Thump thump. Up a bit earlier this morning with the farmer’s over and under sounding out in a nearby field. It’s good to be up earlier in a busy campsite with a small wash and toilet place. Breakfasted, packed and out an hour and a half earlier than yesterday with the promise of a barbecue with good friends at the other end of the day.
Never stand when you can lean, never lean when you can sit, never sit when you can lie. That was my mantra as an endurance athlete any time I was not training. It is the same now. The more time you can get off your feet the better the walking feels. I recover quickly with a good sit down.
From Braunton we had to go inland to reach parts of the rivers Taw and Torridge narrow enough to have been bridged. Along flat and fast cycle path recycled from past railway lines acorns dropped in the shady bits with a hint of sewage on the air. I thought it was me but we passed a water treatment plant.
A strong breeze kept the bright heat off. The SWCP route has changed and you can cross the giant A-road bridge to cut the Barnstaple section off. We started up it and then saw the town and its bridges only a kilometre or so away. We opted to cross the river at Barnstaple and found an excellent posh cafe for a sausage sandwich that transmogrified into a bacon sandwich by the time it got to me and a large cappuccino.
People think long distance walking is about muscles and feet. They’re not wrong, but skin is the challenge that can stop you. On day five the red and sensitive parts of you are changing. Overlooking foot blisters it’s the contact points between rucksack and skin, and maybe sweaty butt cheeks, that you’re waiting to adapt. The first few days are sensitive to the touch after carrying a rucksack all day but then they start to get a bit itchy. Maybe the redness is a little less, certainly the tenderness is going. The skin is thickening to the demands you’re placing on it. You’re adapting and it’s going to get easier.
Barnstaple and Bideford are connected by an excellent cycle path with a visitor centre for the railway that used to be here halfway along offering a break and a cold, sugary, caffeinated drink. For the walker on a hot day there is a 5km straight march followed by a gentle curve into another 5km straight march. You can see into the future. Chat and get on with it.
At the far end by Instow the coast path leaves the tarmac to show you how close you were when you walked around Braunton Marsh (600m away) yesterday and almost 20km ago. It also offers as exhibits large rotting steel boats.
Around to Instow cricket club, a popular bay on a sunny Saturday, and the path joins the road and then rejoins the cycle path with more railway memorabilia. These features make a huge difference to the wanderer and give glimpses to the past that we don’t see on Swansea cycle paths.
After the distractions of Instow another bleak 5km cycle path march is needed to get to the bridge crossing into Bideford. The route is dotted with more large old boats that have been pensioned off as ramshackle dwellings. I wonder how this happens. These were expensive commercial ships and they never left.
A quick coffee, cake and sit down at a cafe fifteen minutes before closing time eased us into the final few kilometres that left the town and returned to earthy path in woods with slight ups and downs between houses of increasing value. Sometimes the path dipped to the shore and soon we were at the campsite at 5pm.
Very good friends live in Northam almost next to the campsite. We showered and put on our cleanest clothes, were picked up and spent the evening being fed and looked after while catching up on our years apart.
31.5km and 172m of ascent.