This was my 2nd attempt at the Exodus. I finished it the first time, but had a horrible bloated feeling in my stomach which made me feel awful after Long Curry and resulted in me being Lanterne Rouge. Lovely weather though....
This year.... I made a mistake with the train tickets which meant I got into Bristol at about 18:00 which was a bit early. At the station I met Shaun (not a forumer) and we rode to Channings. It was overcast & thundery, other riders turned up with whispered tales of apocalyptic weather.
Assembling riders.
Kim arrived, and then Meegat who'd come to see us off, despite our best efforts at persuasion she wouldn't ride with us. Obviously she'd seen the forecast.....
Meegat
Shaun
Kim, with cute freckles...
Andy Gates, Chuffy & Baggy turned up and Cudzoziemiec arrived to wish us
Bon Voyage
Meegat, Cudzo & Shaun
Just as we were getting ready to start it began to rain heavily, bouncing off the ground. Some brave souls took shelter...
Others fled inside to watch the Olympics.
Eventually the rain eased off and we hit the road. As it had cooled down a bit I put my warmer top on, this proved to be a mistake.....
As we crossed the suspension bridge a firework display began, which I thought was a nice touch by the organisers...
Meegat said goodbye here and went back to a warm dry home. Sensible lady.
We carried on with Shaun in front setting a good pace, every so often we'd hear a clunk as he found a water filled pot hole. Road conditions were not ideal....
First break was at Yatton, cereal bars & fluids, then off again.
Frikkin Lasers.......
Eventually we toiled slowly up Burrington Combe, I was sweating heavily and my stink free merino mix top was beginning to hum like a dead badger
Past the wonderfully named Bad Ass Bikes and then a lovely fast descent of Cheddar Gorge. I didn't have my new front light angled quite right and wasn't getting light as far ahead as I'd have liked, so couldn't really let go.
I adjusted this in the Scout Hut car park then went inside to find all the cake had gone
Tea & biscuits from the wonderful helpers made up for it.
Cheddar Scout Hut.
Away from Cheddar and onto the levels. The sky cleared a bit, the moon came out to light our way. The best kind of night riding. We kept playing leap-frog with a couple of other groups, but we were definitely towards the back of the field and were amongst the last to arrive at Long Curry, where the lovely people made fresh veggie stew & tea for us.
A tired Mr Gates.
It was almost light by the time we left Long Curry, bats were swooping around the pavilion.
For the bastard climb up Blagdon Hill we spread out, Kim in front, me in the middle & Shaun bringing up the rear. Eventually I lost site of Shaun and had to wait around 15 minutes for him to catch up. He was low on energy so we split a Torque bar. This obviously did the trick because I then dropped of the back and didn't catch up with him until the summit. By this time Kim was miles ahead of us.
View from Blagdon Hill
I left Shaun taking photos and pressed on, as I reached the long straight bit over Luppitt Common it began to rain torrentially. Shaun caught up with me as I put my waterproof on and we carried on, sometimes with a couple of inches of water on the road.
At Irwin's Ashe Cross Rambo waved us down, the tea van was parked in the side road and I was delighted to see Kim's Streetmachine parked up as well. Tea & soggy biscuits were served by Doris. Kim was asleep in the van after a severe combination of cold, wet & bonk. With another 25 miles & Woodbury Common to go there was no way she was going to finish, so plans were hatched for an escape route.
Saying goodbye to our hosts & Chuffy we rode the 4 miles into Honiton. This was a nice downhill, but Kim took it slowly to avoid being chilled by the wind.
Reaching Honiton we piled into
Boston Tea Party for tea & hot chocolate. I considered getting my lips around a Lady Boy, but decided to go for a West Country Breakfast instead......
Down the road to Honiton station where we got a train back to Exeter St Davids.
Kim & Shaun on Honiton station.
At Exeter we all had hours to wait until our trains left so we wheeled the bikes into the warm Pumpkin cafe and took over a corner, drinking hot chocolate while trying not to fall asleep.
Kim and then Shaun left, and I eventually got home to Liverpool at 20:15.
Kudos to Shaun, good company and a strong rider. He did the route on a heavy Batavus commuter with 2 panniers of dirty washing while wearing chinos, street shoes and a sweatshirt... we may see him on the forum soon.
Big thanks to the organisers and to everyone who helped out. Hope to see you again next year.
