatory bitter shandy.

During lunch we learnt an important lesson (one we have all learnt before but never seem to heed). Never trust an opinion obtain by a stranger in a public house! Evidence of this was obvious when a casual Conversation with one of the locals about the best way to Taunton lead to us heading down the dual carriageway of the A361 in the driving rain. Not the best post-lunch start and we had a pretty tough 30 minutes or so trying to get ourselves back on track. Fortunately we soon hit the main road of the afternoon, the B3227.

That got our speed back up to the required velocity and we were soon in good spirits speeding down into Brampton. Spirits were raised further when we heard the Finn support team were steaming their way towards us. We passed Richard (father-in-law) and Victor (Amy's grandad) within yards of the Somerset border. Flapjacks and lukozade went down a treat and the obligatory photos by the county sign gave us the motivation we needed for the last 18 miles into Taunton. Local knowledge from Richard and Victor told us we had only one moderate climb ahead and we enjoyed our cruise down into Taunton. A very comfortable hotel and a refreshing drink with Carol and Richard was a very pleasing end to a tough but rewarding day!

So the usual end of blog stats:
- 78 miles done. Most so far in one day.
- 195 miles in total since LE
- zero falls
- zero sense of humour failures (surprisingly)
- one king of the mountains dismount - it was very steep!
- zero wrong turns taken (discounting the dodgy directions at the pub). Great work Ian!
- however, a disappointing day on the amusing towns with only a duplicate Splat
- ciders consumed - too many.

One final note for the Richard Finn Appreciation Trophy. Somerset's contenders were obviously all ciders.
- the Sheppy's was very good and a solid 7
- the fizzy Hatcher's was pretty good but just under at 6.5
- however, the proper stuff was inside the county ground with non-fizzy Hatcher's running away with it. Ian and I am split between whether we drake the medium or sweet forward however they both get a 8.5.

Majority rule means that the Jail Ale, brewed on Dartmoor, goes forward as the Devon champion ale.

Tomorrow we will be in Bristol. I am really hoping the view at the top of cheddar gorge is worth the climb.

TTFN