Date: 12/06/2022 Bovey Tracey to Cheddar

It was another fine day and we managed to set off at 9:00 am with Norman thinking that his bike would be okay today.
It was to be a much easier route today with just 2 major climbs, the first one starting almost straight away for about 6 miles.
We were getting a bit more organised and with the narrow roads we were taking being mostly unsuitable for the camper, had discussed with Rodney some rendevous points that he could get to without having to end up driving along single track roads with hardly any passing places.
Nick hadn't been sleeping well on the roll mat and was hoping Rodney could find a superstore which sold camping gear and get a small blow up mat to sleep on.
We took the B3344 to Chudleigh then minor roads through Haldon Forest Park and Shillingford St George to Exeter.
We hadn't been long into our ride when Norman realized his bike was still giving problems and as we would be going through Exeter after our first climb we would hope to find a bike shop to take a look at it, though with it being a Sunday we may not find one open. Luckily Nick's search on his phone found one in the centre which was virtually on our route so we called into the Bike Shed to get it fixed.
Bad news! Part of the gear linkage was cracked, which was stopping Norman get all his gears, and the shop didn't have the part in stock.
Good news! Norman had known this part would need replacing at some point and had brought it with him.
Bad news! It was in the camper which was 8 miles beyond Exeter and Rodney was half way through shopping at Aldis when Nick phoned him, poor Rodney had to abandon that and try and navigate the camper back through a very busy Exeter town centre.
Good news! While waiting for Rodney to get here Nick found a camping shop open which had an inflatable camping mat.
Bad news! When Rodney got here Norman couldn't find the spare part so it was just a case of putting the bike back together and carry on as before, having spent 2 hours in Exeter!.
We left Exeter on the B3181 to Broadclyst then minor roads, crossing the M5 through Talaton and Holman Clavel where we stopped for a break.
During one of our pre-arranged meet-ups with Rodney, he got a bit concerned when he heard Norman sighing "Ohh that's good, a bit lower and a bit harder." and he looked in the camper to find Dave & Norman sharing a moment. The sports massage I had before I left Orkney has obviously paid dividends.
I had made a poor route planning choice today, only discovered when Nick was at the supposed junction and said "There is no road here!". I had plotted the route along a footpath by mistake! Fortunately there was a bridleway a short distance away to take us back onto the road.
It was a bit steep with loose stones, Nick thought it was great and rode down but Norman and I walked down with Norman carrying his bike, and Norman's cycling shoes aren't designed for any kind of walking. We got back onto the route at Staple Fitzpaine.
We continued on minor roads, going through North Curry and shortly after we cycled past an Ice Cream van which was stopped at a house in the middle of nowhere & Nick persuaded us to stop and get one. It was 17:30 and we still had to go through Othery, Shapwick & Wedmore before getting to our destination in Cheddar.
We had thought would be a nice easy ride with an early finish, whilst it was not physically demanding like the previous 2 days, with the delay in Exeter, it was getting on for 7 pm before we got to the campsite at Cheddar Bridge Park. The log won't get written tonight again.

Rodney has been a trooper this trip, looking after us better than our own mothers would have done and served us up another good meal.

76 miles with 4300 ft of climbing, moving time 6 hrs 18 mins, avg speed 12.1 mph