Day Two (For The Money) Thurs 23rd June.

 Day Two (For The Money)

Blog posts are a little late at times due to lack of access to the internet.....

Day Two started with the change of plan. South Brent to Torquay then across Dartmoor in the opposite direction to what had been planned. It was warm and sunny (again) but with enough white puffy clouds to give me some hope of retaining my sanity. Last night ended in a headache and slightly dizzy feeling, but today I was going to make a point of staying hydrated and eat some lunch……
Now I’ve driven in London, Plymouth, motorways, mountain passes, Cornish Country lanes and various other locations and challenges, but I STILL maintain, to this day that the most stressful roads I have ever driven are those in Torquay, having done a dry run a few weeks back though and used up my mistakes, it went pretty smoothly, if a little tense. Merlins Newest arrival on the Team, right on Union St, but to early to get a ticket.
Then it was the delicious drive to Ashburton, along the River Dart and over the moor itself. Stunning clear views and few other vehicles around made for a lovely start to the day. Then to Okehampton

which had the “trickiest” location to photograph

with two way traffic and the front door on the street along with traffic lights stopping cars, in the way, but we got it down. I also got to bump into Alex the company’s Operations Manager and Zippy his ever present jack russel. From Okehampton to Ilfracombe and the first fuel stop on the way. 260 miles in and £26 in the tank…. I’ll take that mileage.

Cornwall has the rugged, dramatic, granite coastline, but the rolling farmland hills of Devon did make me catch my breath. There is something quintessentially “English” about them and at times once I was off the Moor, the view was remarkable. Ilfracombe was great, I loved the bar set up,

and then it was a run across Exmoor, which seemed to be a game of three halves, first it was relativly straightforward farmland, then the overly dramatic moorland and valleys, and then a lush green drive down to Dulverton in a canopy of trees and a steep winding road into the valley. I had to stop on Exmoor as well, to get a feel and a sense of place. When I stopped the bike, I noticed it was absolutely silent. No wind in the trees, no sea roaring in the background, no cars, no birds, no dogs barking. It was so quiet, I could hear the blood in my ears. Just wonderful.
The Tivoli was a most unusual location, set back from the road with a large courtyard

and then there was the Wellesley in Wellington. I had said to all the staff I had met that I would have to come back and mooch around and hopefully watch a film in the future, but the Wellesley absolutely nailed it in for me.

A remarkable traditional auditorium, beautiful to look at and an absolute necessity to return to……

From Wellington it was a straightforward runup the M5 and across the bridge into Wales and a twisty turny trip up to Coleford for the “Studio”.

The numberplate of the day was “JWJ”, my oldest sons initials, though “WTF” came close too. I grabbed a kebab for tea in Coleford and only discovered I had left my phone on the bench when I went to pay in the Co-op. (My Mishap for the day hopefully!). I ran (yes ran) back and thankfully it was still there as that would have made life very interesting. 

Once again, I was having such a lovely time chatting to my new found friends behind the kiosks,  my planned schedule was well behind. But this time round it didn’t really matter as it was just a case of striking camp before dark and for that I had plenty of time.
I had scouted a site out already on google earth and plotted it with what three words… it was along side the Talybont Reservoir (dogs) but I had misremembered and though I expected to be at sea level with it and on the shoreline, looking out for gamekeepers and the like, the satnav took me up, up, (Up) a hillside and then I remembered. I had picked a second spot, “overlook-ing” the reservoir.

Once again the air was still and the only sound here was the birds singing in the distance and they soon went ot bed. I set up the Bivvy, Sprayed myself with Smidge and listended to the odd sheep bleating and cow munching. I wonder if they will visit tonight…..