With the exertions of the previous day still in my head, I struggled to lift my mood in the early part of the day despite the promise of some fine weather and a favourable wind. Nevertheless, with Jon’s knees feeling considerably better (all the pain being locked away in his imaginary box, which must have been ready to burst by this point), I tucked in behind him and we made rapid progress towards our first little break in Yeovil, followed an hour or so later by a fantastic long descent to our second break in the centre of Axminster, where I enjoyed a lovely coffee and a lemon curd tart (yummm!). Around 20 miles later, we stopped for lunch by a lovely roadside pub on the way towards Exeter, where we sat in the beer garden, Corinne and I enjoying a nice bowl of soup and Tom and Jon scoffing on baguettes. After pressing on through far too much traffic in Exeter, we eventually paused for cream teas in Dunsford (Mars bar and coke for me), where Corinne and Tom said they were struggling with the pace a little. With 35 miles and Dartmoor still to go, we took the rest of the ride at a steadier tempo, although the cream teas and the beautiful Dartmoor scenery (and several Pro Plus tablets for Tom) certainly helped to lift the spirits. We paused after another 15 miles for a quick refuel and a photo shoot (Corinne struggling to climb on a wall for a suitable pose) before the final climb of the day. With Dartmoor conquered, we enjoyed the final descent which seemed to last pretty much all the way to Plymouth. Jon’s mum provided the accommodation for the night and treated us all to the biggest plates of spaghetti Bolognese you’ve ever seen, followed by apple pie and custard.



The best cream teas in the world!