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(RBR) - A nice little trundle.
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Saturday: Left home at 7, and battled with the TdF road closures,
before getting on the M4 West.
M4/M25/M3/M27, then off into the New Forest. Very pleasant so early in
the morning - no traffic, except for the odd pony. Found the landmark,
then off into Dorset.
The GPS is set to "shortest distance" rather than "quickest time"
which leads to some interesting routes. Tiny roads, rather than dual
carriageways.
Luckily, the centre of Sherborne doesn't go "pedestrianised" until
11am, and I arrive at 10:30, which makes finding the next landmark a
lot easier. A bite to eat, and a quick drink, then off to the next
landmark: Chysauster ancient village, at the arse-end of Cornwall.
Onto the A303/M5/A30, and all was well until the area around Temple,
where it becomes single carriageway for a couple of miles. Needless to
say, the droves of holiday makers couldn't cope with the change,
leading to a 5 mile tailback. A spot of determined filtering, and I
emerged onto a near empty dual carriageway nearly all the way to
Penzance. Then it was off into tiny hedge-bound lanes, with a
"vanishing point" often no further than 20 yards away.
The car park was easily located, had a clean loo, and then I endured
the hike up hill to the village. £2 to get in, to see half a dozen
stone houses - well, the remains of them, anyway.
Now, the journey home begins - off to Perranporth to find a giant
sundial. This is actually visible in web-searchEarth, so at least I knew
where to go. Perranporth was packed with people, plenty in the sea,
surfing and otherwise enjoying themselves. The sundial it self is set
to Cornish time, being some 20 minutes late compared to GMT.
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My FiL lives there and I know where that dial is. Bit touristy but a nice
place noentheless.
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30 years, surely?
Lovely stuff. We (well I, at least) do enjoy reading them, you know.
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From there it was back onto the A30, now empty, then into Devon to
find the marker stone for Hatherleigh Moor. Easy.
Next landmark was in Minehead - and the run across Exmoor was through
some of tiniest, most convoluted, lanes, with almost no forward
visibility. just to compound problem, I encountered a ford in quite a
state of flow. I dismounted, and tested the surface on foot. At this
point I decided that trainers were not the best footwear for the task.
Anyway, the surface appeared treacherously slippery, so I decided that
the little footbridge was the best option. I had around an inch of
clearance on either side, but the crossing was dispatched with ease.
At Minehead, I found the landmark - the start of the South West Path -
and decided to phone home. I took out my phone, and dialled. Linda
answered, and I couldn't hear a thing. Of course, I'd paired it to the
headset, and was now some 25 yards away from the bike. By the time I'd
got back, she'd hung up. Turning the GPS off enabled a second call to
be made, and I set off for home, at around 18:45.
If you're having trouble locating any white paint, I know why: it's
been applied to the A39. 50 limits, and double whites, along almost
the entire route to Bridgewater.
At this point I decided that I might as well pick up the landmark at
Mells - the 14th century tithe barn. A quick squirt up the A38/M5
then more tiny lanes, and I arrived at the barn, which was hosting a
wedding reception. Oddly, for deepest rural Somerset, almost all the
guests smoking outside appeared to be French.
Last landmark of the day was the memorial pillar at Maud Heath's
Causeway at Kellaways. Flash was needed for the picture, as it was
gone nine, but not dark, though I did feel obliged to ditch my
sunglasses at last.
From there it was a gentle trundle following a milk tanker, back to
the M4, then a long slog home.
Eight landmarks, 185 points, 691 miles, and four and a half tanks of
fuel. Not a bad day out.
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There's a few bikes that don't make sense to me, and one of them was
the Goldwing. Reading your RBR tales puts paid to that. Thanks for the
writeup.
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We just did 680 miles in 3 days using 5 tanks of petrol on the V-Strom.
Temps ranged from 48C to 10C. We're fecking exhausted.
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226 miles a day isn't really a lot - though I can't imagine riding in
48C is very comfortable.
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Agreed. I think the hottest I've ever ridden in is 45def, in South
Australia, and that was pretty intense.
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No, it's no big deal. But the heat just saps your strength.
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