There is a tradition when Matthew and I hit the big challenges on our little adventures (mountain trekking, child-birth etc) of breaking out the pink wafers, and today, it was time for pink wafers on the Route to Roots. It was an inauspicious start when we both winced our way down the stairs of the B&B this morning, our legs showing the strain after nearly 400 miles pedalling. 65 miles across the Quantock Hills and Exmoor nearly defeated us. With 5 miles to go to our Great Torrington stop, the second 25% hill climb was more than I could manage, especially with the traffic whizzing past at 60 miles per hour.
To be precise, it was the half mile downhill on a 25% gradient between the two climbs that finished me off, my hands ached from pulling my brakes on to the max to try to keep the bike speed down to 20 mph and my sense of enjoyment on this holiday of a lifetime evaporated as I was certain a pothole or passing tractor would result in a sticky end.
We turned off the main road and came slowly and carefully through the lanes, dodging a couple of frisky goats and some chickens finally rolling in to town at 6.30, nine and a half hours after we started out.
So here we sit in a pub full of locals, looking like a right pair of "down from town"-ers writing our blogs on our iPhones glad to have got the end of Day 7.
Not enough phone signal to post the pics tonight so just text.
Almost there go well from the Cheering on Team
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