Day 4, to Okehampton

I reluctantly left the warm Countryman Hotel and set off up the hill out of Camelford. Fortunately, my friend Paul is going to ride with me a lot of the way.

I have planned routes on my Garmin – but the climbs are often horrible and the descents are terrifyingly precipitous. Paul suggested that we abandon my scenic routes, and we replan our journey on A or B roads. Maybe this is a good idea – there will be more traffic, but it will be less steep.

Just before Launceston we plunged down a tiny lane into Hidden Valley – an absolutely endless descent – maybe even down to sea level. We despaired of even finding Launceston, or climbing out of the valley when we do.

Heading toward Okehampton, the rain started bucketing down until we were absolutely soaked and freezing cold – my hands too numb even to shift the gears. Inconvenient to say the least, and I needed to use my lowest gear to get up the steepest bits.

We had to go back to Pauls plan of using the smaller A and B roads – but somehow or other there was a sat-nav fault (definitely not my fault!), and we nearly ended up on the dreaded A30. We manage to avoid this fate, but neither my sat-nav nor the paper maps that I brought with me were much help. We did see a house with a mountain on the side – a sign of things to come perhaps?

Even once we get to Okehampton my troubles aren’t over. I can’t find the accommodation, and I must have miswritten the phone number! By now I am very tired, freezing, and beginning to think that I’ll have nowhere to stay the night. When I do find it though, it’s so friendly and cosy (at the Northlake Guesthouse with my hosts Simon and Pam) – and my day ended with an ecstatically nice hot bath.

Between the hills, the freezing rain and the getting lost I was beginning to feel quite tired and dispirited – but after the hot bath I felt ready for another go. Maybe I won’t give up just yet.

Stats

37.9 miles (115.45 miles total), 2,450ft ascent, 2,375ft descent