Thursday 11 June 2009: Camelford to ‘Diggerland’

I slept well. I got up just after five and left the campsite at 5:46. I headed through Camelford on the A39 turning off on the A395. The roads were very quiet at this time although there were a few Dairy Crest milk tankers with tanker trailers (there had been a few yesterday afternoon so presumably a major dairy somewhere in the vicinity).

I cut off the A395 shortly after Hallworthy taking the road through Tresmeer to Launceston. This was an excellent road. My route through Cornwall and Devon was one suggested by Mick F, on the CTC discussion forum, as being amongst the least hilly. I don't mind hills, in fact I enjoy them, but for some reason it felt important to get some miles behind me in the first couple of days. I think this is a common feeling amongst LEJOGERs. It meant I probably failed to appreciate some superb countryside. A few do seem to take a more interesting route e.g. along the coast or over Dartmoor; something I would probably do if I did the journey again. Because of the high banks and high hedges I often felt hemmed in and unable to appreciate what was the other side of the hedge, so for me not such good cycling country as the West Yorkshire moors or the Dales. But then, I'm judging this on one route.

I stopped at Launceston hoping to find a coffee shop but I was too early (7:50). I was passing Brays Farm Shop, which seemed to have signs of life. It was a butcher’s but there was a sign saying "pasties" in the window. I went in and asked. "They're still in the oven, ducks, but they should be just about ready". I bought a large one ("mind you don't burn your mouth"); it was superb -- better than yesterday's.

I had difficulties finding my way out of Launceston. I made two wrong attempts, both involving hills; the second, though, brought me to the A30 so I joined it until the next junction, where I got back onto the correct route through Lifton. The A30 was very busy with commuter traffic so I wouldn't have wanted to spend too long on it; the noise was the worst part. Looking at the map it is a job to see how I managed to get it wrong in the first place!

This was another very quiet road (thank you Mick F!). It undulated a bit and I did start to get tired. I stopped for some malt loaf and a banana. I went under the A30, then joined it for a short way turning off at the B3260, which I followed into Okehampton. My legs felt very tired and I didn't think I would be making Exeter today; this would mean stopping some way before Exeter because of the scarcity of campsites.

There were a lot of cyclists in the town. As I rode in there was a very large group on road bikes, all in the same gear, who seemed to have some sort of marshall with them; almost every one gave me a wave. When I was parking the bike I was suddenly surrounded by 50 or 60 teenage girls on bikes with three adult instructors. They all gathered round and were given lots of "choices". I chose a coffee and bread and butter pudding in a cafe run by Beryl who seemed to know everyone else in there. This was a nice town but then most of those on the route so far had been.

I set off and quickly hit my stride. I was not tired any more; probably the malt loaf and banana had kicked in. A bit of a hill on the B3260 out of Okehampton and then it continued undulating. A nice quiet road beside the busy A30 going through lots of pleasant villages.

At Tedburn St Mary I messed up again: rather than turning right and taking the road beside the A30 I continued up the steep hill to Heath Cross (what I now see from the map is called 6 mile hill!). This was probably my steepest hill so far -- so much for the least hilly route. I realised my mistake quite soon but not soon enough to avoid the steepest part of the hill so I carried on as it was probably a shorter route to Exeter. By this time I had already committed to going through Exeter today as I had passed the last campsite that I was aware of. But I was feeling good by now.

A steep downhill brought me into Exeter. I made the mistake of getting on a shared cycle path across the bridge. It came to an abrupt end on the wrong side of a road, which I then had to cross (I sometimes wonder whether Highway planners ever get out on their bikes); if I had not left the road to get on this path it would have been far more straightforward. I was soon on track though and steamed along with no more mistakes. Just outside Exeter a passing cyclist (commuter) said "God, you're loaded; going far", "John O'Groats", "that's a ‘yes’ then!" -- seem very surprised that I had only left Land's End yesterday morning. I would have thought most would be ahead of me at this stage but perhaps it was a comment taking account of my very slow pace when he passed! Stopped at Sainsbury's for supplies. Then followed signs to “Broadclyst” and continued along the B3181 until I came to the "Diggerland" campsite just before Willand.

The campsite was deserted and the theme park was closed. I walked in through the back of a pub/restaurant where a wedding reception was in full swing. It was not their campsite but they took bookings on behalf of Diggerland. £6; that's more like it! I was the only occupant apart from a caravan next to the shower block used by (presumably seasonal) Diggerland staff. The shower block didn't look inviting but it turned out to be excellent and spotless.

Cooked pasta with pesto and parmesan cheese; new potatoes and onions washed down with a couple of glasses of Australian Shiraz and followed by tiramisu and coffee. Then off to the bar where the wedding was still going strong. I had a pint of Sharp’s Brewery Doom Bar Bitter, which is apparently ‘named after an infamous sandbank at the mouth of the Camel Estuary in north Cornwall’. It went down a treat.

I'd done about 78 miles. I'd felt good since Okehampton (and indeed since before Launceston) but I felt tired at the campsite. Not really legs -- my chest felt heavy. It's funny how much tiredness affects your mood; it becomes a much greater mental struggle to keep going -- I even started wondering at one stage whether I'd be able to keep this up day after day. It was probably lack of food because after Launceston my spirits soared. However, I thought I would take it easier tomorrow and, of course, it would also be much flatter.

Excellent weather all day; sun shining from very early, although occasional cloud cover which made it chilly. A nice following wind from the West and it seemed to veer more northwesterly as I headed in a more northerly direction after Exeter.


A mug of hot chocolate and bed.

Campsite: Diggerland. £6. Basic but very clean facilities. Excellent bar next to site. Not sure how the facilities would cope if the campsite was full.





Statistics
Distance 125 .26 km (77.8miles)
Time 7 hours: 48 minutes: 09 seconds
Average Speed 16.0 km/hour
Maximum Speed 63.7 km/hour
Distance from Lands End 240.08 km
Metres Ascended 2105