Day 110: Saunton to Bideford

Andrew very kindly gave me a lift back to Saunton this morning. There was an icy breeze and I had to wear all my layers. My heel is still sore and I was aware that the majority of the walk would be on the taco Trail today and so I put my hookers on.

I haven’t been going for very long when I saw in front of me along line of soldiers coming towards me. There must’ve been about 50 of them. Dressed in full combat gear complete with face paint it was difficult to know their age, gender or ethnicity,. I couldn’t help myself saying hello to every single one of them as we passed each other. Some of them smiled and said hello back while others looked a bit confused. Most of them were carrying rifles, but one or two had huge machine guns and I said to them that they had drawn the short straw and they smiled.

I didn’t think it was appropriate to take photos when they were facing me, but I couldn’t resist taking this from behind.

I hadn’t gone far again when I saw where they had come from. It looked like they had been camping overnight.

Of course this is another of the MOD firing ranges. Later on I passed the barracks and training grounds that included the huge obstacle courses.

I walked around Braunton and the wetlands of the river. It looked quite dark and eerie.

When I got to Barnstable, I was pleased to see the huge Asda sign and so I decided to go in and have a cup of tea and something to eat. Bad idea there was a huge queue and only one person serving. I went over the road to costa coffee and took the opportunity to rest as this was about halfway point for the day.

The Tarka Trail, a disused railway complete with old stations and level crossings, was very busy today with many families on bikes and others just walking. However, it was quite breezy and very cold for most of the day.

Of course you also get cyclists who are on a mission and think they own the path. I had a slight altercation with one of these who was an older guy dressed in black Lycra on a black bike. I was walking facing the oncoming ‘traffic’ and he was coming towards me really quickly and was shouting at me to get out of the way even though at that point there was no one else on the path. There’s always one.

By the time I got to Instow, I was desperate for a sit down and a cup of tea. I went to a lovely place called John’s on the seafront I ordered tea and freshly squeezed orange juice which was amazing.

Then it was another hour of walking along the side of the river being able to see the bridges and Bideford on the other side so close yet so far away.

It had been quite gloomy most of the day and when Amanda and Meryl came to collect me, the sun had started to set.

I took the opportunity of another shower and Andrew had made a lovely dinner, including sticky toffee pudding. Then unfortunately, I had to say goodbye as I had to drive two hours to Exeter as Priscilla had an appointment with the garage.