Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Camelford was on Day 2 of the topic. We were halfway through our fourth day, and had
the slight handicap of children's bikes. We needed to get cracking.
Itwasgoingtobealongafternoon,sowedecidedtotryanddoafewmoremilesbefore
lunch. The town of Launceston was a few miles up the road so we set off with the aim of
stopping there for a break.
The route followed the busy A39 out of Camelford, and then cut away from the main
road and carved its way through the countryside towards Launceston.
Just before reaching Launceston, the road dropped sharply into the town. We soon dis-
covered that despite all his kindness, David had actually converted Pinky into a death trap.
The foam on the handlebars was so thick that it made it impossible to squeeze the brakes
enough for them to work effectively. Ben, who was riding Pinky at the time, had to swerve
around a bus that had pulled over,swerve back to avoid a head-on collision with oncoming
traffic, weave in and out of a queue of cars that had backed up at a narrow intersection,
before eventually coming to an abrupt stop against a wall.
'What the fuck was David playing at?' screamed Ben. 'Was he trying to fucking kill
me?'
We both laughed.
'Yeah, stupid David. What a fucking tosser!' I said. 'He took us in for the night, gave
us dinner, a hot shower, a comfy bed, delicious breakfast, and then he went and fucked our
bikes up. What a knob!'
Launceston seemed to be a town of two parts. One part - the crap part - is at the bottom
of the hill, with nothing but a couple of shops and some featureless streets. The other part
- the less crap part - sits on the top of the hill dominated by the impressive Launceston
Castle.
There was no charge to visit the area of grass just inside the outer walls of the castle, so
we sat on the bank and ate ham and stale bread that Ben acquired from a nearby baker. We
had the remains of our pick 'n' mix for pudding. The view from the castle was stunning,
and the 'crap part' of Launceston - that I had shunned just moments before - looked partic-
ularly beautiful from up high.
Bentalkedabouthisangerfromthedaybefore,whenhehadthrownPinkyinthehedge.
'What you saw was only about 10% of the rage that was inside of me,' he said.
'Seriously? I thought you were just joking around.'
'Noooo, that was all real.'
'Were you pissed off with me?'
'No, I was getting pissed off with myself. I hate holding people up.'
'You weren't holding me up. I like it when you get off and walk, as then I can get off,
too.'
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