Microadventuring, mini tours etc

Mid November is great time to go camping said no one ever.

Me and a couple of pals really wanted to try but didn’t feel brave enough and got hunting for other options. Turns out there’s a few bothies on the north coast of Devon - a good hard days loaded ride from my mum’s in the Quantocks. Set on Peppercombe bothy boasting sea views, a roof, some walls, a tap and a proper toilet. I set about planning a route that would show my comrades parts of Exmoor I’ve cycled before and other parts I’ve always wanted to but have never managed as I always take my fixed gear with me - for the pure masochism.

Day one we set off from my Mum’s bright and early. There were three of us who’d all travelled up the night before from different start points - me from London, Phil from Bristol and John from Penzance. The route started taking in the coastal roads through Watchet and Blue Anchor up to Dunster and then the climb up to Wheddon Cross. The weather presented some great atmosphere - a heavy mist in a way that you just get damp, not wet, but damp everywhere and everything looks perfectly grim in a beautiful way. The climb out of Dunster is one of my favourites. It’s like a mini alpine mountain climb slowly and consistently it ramps up, a few twists and a bit of a peak at the top and after some continual steady pushing you find yourself ~1500ft up. We continued on to Exford which is a perfectly fine and enjoyable road but pales in comparison to the climb out along Landacre Lane to give you a real taste of the moorland. Popping out of the tree cover, a hump bridge over the River Barle presents itself and the road winds on and up ahead through barren hills. It’s just so beautiful.

We rolled our way down to Barnstable off the moor through beautiful flowing lanes ready for some lunch. We debating which direction to head into town to find somewhere - age old problem, wanna keep an eye on the bikes. Also wanna be warm. John has a bright idea of pointing at the big bike shop over the road and suggesting asking there. He then had an even brighter idea once stood outside of suggesting we eat the food they’re serving at the bike shop. More of a bike complex, The Bike Shed in Barnstable did us proud with soups and paninis which in fairness were nothing to write home about but did exactly what you need in the situation. Was also fun to have a nosey at their extensive stock on display. Some nice bits and bobs!

When planning the route I decided that as it’s essentially a big there and back I’d not cover the same path twice. Instead of taking the Tarka Trail towards Bideford, the hills were calling. Those sorts of hills where you can’t really tell if the road you’re riding up has decided to become a wall or is in fact still a road. This bit was lumpy. Very lumpy. And a bit draining.

Peppercombe bothy is down a track just off the A road running through Horns Cross. You have to book and it’s £21 a night so not quite the Scottish bothies you think of but it does mean no unexpected guests during the night and you can happily fit four or five sleepers on the platforms so it doesn’t work out too bad. It’s through National Trust so hopefully that £21 goes towards protecting something important. There’s also a pub just on the a-Road which looks to be a Green King pub on google but turns out to be something looking like it needs a bit of love. We were all a bit disappointed looking at it - it was about 3:15 in the afternoon and were quite looking forward to having a nice pub dinner before settling into a cold building with no way of making a fire. There’s a fireplace but you can’t use it. Popped my head into the pub to check about food and was told from 6pm is fine, straight away asked what time we would be there, got stared at by the two customers and was pointed to the chalkboard menu on the wall. Scarpered outta there super quick! Well this is a bit shit. We’ve got a stove to make tomorrow’s breakfast but it’s a nasty drag down a busy road to get any food to cook and it’s gonna get dark in an hour or so. Down to the bothy to get settled in for be night...

The track down was treacherous - all muddy and rocky. But fuck me alive it was all so worth it! Such an amazing spot to spend the night. See pic. Just gorgeous. Setting up inflatable mats, cooking up some hot chocolate, having a look around and it’s like quarter to 4:00. Let’s close the curtains to keep the little bit of warmth in! (Not fully dark out yet). Ok! It’s weird sitting in the dark here, with all the curtains and door closed. We’ve got some dice. Let’s just go to the pub and play dice. It’s gonna be shit but, let’s go anyway. It’s cold.

Opting to walk back up as the track was gonna be sloopy slidey and dressed in the warm clothes we packed we realised that bombing down to the bothy was actually a steady crawl - turned out it didn’t take anywhere near as long to walk up as expected. The pub was quite busy when we got there and the landlady was happy to see us. Couple of beers and fear of the likely microwaved packed curry on offer we started to realise it was actually quite a nice pub. We had it confirmed when loads of people took it in turns to come over to chat, the pub team were so keen to make sure we had everything we needed and the food... was actually pretty good! The two veggies had vegetable curry and I went for tradition - gammon, egg, pineapple, chips and peas. Top! We all had puds and when we tried to pay up they insisted we stay even if we didn’t want anything else quite concerned about our warmth and comfort. We all wanted to go to bed.

I’ll come back to finish day two at some point. Currently on the train home glowing from it all and not sure if that will carry me to finish it another time. We’ll see...

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/28796886