Day 11 - Bon Voyage Clement & Shiva

The start to day 11 was an incredibly late start. We stayed the night in the last minute BnB that we found on booking.com for pretty cheap. It was a classic inn/pub kinda place called the "Coach & Horses Inn". The barmaid who greeted us was exactly how you'd imagine her to look in an oldy worldly pub. All the staff were super friendly including the owner, who actually donated us £10 and his tips from breakfast that morning. He was a good guy who was an Army veteran, retired and took over the pub.

We said to ourselves we would set an alarm for 8 am giving us time to have a little sleep in and get ourselves sorted before bracing the cycle through Bristol. 8 am came as if it was milliseconds after we had shut our eyes. Obviously, I hit snooze, and again, and again and maybe 2 or 3 times more. Eventually at about 9:30/10:00 we decided to get out of bed and pack up to get going. First stop, 10 meters down the road for 'breakfast'.

I have to say, I really wasn't feeling in the mood to cycle loads and loads of miles let alone through a city. Breakfast and a very strong coffee changed that. The sky was grey and threatening of rain. But blue skies were on the horizon and coming in fast with the incredible headwinds! The wind wasn't that bad until we got to the bridge from Chepstow, south Wales into Gloucestershire and Bristol. Just as we were about to cross the bridge we bumped into some champ with his dog. He was on a fully loaded bike AND had a fully loaded trailer too. Becky got chatting to him as she noticed he was French when he was shouting to his dog. She asked him what he was doing, where he was going, what the dog's name was and everything you would ask someone in a short amount of time.

His name was Clement and his dog was called Shiva. They had both cycled from France, caught the Ferry from the coast and then cycled from Portsmouth to Bristol. His goal was to finish up in Ireland but he mentioned he wanted to go via Scotland. I mean, Scotland isn't really a place you go via to Ireland. But he was crazy awesome enough to make it happen. Clement had had enough of the way things were in France and decided, while he still can. He would go on an adventure and see where he ends up. He did have two dogs that were both going to go on the adventure with him. But unfortunately, before he set off, one of them went MIA. I believe, he had got wind of the move and lifestyle change and said NOPE, not for me.

Clement`s bike was really impressive. He had managed to compile his life necessities and fitted them all onto your average mountain bike and trailer. The trailer was for small bits and pieces complete with solar panels. However, inside the trailer was Shiva's bed/portable home. It looked SUPER comfy for the old girl. Clement carried everything on his bike, cooking stuff, food, spare tires, you name it, he had it on there. What we couldn't work out and forgot to ask him. What was his sleeping arrangements? Everything else was on or around the bike or trailer, but no sign of a tent or a hammock or something he would sleep in! I like to think the dog has priority over his own.

You can read more about his journey and adventures on his Facebook page/blog linked below:
Un Chien un Reve

As we started crossing the bridge the wind picked up A LOT but the blue sky was coming closer and closer. By the time we had gotten to the other side the sun was out and heating us up to the core. But the wind was still present making cycling hard, and dangerous over our brief A road encounters.

The best things I found about Bristol was the A road Bus, Taxi and Bike lane that went downhill for FOREVER into the heart of Bristol. The second was the incredible bridge that we went under and ended up looping back round, cycling up a monster of a hill, and crossing over it. Totally worth the pain in the hot sun for the views though!

Once through Bristol we cycled as far as we could before the tired legs, hunger and 'I can't f###ing be arse anymore' kicked in. We googled campsites and took a chance with one in the middle of nowhere on the Exmor National Park border. When we arrived at 2045, we were greeted by a stunning old farm grounds, converted to a campervan and campsite. Honestly imagine a country wedding with Wigwams an all sorts of quirky signs and sculptures. This place was just that.

When we checked in, Simon the owner was really friendly and gave us a discount for doing our trip for charity and looking tired and burnt. He gave us the low down about the site and we asked about food. He said there was a pub up the road called The Plough but stops serving at 2100. It was now 7 minutes to the hour, and we had just arrived. Simon the absolute legend. Rang up his mate Andy who owns the pub and said he had 2 tired cyclists wanting food. Could we race up and get some. Andy asked for a pre-order so we ordered some vegetable tarts and chips with a side of chips too (and threw those in and winked at us... I still don't know what that wink meant, but I was grateful for that extra portion of chips) Simon gave us directions to get to the pub quicker across the surrounding fields! Clearly, he was a seasoned professional at speaking to and from the pub. We headed back out on our bikes down the dirt and muddy path. I raced along feeling confident but mainly hungry. The path got more barrow with thicker mud. I saw tire tracks in the mud so I knew it was alright to crack on cycling along. I got to the end to by the farmer's gate and waited for Becky... I waited for nearly 5 minutes and was convinced she somehow had taken the wrong way to Simmons directions. Just as I was about to head back down the narrow muddy path. Becky emerged with tears in her eyes and dark brown mud up to her side. She had fallen off and hurt herself. Adding in the hunger factor too she was not a happy bunny. I did so very well not to laugh and say it looked like she shit herself but she knew I was thinking it.

We arrived at the pub, stinking of stale sweat and (Becky) smelly poo mud. And had a lovely table all made up for us, the owner took our drink orders and brought the food out near enough the same time! That's service!

After we had eaten we headed back to the tip-top campsite, showered and FINALLY got some laundry done. Honestly, I hadn't washed my cycling shorts properly since fort William. (That felt like a decade ago) we hung our clothes out to dry and got into our cosy tents for a good nights sleep.

In the middle of the night, I was woken to Becky shouting at me for snoring and my sleeping mat deflated :( it had a slow puncture or something and wouldn't stay up longer than an hour! (Becky obviously put her ear ring through it as payback for snoring)
The following morning we woke to beautiful hot sunshine and another late start due to packing up laundry, drying tents, chatting to people and my lack of sleep is all grumpy! One lady, who was camping next to us started chatting to Becky asking what we were doing, who for etc. She mentioned that next weekend she will be cycling London to Bristol, supported with only 20-minute food breaks. That's 206 miles in 16 hours! Needless to say we felt we couldn't complain about outheere 70ish miles we had to do that day.