10 days off on a bike thru England’s -as they say- nicest parts. Devon and Cornwall. Here a re over 200 pics shattered over several separate galleries, also to be seen from the menu on the right. This page tells the story in time.

The Start

We started in Holsworthy, Devon. Nice quiet town. Stayed in a nice quiet hotel, The White Hart (dutch: hert). This forst time we had the nice room. First heavy breakfast: you can cycle on it to 13.30: great.

The weather was oaky: dry and warm, but windy. Good for biking. A lovely daytrip northbound.

This trip passed by the Tamar Lakes, where we touk a little lunch break. The lower lake is a nature reserve. The upper lake is more for fishing and canoe-ing.

Gnomes

That night we arrived at the Lew Barn in Bradworthy. Nice guy running the show. And he can cook. Before we could enter, we had to do some time. We ended up at the Gnome Reserve. We have some nutty pictures of that. Visitors had to wear a gnome hat to enter the Reserve.

Clovelly

The next day, we went further up north, to the Devon shore. Not really much of a beach: steap cliffs. The one most human had been picked out 100 years ago to build a nice village: Clovelly.

This village has tiny little streets, very steep to climb. Too much visitors for a normal living. See that fat fingerprint on the camera’s lense ? It will stay there for the rest of the day….

Some Gardens

After these steep climbs, also on the bikes, we went on a little detour. We saw two wonderful gardens in the Norhtwestern Corner of Devon, Hartland. First, there was the Hartland Abbey which featured a wonderful garden. Later we happened to pass by the Docton Mill and Garden.

After these gardens, it was getting rather late for dinner. But we had to go a little furster down south. No real road, except with a huge detour. Lazyness is paid triple here: we took the rough roads (a mountain bike trail) through the Marshland Valley, taking us to 45 minutes of survivalling, pushing the bikes up the +25% climb on a rocky surface. Pics of that were censored, sorry!

Morwenstow and Bude

After that tough day we had more sweat to lose: great sights over the sea but also steep climbs to bike. On the map I bought in Bude we could see several of +14% and some of +20%. There is a pic with the infamous 30% sign. With luggage, untrained. Me had to walk only a few times on the long-and-steep climbs. Shorter climbs which were too steep, I could do it on wheels and then breathe deep and wait for Suus a couple of munites…

How about that, eye!

The day we arrived in Bude, we went shopping and to the beach. How boring, but okay for a day. Then you realise most people sit on that awful pebble beach all 13 days of their holiday - if the weather allows it of course. And it did!

Boscastle

This site is also touristic, but more style here. Beautiful hotel called Riverside. The Boscaste Harbour is wonderful. How about this sunset?

This day ended with what we call ‘First Spider Incident’. of course at bedtime, no bed this time. It finnally ended when the spider was hit by a flying show and a member of the crew was called to pick it up with a something.

– later this week the rest of the story –