The canals of Devon

We’re becoming a real connoisseur of canals. We’ve pedalled along them in Lancashire, Birmingham, Somerset and now Devon. The canals have ranged from delightful and thriving to dire, dank, dying waters (Birmingham).

It was a joy to stumble across the Great Western Canal (why aren’t they signed more prominently?) and we pedalled 12 miles along it to Tiverton. It was stunning. Water lilies, swans, moorhens, fishermen/children and walkers were all enjoying its banks. I began to wonder what it would have been like with horse drawn barges. In days gone by these would have been busy places. What would they have looked like? Just as I was thinking this we turned a corner and came a horse slowly pulling a barge along.

CLIP

Where there’s a down there’s an up

Devon is one of the most fertile counties in the UK and as well as abundance of produce, crops and livestock Devon is also great at ‘growing’ hills. There are some most humungous examples. Some are aptly named, like “Longdrag Hill” coming out of Tiverton. Others come out of nowhere and seem to laugh with heartless pleasure as we crawl up them in our ‘granny gear’.

One of the Stu ‘n’ Liz cycling sayings in ‘where there’s a down there’s an up.’ In theory a down hill should be fun, however in Devon a steep down means you’re only 30 seconds away from a sheer slogging cliff-face of a hill on the way up.

I suppose in life you could use that phrase a bit more optimistically. When you feel ‘down’ it’s worth remembering that an ‘up’ is not far away.

Reaching our B&B

We’ve ended up in a proper farmhouse B&B. We wiggled through lanes with grass growing up the middle before finding the farm, tucked a mile away from Bridestowe.

We were starving hungry when we arrived - what a joy to be greeted by a proper Devon Cream tea. The advice from the farmer’s wife as she placed a gallon of jam and cream in front of us was, “Make sure you put plenty on those scones or you’ll never taste it.”

A fine drizzle set in and the farmer’s wife volunteered her husband to give us a lift to Bridestowe. He was delighted to remember that I’d interviewed him when I was at BBC Radio Devon, many moons ago. It really makes you realise the importance of local radio and tv in the farming communities of Devon.

Good cider at last

It’s taken a Devon pub to serve up a decent drink of cider. I was mightily disappointed with the fizzy offerings at the pub in Taunton last night. This is our penultimate day, tomorrow we make it home. We spent a happy 20 minutes reminiscing about each day or the bike ride. It’s been such a wonderful experience. We are so excited to be back in Devon and we’re preparing ourselves for the final day of cycling from Bridestowe to Ivybridge.

Two excellent events from Coaching Connect coming soon: "Taking your coaching to the next level". If you want to discover ways of finding new clients, listen to world class speakers and connect and collaborate with fellow coaches, this is the event for you. 

• Coaching Connect London: "Book here. 
• Coaching Connect Devon: Book here