Into the Pyrenees...

Our feet got a soaking returning along the flooded cycle path from birding, Tom then hit a bollard so hard he flattened it! However nothing could ruin the enjoyable day!
Not a cloud in the sky next morning as we provisioned at a local super market, then followed a riverside cycle path, busy with Sunday joggers. Past meadows, timber framed farms and a distant view of the Pyrenees. Coffee in a pretty village, then a single width farm lane undulating through woods,under the gaze of Red Kites, Black Kites and Vultures.
We had a celebratory beer in the old, cobbled centre of St Jean Pied de Port.


Then a final steep up hill to the gite with a stunning view over a mountain scene. Dinner (including basque pudding - like bakewell tart) was served on a terrace to complete a beautiful day! Over the meal and several flasks of red wine, Marilyn told us their grand daughter calls a Roger , "Old Rog"!

Location:Bayonne to St Jean Pied de Port

"Spirit of Britain"

We do not have to book out til midday Friday, which was just as well as it is slashing down. We run across to the George pub, meeting up with the 2 Ks and a rather damp Roger and Marilyn. After lunch only a 1 mile pedal to the European Bike Express bus, parked under a road bridge to give us some protection from the rain as the bikes are loaded onto the big trailer. Jenny and Tom are already ensconced.
A couple more stops to pick up a few more passengers, then Dover in time to catch an earlier than planned ferry at 4 40.


A smooth crossing into more rain. Further south, the bus stops a couple of times to let off cyclists who pedal off in the dark and rain! Most of the passengers are blokes with white hair. Kirby is enthralled by Keith's anecdotes.


After a surprisingly comfy sleep we wake at dawn near Bayonne and at last it stops raining. We pile out, sort out the bikes and take a cycle path along the estuary to a well run youth hostel to get rid of our luggage.
5 of us birders set off to the Marais bird reserve to the north, first enjoying a 3 course lunch to make up for missing breakfast. The other 3 explore Biarritz.
The birding is brilliant, Hoopoe, Black kite & black redstart.

Location:Gravesend to Bayonne

Starting our travels...

Kirby, Mike & I on the quay this morning to ride with the sparse BikeBus to the station, where we wave them goodbye and say hello to Keith.
British Rail only allowed us to reserve 2 bikes on the train so the train manager objects to there being 4. Whilst 2 of us distract him the other 2 put all 4 bikes on. The train makes it as far as Pinhoe (still in Exeter) before breaking down! It then limps late towards Salisbury where a replacement train awaits. Herculian task of transferring bikes and panniers from one overcrowded train to another.


Change trains at Waterloo on to a local train that stops at so many stations, taking an hour to cover 20 miles. We leap out in Gravesend into pouring rain, negotiate the town centre potholes, drop K and K at their nearby Premier Inn and cycle a couple of miles to ours. We are allowed to keep our bikes in the room.
Now we catch a bus back to the station to take a train to London Bridge by 6.30. A lovely evening catching up with son Chris and girlfriend Jess, in the very busy "Old Thameside" restaurant, before yet again visiting all the stations to Gravesend! Too tired to wait for a bus we jump in a taxi.

Location:Exeter to Gravesend

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

Practice run

Bank holiday Monday looked like a good day to try out a route circling Dartmoor.The forecast was for uninterrupted sunshine and there would be little commercial traffic. It was a surprise, therefore, to set out at 8.00 in thick fog! This lingered even on the top of Haldon Hill, finally escaping it at Chudleigh.
The path alongside the A38 to Ashburton is familiar as a regular meet up place with the Teign Valley Pedal Bashers. After this through Buckfastleigh, Ivybridge and the lanes up to the pretty village of Cornwood .
Dartmoor classic views at Lee Moor, where late tiny lambs wander out onto the tarmac! Then swooping down to cross the river at Shaugh Prior, where the little carpark is busy. We indulge in a "99" from the ice cream van, providing the energy to pull up a tiny steep road, coming out by the rail cycle path from Plympton. A final really steep pull up to Clearbrook, and on to the moor proper. Since our last visit a new tarmac cycle path has been put in alongside Drake's Leat and the golf course, a lovely safe way into Yelverton.
Next the village of Walkhampton and the picturesque old bridge at Huckworthy.




We are avoiding Tavistock, skirting to the east. At Peter Tavy a national cycle route sign tempts us, but turns into a stony steep path across fields. We should have stuck to the road! Gorgeous views now of Brentor church on it's pinnacle ahead as we wind through sleepy Mary Tavy to Lydford. At the Bearslake inn, we eat their last piece of chocolate-cherry flapjack and four packets of crisps, washed down with cold beer.
Behind the pub a track leads up onto the Granite Way,with the easy gradients of an old rail line and fabulous sweeping views, especially from the Meldon viaduct.
There is little traffic in Okehampton, though a bit of a climb out on tired legs, before sweeping all the way back on the old A30 past Whiddon Down, through Tedburn St Mary, and mainly downhill to Ide. Back at Trews Weir, the mileometers register 96 miles.

Location:Dartmoor

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Finale: Homeward bound...

Hazy sunshine brings a comfortable temperature to our ride this morning. We are soon heading through San Fernando, passing the station on a superb cycle path (could this be where the 'Last train to San Fernando' was heading?)




We stop at an unspoilt 1950's diner for second breakfast, and who should be inside - the local Sheriffs - who wave at us cheerily through the window as we dismount!
Then we head for the 18thC Mission, beautifully preserved in its extensive grounds.
Now we enter rock strewn canyon country, where the first Western movies were filmed. This is the old road by-passed by a Freeway, so no traffic! There is a steady climb over Susana Pass Road, and a drop into Simi Valley. Another great cycle path by the river provides some traffic-free miles and a birding opportunity - White-faced Ibis and Redwinged Blackbirds.








We are the first cyclists our Warmshowers hosts Bernie and Diana have had, as they are not on any national route. We spend a great evening with them and some of their neighbours.
Next morning we follow Bernie's route onto Mulholland Drive and down Topanga Canyon. As it is Saturday there are Lycra cyclists about and lots of folks heading down to Venice Beach. We meet up with Harriet right on schedule, and in time to celebrate her birthday: lunch at the Tasting Kitchen and retail therapy at Bloomingdales with an evening stroll on the pier at Santa Monica.






The election is happening at last after months of hype, "our" local library is coping as a polling station, with none of the 3hr queues occurring in Florida!


It only remains to package the bikes and fly home tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who helped us on the way.


Total tour miles: 3,217

Location:Santa Clarita to Los Angeles