That is impressive! [for those that don't know the area].
And I didn't even pay him to say that
I had to go into town this morning and after yesterday's pain-fest, not forgetting the 90ish miles from the two days before that, my legs were not at all impressed, even less so when I presented them with two panniers of groceries to bring home. All's good though - I've just scraped over 1000 miles for the year thus far.
I'm feeling quite pleased with myself for yesterday's explorations of Exmoor. 50 miles with just under 4000 feet of climbing, though I did walk some of it - the climb up from Elworthy crossroads, for example. If you don't know it, last time I was there I did it the easy way and hit 42mph coming down!
Looking back down at the crossroads - a good excuse for a break with a long way still to go before the top!
I revived myself with some tea (I love my flask) and once recovered, continued up to Wheddon Cross, one of the highest villages on Exmoor, and then down the main road to Exebridge. I thought that section would be easier than it turned out to be, but the road was very different to what I was expecting. For starters, there's lots of ups considering you're supposed to be going down, and the surface was so badly damaged from all the rain and floods that it was like cycling over cobbles, so I had to put in far more effort than should have been necessary.
As a result, I was absolutely pooped by the time I turned off at Exebridge for home and really struggled with the hills, the fading light doing nothing to help with my self-esteem and confidence. But with no option other than to struggle on, I eventually made it back onto flatter terrain, and then finally onto home turf, where my legs made a miraculous recovery and I even decided against taking a shortcut home, opting to do the full fifty miles as originally planned!
I'll definitely be heading up there again ... once my legs recover!
. All we seem to have created now is somewhere for the kids to smash bottles and spray paint large penises (Manvers).
