Day 2 Tuesday 16th August Lostwithiel to Whiddon Down 53 Miles

A great day yesterday and an interesting evening. I got to know Jenny and Jane a little better and I think we are now comfortable in each others company. Jane and I have agreed to stick together tomorrow as we are closest to each others pace and of the same mindset when it comes to cycling distances. Jenny also wants to cycle at a comfortable pace for her and would rather stay with the main group.
Almost 20 miles less cycling than yesterday but very long climbs throughout the day.
We left the golf club at 8.30am. Today's weather is a bit hit and miss promising scattered showers throughout the day but the temperature was good with very little wind. We stayed on the A390 for the first seven miles then turned off along the B3360 into Bodmin Moor. After 15 miles we reached Minions which is the highest village in Cornwall. This was supposed to be our first stop but at only 15 miles we'd barely warmed up so decided to carry on to Tavistock and have a bite to eat there.  Having climbed up and over Bodmin we descended steeply into Rilla Mill, then up again to Bray Shop. Quite tough cycling today as the climbs and descents are relentless and we still have the big climb over Dartmoor to do. Out of Bray Shop we descended down again to Horsebridge and crossed the river Tamar into Devon. Where we stopped for a breather on the bridge. I was busy taking photo's when Jane noticed an Otter on the rivers edge. We stood and watched it for a while and just as I was about to take a photo it slipped back into the water and was gone.

As we were trying to find it again a large fish came jumping out of the water. Amazing. Stopped for 5 mins and seen an Otter and a flying fish!
Cheered by our discovery we continued over the bridge into Devon and straight into a very steep climb of a mile up to the unusually named village of CHIPSHOP. A short descent and another sharp climb and we were descending into Tavistock. As it was Tuesday it was market day so we parked our bikes up outside the large indoor market and stopped in the cafe just inside the entrance.
A bowl of soup a hot drink and a piece of cake were consumed as we rested up for 45 mins before tackling the long climb over Dartmoor.
Fully re-charged we set off and were soon climbing again out of Tavistock. We passed a Tractor clipping the hedgerows and both intimated that we had entered puncture territory. Sure enough as soon as we passed and were starting the climb I got my first and only  puncture of the whole trip! Ten minutes later and we were off again but not before to our surprise Christine came past us. As we would find out many times on this tour Christine was on a mission. She doesn't do any official stops ,preferring to keep going on her own and  stopping by the roadside to eat out of her bag. Each to their own I suppose,but that wasn't my idea of fun. Why pay for a group trip and stay on your own all day every day?
Anyway we soon caught her up and after exchanging some pleasantries in which she mentioned something about the Tortoise and the Hare,funny lady, we left her behind to enjoy her own company.

However having said that. Whenever we have a hill of any note to climb. Jane is soon out of site and leaving me on my own to muse over my lack of stamina for hill climbing. After about 5 miles of climbing I reached the ice cream van,roughly half way up. Jane was patiently waiting for me. I was catching my breath and taking a couple of photo's when a woman, thinking that we were a couple offered to take a photo of us together. Photo taken we set off for the rest of the climb. After a couple more miles we passed a van offloading bikes and young men, who after another couple of miles caught us up. They were cycling from Land's End to Lincoln in 6 days. At least they gave Jane some company up and over the next 5 miles of climbing. As I was soon left in their wake.
Finally I reached the top and was greeted by the welcome sign of the Warren House Inn, with Jane indicating that we should pop in for a drink. I took no persuading and was soon enjoying a nice cold pint! Sitting outside and taking in the views.
We stopped for about 30 mins and saw Christine cycle past. Stoically pressing on to the finish line at Whiddon Down. Thoroughly refreshed we had one more hill to negotiate and caught Christine up just before the top. Where we turned left off the main drag and descended quickly passing some hairy cows with horns, who were not impressed at all by our presence and refused to get off the road as we approached them. Carefully skirting around the beasts we floated down the hills through the narrow lanes to Wonson,before a steep climb to Whiddon Down.

We passed the Post Inn Pub which was our intended eating venue for the evening,before turning left into the Travel Lodge just down the road.  To our surprise we were instructed to take our bikes into our rooms!
We agreed to meet up an hour later after having had a shower and rest to pop over to the pub and wait for the rest of the group to finish. By the time I tapped on their door Jenny had got back."3rd again" she exclaimed. The three of us set off for the pub 200yds up the road and were most aggrieved to find it shut!
A young Irish girl who was touring on a mountain bike saw our predicament as we were staring balefully into the pub window and let us know that there was a pub about 4 miles down the road that may still be open.
Stuff that we said and limped back to the Travel lodge where we bought 4 cans of cider at the garage opposite and sat on the grass bank in the afternoon sunshine to enjoy a drink. Classy!

A short while later the van arrived with our clothes, so we went back to our rooms for a couple of hours before strolling back up the road for dinner.


You can view todays route on this link
.http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/59953430