Team spirit?

Our next outing was to be a team effort. The plan was for 4 of us Mike, Sue, Kirby and Wolf to get the train on Sunday morning from Exeter St Davids to Barnstaple, and cycle back, using the Tarka Trail along the north section. The team spirit is soon found to be lacking as we cannot even agree on which train to catch, with M and S preferring the 8.39, in the hope of avoiding later rain, but K and W deciding this was too early. So we set off (team A) an hour before the other two (team B). We are supposed to proceed slowly so they could catch us up. However, the light occasional showers turn out to be cold persistent drizzle, so to warm up we whizz along the windy estuary cycle path from Barnstaple to Bideford, whilst team B get tangled up in a charity run. Team A shelter under one of the many railway bridges to drink a flask of coffee,




with Team B taking the luxury option of a warm cafe, slowing them even more.
So we carry on, in two separate parties, along the tarmaced quiet trail, over the wide Torridge River and tributaries. Under trees we spot a notice informing us this is a "biodiversity reserve"- what used to be known as a"wood" in my youth! Bluebells, primroses and pungent wild garlic crowd the verges. Leaving the path as the tarmac turns into a muddy track, we take the road through tiny Petrockstowe, then Jabocstowe. I spot some handsome welsh Balwen sheep.




The drizzle finally stops at 1.00 as we skirt Hatherleigh, so we halt at an ancient metal seat to eat our sandwiches. The rain almost immediately restarts. We wolf (sorry Wolf) down the sandwiches, and thoroughly chilled, head for Okehampton. On a blind corner a speeding Merc forces me to fling on the brakes. I skid and fall off into the bank. A few bruises, but more importantly, no damage to the bike or my nice new purple helmet.
We can't understand what the long queues of cars are doing in Okehampton, clogging the centre. Enquiries reveal the Ten Tors Challenge has just finished so all the parents have turned up to collect their soggy teenagers. We settle in the warm lounge at the White Hart Hotel, to await team B. After 1/2 an hour they bowl up. Wolf joins Mike in a reviving pint of Guinness. Kirby and I stick to coffee.
At last united, we climb out of Okehampton on an unmade track, with some good views despite the drizzle, then through our favourite moorland village of Belstone




before hammering back down the old A30, but not too fast to notice the newly-bloomed early purple orchids in the verges. Soon entering Exeter at the Twisted Oak pub, past Sainsburys, under the railway to the canal and back to Trewsweir. 64 miles on the clock, and all still on speaking terms. Result!
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Location:Tarka trial