Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Day 3 - Exeter to Sidcot

Plodding On

Today we are in Sidcot after some relatively flat cycling, pushing our average speed to about 12.5mph over the day. It's meant to be a 'rest day'. I don't know about you, but 5-6 hours of cycling is far from rest!! Most of us were relatively burned out after yesterday's struggle, so we did still welcome the 'easy' cycling with open arms.

I had the pleasure of visiting the pretty village of Axbridge and got some nice shots of one of the churches there. I did not, however, get to stock-up on energy bars because the guy at the local Co-op wouldn't let me take my bike in :( I sure as hell wasn't going to leave it outside, so I thought I'd just pick some up at the next place.. They're not something I would go without for too long, though. I think the only reason I've made it this far is because I've been making an effort to eat one every hour or so!

The Strawberry Line is a former railway line that I happened to come across by accident. One section of it holds the Shute Shelve Tunnel - a 180m tunnel which changes from soft marl to hard limestone towards the other end. It is pitch-black inside, save for the dim solar-powered lights. It felt surreal going through it on my bike - and a bit eerie as well with the sound of water dripping from the walls and ceiling.

Another rider has decided not to carry on today, which is quite disheartening, especially since we've got our little group that has been getting along so well.


It's hard to even entertain the thought of going through another two weeks of this, but day by day, we will get through this :) Painful as it is... my god I've never felt better about myself :D

The final picture is a view from our home for the night, in Premier Inn.

That's another 68 miles down. About 790 to go :)

Pictures below as usual.

More sunny weather

Quick break..

Someone looks tired..

Jonathan looks well-coordinated with the greenery around him!

Lunch break - Peter met one of his friends who happened to be nearby. I was hoping to do the same at multiple points throughout the trip, but being from Malaysia, my reach of friends didn't go very far in the UK!

A church in Axbridge

The Shute Shelve Tunnel on the Strawberry Line

Pitch black! I didn't stick around long once I got this picture..

The best part about cycling is discovering little things like this.

Unfortunately what I didn't realise was that Chris had mentioned we weren't supposed to come through here! Some back-tracking wasn't going to kill me, but I took what looked like a shortcut (kind of) by carrying my bike up to re-join the main road.

Our view from the hotel

A very spacious room for the night!

Some drinks before dinner.


Route details:-
Part 1
Part 2

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