Sunday, February 14, 2016

British Long Distance Riders - Devon Road Book Feb 2016 Day 2

Day 2

My alarm went off rather rudely at 0600hrs, I promptly ignored it and dozed for a bit. I could hear that it was still raining so I made the decision that I would finish off what I didn't finish the day before.

This did mean I would have to back track on myself, but it was the most logical thing to do.

I was a bit nervous that the bike would not start, but I needn't of worried, first push of the button and she fired up! Brilliant.





I got away around 0900hrs and headed for Hartland Point. This was back up on the North Devon coast.



Satnav once more took me down some tracks, which if I had been in a car I would not of been impressed with or indeed even to negotiate! 

Once there I could not get to the lighthouse as this was on private property so I had to park up as suggested by the tower.




Now on the Honda Varadero it has no fuel gauge so I reset my mileage clock each time I fill up and a warning light comes on approximately after 180 miles. I have a 25 litre tank and when the light comes on I know I have approx 5 litres of fuel left.

So, when I had the charging issues yesterday, my clocks reset automatically so I had only a rough idea how much fuel I had left.

As I was doing a lot of lane riding and garages were few and far between I thought it a good idea to fill up as soon as I could.

Riding down the lane from Hartland point, I stopped and talked to a dog walker who told me that there was a small garage at Woolfardisworthy, miss this one and it was 15 miles in either direction to the next ones.

I found the garage and filled up at a cost of £1.17 a litre! Considering in most places it is down to just 99p a litre I thought it was a tad excessive!

Anyway, I needed it so did not begrudge it too much.


Next stop was Upper Tamar Lake, the lake actually straddles the Devon/Cornwall border.





I had a brew here and sorted directions to my next and final stop of the day.

I had decided that due to the hold ups later I would complete what I should of done the day before and then I would head home. Leaving the the next part of the trip for another day.

My final stop of the day was Roadford Lake, here I stopped and as there was a cafe I had lunch which was very good indeed.





Here I loaded up the satnav for home and headed back to the Forest. 

I had one last stop in Dorchester for a brew, then with it starting to rain made the final push for home.

I got home around 1700hrs, tired, damp but very happy.

A shower, a beer, a chinese delivered and by 2030 I was in bed snoring!

I had completed 484 miles.

The next part of the road book will have to wait for another day. Two days of great riding on roads of all grades with some fantastic scenery. 

I'm glad that I did the trip this time of the year, of course in the summer the weather could of been warmer but the roads would be clogged with Grockles making it no fun.

So there it is, part completed, I now need to wait till I have a couple of spare days to get the rest of the Devon Road Book completed.

The journey continues.......................

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