A visit to Quaker's Croft

Day 10:

Sherborne to Cullompton – 47 miles

Planned mileage: 47 miles

Actual mileage: 50.5 miles (perfect navigation, the extra is from a scenic loop around Sherborne to take in the old castle)

Cycling time: 3hrs 36mins

Average speed: 14mph

Maximum speed: 31.2mph

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/en/cycling/route_1398217.html

Accomodation: Staying with Andrew M

Quarterly peals from the abbey clock and a busy road aside, we slept well in our comfortable though slightly noisy room, and were down for breakfast in what felt more like a communal country kitchen than the usual B&B dining room. A warm welcome (especially from Charlie the Labrador!) was followed by an excellent cooked breakfast, with fresh strawberries on the sideboard to complete the fresh & homely touches.

We had a rest morning today! As the mileage was a bit lower than usual and we wanted to look round Sherborne, we milled around the place for several hours with our bikes and luggage safely parked in the B&B. It was another very warm day, and sunny with it – we've had quite a lot of warm but muggy weather – so we had a look round the impressive abbey (Saxon roots, mainly medieval, but with some late 20^th century elements too and no doubt everything in between). We were disappointed that the tower was not open to the public but it saved our legs some effort! Not disappointing though was the organ playing from a retired professional organist throughout our visit – extremely atmospheric. We emerged into the warmth outside again, did a quick tour of a few shops then went in search of a cafe – well, we hadn't eaten for a good couple of hours. Found one at the back of a second-hand bookshop, with a lovely courtyard in which we could enjoy our cappuccinos and scone / spiced apple cake (the latter, especially, excellent. Jen shared some of it with me and I was sorry not to have chosen that instead of my (still good) scone!).

Finally we collected our bikes but we still had time to visit the old castle (Sherborne has two, one old and one slightly less so) which was well worth doing, topped off by an excellent Dorset-made ice cream from the castle shop.

Jack The Treacle Eater!

So, at about 1pm, it was definitely time to head off properly so we said our farewell to Sherborne though it's definitely worth a repeat visit some time. We set off along some lovely country lanes, heading west for most of the day, keeping to the south of Yeovil. We saw Jack the Treacle Eater! Marked on the map, we had been intrigued by what this was – a memorial to someone with a peculiar eating disorder perhaps? - only to discover that it was a quaint little stone tower in the middle of a field. At East Coker we stopped on an attractive stone memorial bench next to a millennium marker stone, and were touched when an elderly woman passed by and said “Oh, Peter would have loved to see you sitting on his bench”.

We carried on into the head wind and soon picked up the much busier A30. This had recently been resurfaced with stone chips and for about 5 miles we were cycling in a complete dust cloud thrown up by cars and lorries – it was a bit like crossing a desert! Around 35 miles into the journey I asked Jenny what the exact mileage was – and was shocked to discover it was only 20 miles!! About 30 more to go and it was hard work. At Chard (birthplace of powered flight apparently, though we didn't have time to stop off to find out further details) we turned off the A30 and set up some pretty steep hills on small roads, so were ready for a break by the time we reached the hilly village of Combe St Nicholas. The friendly shop keepers sold us some suitable refreshments and gave us freely some directions to find the small road which led up yet more hills.

Once again however we found that some decent chunky hills are actually almost easier than the relentless grind of continuous ups & downs, and perhaps because of this or possibly our flapjacks were kicking in, we were soon flying along at much more like the sort of speeds we have come to expect.

The scenery was very pleasant too at this stage, with pretty villages, hedge-lined roads and great views due to all that climbing. Even better, we had plenty of descent and before too long were heading down towards the M5 and finally in to Cullompton, about 15 miles north of Exeter.

Andrew, Euan and those scones

We found Andrew's house without too much problem and he gave us a great welcome and plied us with tea. We had lovely refreshing baths, then an excellent meal followed by home-made scones with clotted cream and home-made jam. Yum!