On the homeward stretch

Last time I blogged I was in a foreign country, well Wales, and it was with surprising joy that I crossed over the Severn back into England last Wednesday.  I can't say that joy persisted as I struggled to navigate my way over, under, around endless rivers and motorways in the Avonmouth area.  However, pure joy awaited me in Bridgewater in the form of a replacement sat nav, complete with OS maps uploaded - yippeee!  

It's amazing how much slower a ride becomes when you are trying to memorise the next 3 or 4 directions, then you have to stop and consult the map again for the next instructions.  Cycling analogue as my brother, Jim, puts it is definitely much slower and, with my map-reading skills, not necessarily more reliable than going with the technology.  Just as well David was working from home that day and could keep an eye on me via the app on his phone :-)

Since Bridgewater I have had the joy of a sat nav that works and made it to Porlock and then Lynton without hitch.  Not far in miles but both days made up for that in elevation!  However, the views were spectacular at times and well worth the effort.  The dreaded Porlock Hill has a cycle route which zigzags around the hill, achieving the same elevation but much more manageably.  It feels a bit like doing Box Hill 5 times in succession - the Olympians have got nothing on me!!!

Arriving in Devon gave me a real lift - only one more county to conquer after this. In fact, 2 more days on the road and I'll be back in Cornwall - ok, so it's chock-a-block with steep hills careering down into coves and back out again, but who cares? 5 more days of Cornwall and I'm back where I started, in Looe.  Not that I'm counting or anything!

The whole trip has been an amazing experience and to tell the truth I can't quite believe that I've done it.  When David showed me on the map showing me all the spots I'd tweeted from, I just started chuckling.  Seeing a visual representation of what I've done just made me laugh in disbelief.  But now is not the time to wrap up this blog with reminiscences, I shall leave that for my final post next week...