Wednesday August 27, 2008, 16 miles (26 km) – Total so far: 27 miles (43 km)
Woke about 07:30am, and lazily packed the panniers and luggage. We wandered over to the dining room of the hotel, and tucked into the cereal and fruit juice. Lucia had some bacon and toast, but the bacon, it seems, was almost inedible due to being more salty than the Atlantic ocean. I, on the other hand, had some smoked haddock and a poached egg – just lovely.
We checked out, and freewheeled down the High Street, laughing as we were effortlessly taken down the hill – the wrong way !!!!!! A hurried check of the map, and a rather severe glare from Lucia had us straining back up the road until the correct turning appeared. We cruised through the empty lanes, passing through Tiverton and climbing the hill at Beeston. We stopped at Beeston Castle, but decided against paying the entrance fee, and instead amused ourselves for 30 minutes in the visitor centre. For some, unfathomable reason, both Lucia and myself forget to buy an ice cream – this is something that would have to be remedied later !
No sooner had the promise of an ice-cream been made, than we arrived in Bunbury, a lovely village with elegant and beautiful cottages, and were able to buy a much needed ice-cream.
From Bunbury we sauntered downwards, never clocking up more than 10mph, but not caring either, since it was such a pleasant, peaceful ride. We stopped to feed some more horses, then with a rumbling tummy, we halted in Faddiley, at The Thatch Inn. One lovely meal later, we slowly made our way south towards Cholmondelely.
The weather hadn’t improved since the beginning. Cloudy, grey, overcast yet warm. There was only the faintest of breezes however, so I suppose the cycling was a pleasure even if the countryside wasn’t at its best in the gloom. After a few miles we reached Cholmondelely Castle (pronounced “Chumley”). It had a most impressive driveway, a leafy avenue stretching for almost half a mile before it reached the ticket man. He, the ticket man, was very helpful and friendly, pointing out the benefits of cycling in the grounds (cars have to park before the gardens, cyclists don’t).
We spent a few hours there, playing on the climbing frames and swings (well, one of us did). We also wandered around the gardens which, even to my rather philistine’s eye, were quite stunning. We had cake, we saw pigs and we bought some presents for those still at home. If you are ever in the area, I recommend it !
It was only a short few miles to our second nights accomodation, a farm house B&B near Malpas. It was, however, on the top of a long, steep(ish) drag, that came at the end of a rather tiring day. Lucia needed a little help to get to the top, but very soon we were happily esconsed in the warm, inviting amostphere of Hampton House farmhouse B&B. Our hosts could not have been more friendly or helpful, even driving us down to the local pub for dinner, and arranging for the pub to drive us back once we had finished. Lucia collapsed asleep as soon as we got back, but I managed to watch the football on TV, seeing Liverpool beat Liege in extra time !
