We prepared for the day with our magnificent b&b hosts Anne & Andy preparing a sumptuous breakfast, homemade jams with homemade bread, top cuts of sausages and bacon from the local butcher, free range eggs, honey flavored yoghurt, cereal 2 packets for H) home made orange juice, apple juice from the cider farm at Crediton for Henley an omelette the size of his plate and all of this washed down by about 10 gallons of tea ! At this rate we expect shortly to not be able to fit on our bikes !
We said goodbye to our hosts putting some more air into my flattish rear tyre (later confirmed as yet another slow leak puncture) and hurtled down the hill to be immediately followed by a roller coaster ride of climbs and descents into and out of Dawlish.
The seaside areas looked set for a busy day with people already arriving no doubt having heard that the sea temp had climbed in the heat to a just above frigid level of 16c !
We finally worked our way off the main road picking up the Exe estuary trail that eventually took us in to the city of Exeter when we weren't lost somehow ending up on busy narrow roads.
The trail deposited us in the pleasant Exeter quay area right in the middle of a local regatta with locals laid out in the sun like at a day at the beach !
The hard part came negotiating our way out of busy Exeter without a working gps. Using road signs, not always a good idea on push bikes we at least found Tescos and settled for a 3 course lunch comprising sandwiches, pepsi and ice cream, all good healthy stuff !
In an omen of giant proportions i spied a Currys PC world outlet nearby that had on TV been advertising tablets at reasonable prices. After doing some groundwork i sent H in to barter his way into the proud possession of a Google Nexus 7!
With H now belatedly joining the tech age expect to be bombarded with emails and matters of trivia given his wifi acess to Dr Google !
We took a roundabout way out of Exeter soon finding ourselves on melting bitumen riding along Devon country lanes that were straight out of an Enid Blyton book. Thatched cottages, rolling hills, pubs in the middle of nowhere, people out walking and intersecting unsigned lanes that would easily do justice to a maze - this was UK at its best !
After a pint or two of coke to drench our thirst we finally made our way our way to Honiton the home of Monikas family, who have graciously allowed us to bed down for a couple of nights allowing me some time to catch up with the family and repair puncture no.7 !
As for the heatwave it is expected to continue for a day or two with no sign of rain over a 10 day forecast much pleasing one very wary and seemingly well recovered KH !
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