By the way, this was at the start of yet another long climb. The day, albeit with some headwinds against us (where are these prevailing south westerlies?), was characterIsed by lovely weather and some marvellous views. After a steady climb past Brentor and after Lydford, we arrived at the Granite Way, with yours truly below at the start of it.
This photo was just after we'd fallen into conversation with a couple of chaps, one of whom said that the hills in Devon were worse than those in Cornwall. We decided, if only for our psychological well being, to ignore that comment.
As it turned out, on Tuesday at least, the hills weren't as bad as Monday's (perhaps we were just lucky with our route) and we were treated to some lovely views, such as beyond Martin on a (very high) viaduct on the Granite Way.
The Granite really was lovely flat cruising and we had a gentle descent into Okehampton, where we met three ladies who were cycling from Ilfracombe to Plymouth using cycle route 27. We then stopped at a cafe and had a good lunch (jacket potatoes with lots of filling), which set us up well for the afternoon. Martin was getting increasingly confident about the day's distance and we eventually arrived at our accommodation in Westcott in daylight and with just 54 miles on the clock. We had a superb meal in the Merry Harriers pub and after phone calls to several people about meeting up on the way, we retired for yet another really good night's sleep.
By the way, it looks like it will be the weekend, when I have access to my laptop, that I will be able to update the photo gallery.
We're now about to make an early start, as we're due to see friends and family today and we don't want to be late!
Ian
