80 miles of blue skies.

A chance today to spend a little longer than usual in the outdoors, and what a beautiful sunny day it turned out to be. A very keen east wind did its best to keep us cool and slow us down here and there, but we covered the 80 miles in just over 5 hours which included several thousand feet of climbing over Exmoor’s lumps and bumps. Beautiful views across to Dartmoor and later on in the ride across the Bristol Channel to South Wales. We saw wild daffodils, wild garlic in abundance, late snowdrops and wild hyacinths inland.
Some early spring lambs sneaking through little gaps in the hedges provided some light entertainment.
Along the Taw and Torridge estuary Shelducks, oystercatchers, curlews, redshank, little egrets, charms of goldfinches and a few skylarks.
A brief but essential pit stop for a hot beverage and a slice of homemade Bakewell tart was the ideal refuelling option for the final 90 minutes of headwind home.
All in all the perfect start to spring.