Fawlty Towers (Weston Style)

A lot happened today so my inferiority complex will have to wait.  We woke to leaden skies and by the time we had finished breakfast it was raining. We took our time and it managed to stop just before we left at around 8.30am. It was busy getting out of Exeter and we got stuck going uphill on a narrow road just outside the city, with a double decker bus metaphorically breathing down my neck, with Chris stuck behind it.  Spotting what appeared to be a dropped curve at the entrance to a property I turned left to get off the road, only to discover that the kerb was only partially lowered - the inevitable happened and me and the bike went down with a bus load of commuters staring out the window. Apart from being shaken I had a cut knee and grazed leg, with copious amounts of blood but no real damage done. We stopped to wash it and put a dressing on and then carried on - having done all of 3 miles!!

It was one of those days when your jackets were on and off with monotonous regularity. It was warm and humid, with wet intervals, during one of which a group of us enjoyed a wonderful coffee and cake stop in Culmstock. We carried on to Wellington, on the outskirts of which Chris got his first puncture of the day. Having managed to navigate our way through Taunton he got his second before we had reached Bridgewater. This one took longer to fix because the valve got bent and pliers had to be applied. Having finally sorted that we were about to leave when we discovered a problem with my rack pack. The rack had slipped down the seat post and was resting on the wheel😡. The tools all had to come back out and it was 3.00pm before we finally managed to buy a sandwich in a garage for lunch.

We had a longish slog across the Somerset levels and were a bit worried about time so had to step on the gas, finally getting to the hotel in Weston-Super-Mare at 5.20pm, with dinner at 6.30pm.  This would have been OK except we were told we had to clean the bikes before the hotel would store them for us - so we joined 7 other riders in a small alleyway at the back of the hotel with buckets and sponges, plus one hose pipe to get them in a fit state to be allowed in.  It was then a mad rush to get our bags up to the 4th floor and shower in the smallest shower, in the smallest bathroom, attached to the smallest bedroom you could imagine. It is classic 50s/60s guest house decor and fittings and is actually quite funny. Dinner is served between 6pm and 7pm and don't even think of being late. Menu was again classic guest house (I guessed the 'choice of desserts' with unerring accuracy and they were astonished when Chris said he wanted trifle without 'squirty cream'.  The vegetables must have been cooking since lunchtime if not last night and were obviously designed for the coach load of OAPs who were also in the dining room.  

We went for a walk along the sea front and came back to discover that were missing a Bingo session in the bar and what appeared to be a poorly cat singing into a very loud microphone - fairly hard to recognise any of the tunes but the OAPs had possibly turned their hearing aids off anyway. Breakfast is at 8.15am and thou shalt not be early. The menu is as interesting as dinner, but at least you can't over cook cornflakes 😀

 

WiFi only exists in reception so I will go down and try to publish this from there - unless the lure of bingo and a sing-a-long is too great.

Photos are the view from our 4th floor room, the Mechanic at work, coffee stop and a rather surprising totem pole in Culmstock