Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
We noticed a man in a chef jacket leaning against the pub wall and smoking.
'How come you guys need somewhere to stay?' he said in that weird Godfather type
voice that smokers use when they still have a lung full of smoke. He dropped his cigarette
buttintothegravelandcrusheditwithhisfootwhilsttiltinghisheadbackandblowingout
a cloud of smoke as he listened to our reply.
'We're cycling to John O'Groats without spending any money,' said Ben.
'Cool, man. Suppose you could do with some food then. Go and wait over there,' he
said, pointing into the darkness. 'I'll get sacked if my boss catches me.' He swaggered off
like a Cornish John Wayne towards the catering tent. We scurried off into the darkness like
a pair of dirty scavengers.
'Here you go, lads,' he said a few minutes later, handing us a large ice-cream container
full of unknown food. 'Better get back to work. If anyone asks, I didn't give you that,
right?'
We only just got a chance to utter a brief 'thank you' as he disappeared back into the
night. We decided to keep the food until after we had found somewhere to sleep.
We remembered the farmer that Ross had mentioned, so, as our luck was out at the pub,
decided to give him a try. We wheeled our trusty steeds back up the hill that we had just
descended, until the light of the village had faded behind us. We found what we presumed
to be Harry Mann's house and knocked on the door.
'Hi there, are you Harry Mann?' I asked.
'I am,' said Harry Mann. He looked just how we had imagined he would look.
'We'relookingforsomewheretostaytonight,andyoungfarmerRossfromMorvahsaid
you might be able to help us out. All we need is some floor space or an outhouse.'
'Yes, Ross did phone and warn me that you might call past. You can sleep in the barn
round the back. There's plenty of hay to use as bedding, but you'll be sharing with a bull.'
'Cool,' I said.
'Sounds… fun,' said Ben hesitantly.
We followed Harry through the dark, around to the back of the house, through a barn
full of calves and into a stable.
'Here you go. You can move that hay around to make yourself a bed and you should be
pretty comfortable. Don't worry about Surprise,' he said, pointing to the gigantic bull in
the neighbouring pen. 'He won't bother you. He's a prize-winner and is the sixth best bull
in the country.'
Surprise was the size of a small caravan and was thankfully separated from us by some
metal bars. He poked his head through and gave a huge snort to welcome us.
'So, what do you think? Is this place alright for you?' asked Harry.
Ben looked panicked.
'It's fantastic,' I said, 'We'll take it.'
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