Fuelled by cake

Evening all from Exeter, where we have arrived after what was billed as the hardest day of the whole tour - 65 miles with 6,500ft of ascent.  We were told to start by 8.00am this morning if we expected to be slow, so obviously all 21 riders were in a queue for breakfast when it opened at 7.00am.  Due to some precautionary faffing about by the mechanic there was only one rider behind us when we left Lostwithiel.  The first few miles were up an 'A' road which although not particularly busy still had more traffic than we would have liked. It was good to turn off up the back lanes, although we had still only passed one other rider. Reaching King Doniert's stone we found everyone else had just arrived and after the obligatory photo stop we managed to get on the road with only 3 ahead of us so we didn't have to keep our eyes on other peoples back wheels. We cycled up to Minions, allegedly the highest village in Cornwall and then had a hard 20 miles to Tavistock with the road plunging down and spiralling back up with alarming regularity. 

At Horsebridge we crossed into Devon (note the welcome sign below which was just about keeping above the water line) and the road continued to rocket up and down until finally depositing us in Tavistock with nearly (or only, depending how you were feeling) half the distance covered. We had a wonderful coffee stop with some 'seriously serious' cake - sticky ginger for afficianados - and 3 more riders joined us just before we left. By now there was only one rider ahead of us, but with the prospect of a 1,000ft climb up on to Dartmoor we decided to press on before the effects of the cake wore off! The weather had been humid and dull all morning, but as we came up the road out of Tavistock we climbed into fog/low cloud with no views until we started to drop off the high ground approaching Mortonhampstead. I had forgotten how much the road rolls along the top of Dartmoor, but it was quite fast as photo stops were a bit pointless. We got a bit damp with the fog, but apart from the odd few spots of drizzle it stayed dry and steadily improved as we did the final stage across to Exeter. 

We had lunch in the centre of the village so we could spot the others coming through and we left when the leader arrived with the van. He was waiting there for the last rider and then bringing the bags to the hotel.  We were joined on the last leg by Stephen, a guy here on his own who rides about the same pace as us. It was a fabulous run, 3 stiff hills and wonderful descents on well surfaced roads. Navigating our way through Exeter to Jury's Inn was 'interesting' but we made it in one piece and then had to wait about 45 mins for the luggage to arrive.  We are just about to go for a walk and stretch our legs before dinner - but I will fill you in tomorrow on my rapidly growing inferiority complex with regards to all things domestic. I am waiting for someone to suggest that Chris should be taken into care 😥

Note for Ken and Jeff: today we have been on or crossed the routes of the 1984 and 1994 Dartmoor 100s as well as Camel Teign. More to follow!