Today was supposed to be a longer day, and the weather forecast wasn’t great, so I had my bags mostly ready before bed and an alarm set. I slept well at The Tors Inn, and was then fed well to set me up for the day. The other couple staying were planning not to go out on the moor.
It was drizzling and grey when i left, but forecast to get worse so everything waterproof was on. The moor was starting to disappear in the mist, but I was heading the other way. Belstone is well up on the edge of Dartmoor and I’ve met animals on the road when I’ve visited before, and again today – a large pair of cows that were moving in their own time.
Heading roughly north, i found more “rolling” green lanes … Scenic, almost traffic free, but wet and gritty didn’t make for a relaxing descent. The rain was getting stronger and my enthusiasm for 100km of this was dwindling.
Common sense and a railway station enabled a shortcut from Yeoford to Barnstaple. The station was a single platform, both directions setup (with an old track and platform disused). However, there was a sign pointing away from the platform at the entrance, for Barnstaple. A couple of minutes down a trackside path convinced me that the sign wasn’t for another platform after all.
The rain really got going while on the train and was running in the train doors. There the station cafe at Barnstaple enabled a bit more sitting out the rain and stocking up on something to eat. While I’d shortcut most of the south-north crossing I’d created a longer ride across Exmoor, which promised to be wet, windy and pretty remote. I was hoping that the NCN route was reasonably benign and well signed.
The start out of Barnstaple was a maze of out of town shopping, with everyone avoiding the rain in their cars. Then, via a rather nice bridge becoming more rural … and starting to head up more than down, though not without a few downhills holding the brakes!
Few cars now, though a few as I passed through the houses of the villages skirting the moor. One farm van going fast up as I was coming down. One quad bike that stopped to say hello. One other cyclist that described it as “pretty wild up there”. I paused for a bite to eat on one very long hill, and discovered that my GPS (Satmap 10) had given up with water in the screen. I was glad of my paper map, though finding a spot to fold it in the wind and rain was hard.
Getting up to the top, the wind was blowing hard, streams running across the road where it dipped, the few trees swaying, and it was pretty bleak.
One more turn of the map and I had my destination on the same page as I was on. I was also up on the high moor now, so my destination was more down than up. I also swapped to the B road from Simonsbath instead of lanes, it was quiet enough and with the end in sight I picked up the pace.
My bed for the night was the camping pod at YHA Exford. It was a snug little cabin, nicely done out, with underfloor heating and a bed. But just the one room, and opening straight onto a field and river.
Properly wet and rather grubby from the road, despite shortening my ride to 64km: 20km to the train, and 44 to the hostel, with 1100m of climb.
