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Day 4 - A new hero
Nanstallon to Okehampton - 52 miles
We woke before David and Annie, so had a shower each, and then spent 15 minutes re-
arranging our bags so that the socks would fit.
Yet again, ourhosts insisted that we have breakfast sowe gladly accepted. Annie gave us
our clean and dry boxer shorts and socks and introduced us to their chicken Diamond Lil.
Home grown eggs, too.
We looked at a map over breakfast, and for the first we had a sudden realisation of just
how big Great Britain was. We had been on the road for three days yet we had covered only
atinyfractionoftheisland.Westillhadnearly900milesbetweenusandthetopofScotland
and it was incredibly daunting. Even with our new bikes we had only managed 48 miles,
and if there was any hope in us reaching John O'Groats within three weeks, we were going
to have to significantly pick up the pace.
Outside, David was doing something to our bikes.
'I noticed that the handlebars on this pink one looked really uncomfortable,' he said.
'Yeah, they are a bit,' said Ben.
'Well I think I have fixed them.'
WewalkedovertohimandnoticedthatPinky'shandlebarshadgrownintohugesponges.
He had taken a section of foam pipe insulation from the pipes in his garage, and cut them
into handlebar-sized pieces, which he had then taped onto the bike. The Falcon also had a
big bath sponge taped to its seat, with the intention of making it more comfortable.
'Thanks, David. They look... err... great,' said Ben.
'Yeah, they look loads better,' I said suspiciously.
WegaveourthankstoAnnieandDavidandleftNanstallon.Davidhadsuggestedfollow-
ing a route known as the Camel Trail for a few miles. The Camel Trail was a stretch of old
railway that had been converted into a path for walking and cycling. It had two parts; one
stretching from Padstow to Bodmin, the other section stretching east towards Camelford,
which was the direction we were heading.
We joined the path just after leaving Nanstallon. It was a pleasure to cycle along, con-
sidering it was the first piece of flat ground that we had cycled along since the car park
at Land's End. Accompanied by a chorus of birds, we wound our way through forests and
along the bank of the river Camel.
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