Day 3 - Nige Eats Tarmac

After a good night's rest in Okehampton, we beat the Germans to breakfast, and headed out onto wet roads. Patrick the optimist said "The good news is today's weather is better than tomorrow". After a few miles, the rain started coming down, and didn't really stop until lunch. At one point, we stopped at the public toilets in Crediton to dry our clothes with the hand dryer.

After fording a few roads that were 4 inches deep in orange water, Patrick's well planned route dragged us up a 16% hill (that's a 1 in 6 in old money).

We met an interesting Morrisons employee, who continually mis-quoted Schwazenegger movies while emptying the (already empty) bins outside the main entrance. "Cybernetic skeleton with living tissue. - that's him isn't it? Isn't it". "Yes" I replied before he approached the next set of customers and started the routine again.

The weather picked up a little as we hammered along the Somerset plains for the next 30 miles. At the 90 mile point, we congratulated ourselves on the good progress, and removed the wet weather gear - it was all looking good...


At 91 miles, we started a huge hill into a fierce headwind. Half way up, the rain started again - heavy at first, then really heavy, then unbelieveably heavy. We stopped and tucked under the trees hoping it would pass quickly. That's when the rain turned to hail...

After it subsided, we still had to cover about 15 miles to Bristol. We were riding on a path as the spray form the heavy traffic on the A38 was so bad - especially with us moving slowly up hill. On the way down, Patrick bunny-hopped his bike back onto the road and sped off downhill.

Nige tried to do the same, but the combination of skinny tyres, slippery roads and a large kerb did not produce a favourable outcome. The front wheel slipped, the bars crossed and the back wheel caught on the kerb. The tarmac approached my face very quickly, but I cleverly used my thumb to prevent certain disfigurement.


Realising I was in the middle of the A38, with my panniers spread around me, I dragged myself out of the middle of the road, and jumped up and down in pain at the side of the road. Luckily, Julian was behind me to witness the incident, and passing motorists signalled to Patrick that we had a "man down". After 5 minutes of shaking, I managed to convince the guys I did not need to be whisked off in a car, and that the trip was still going ahead - I mean, there wasn't even any blood...

The last 14 miles were hell. We were tired, wet, aching, bruised and Bristol seemed so far away. We carried on only because we had to, and after a non-intentional detoure of Bristol hot spots, we arrived at our hotel for the night, where Patrick's wife, Faye, and the boys were there for a little tea and sympathy. Tomorrow has to be better...


Julian's statoids - Day Three
Distance: 107.5 miles
Cumulative distance: 216
Top Speed: 38mph
Average speed: 14.2mph
Calories Burned - 5300
Terrain - Mixed
Key Events: Hail storm, Body in road