Southwest 2020
2020 is going down as a helluva year and unsurprisingly normal adventure trips were off the cards. Despite the pandemic a decade of adventure trips had to be marked, but clearly, we were confined to the UK. Moreover, the rising tide of cases in the North East forced us in a southerly direction.
Day 0 Cambridge -> Pershore
Firstly, get West. 120 miles fully loaded into a headwind with a sprinkling of torrential rain in the final 20 miles to keep me entertained. The route was progressively hillier and cut through middle England. Barring the Bedford -> Milton Keynes section it was a lovely cycle and one I would gladly repeat. 
Day 1 Bridgwater -> Exmoor
‘Recovery day’. An alpine start it was not. Once departed we were up and over the Quantock hills with a pleasant descent into Minehead. From here we looped back past Dunster Castle and selected an exceedingly steep single-track climb to ascend onto Exmoor. Fortunately, the high section of Exmoor was not too hilly. We left the high plateau and its abundance of wild camping spots for the sleepy village of Simonsford. A pub there was generous enough to serve us food but not enough to let us camp in their garden. The food was good though. ~60 miles with 2 major climbs. 
Day 2 Exmoor -> Tintagel
The big day. Observations:
- The coastal road is exceptionally hilly
- 20-mile diversions to do ‘top 100’ climbs are worthwhile
- Progress on the A39 is an order of magnitude faster than country lanes.
- Apparently, everyone knows everyone else on those country lanes. And we’re supposed to know everyone too.
- Diversions to random towns for lunch are not worthwhile.
- Tintagel is like Lourdes but with King Arthur.
- Our BnB was not in Tintagel.
- If you’re warm but it’s raining, don’t stop.
Day 3 Tintagel -> St Just
This trip was summed up by our route choice from the BnB. We selected the small road which is the as the crow flies route. This would be a good choice if you were a crow. But we’re not. It was straight down and straight back up a monster climb and it was the final straw for Jordan’s knee. Luckily some Ibuprofen and a gradual warmup were enough to keep him going. We took the ferry across to Padstow, spotting the Doombar on the voyage. 
At some point, our close embrace with the coastal road became too intense and so we went inland through Redruth. After Redruth things got kinda quiet and the road from St Ives down to St Just was sublime. Sadly in St Just we discovered the chippy was closed. Our tragedy deepened when we descended to the beach to wild camp only to discover we had no water and a good pitch was not obvious in the darkness. 
St Just Rugby Club was an excellent alternative though, especially given their ample supply of Doombar in a warm clubhouse.
Days 4 onwards
That was that for big cycle miles. Broken knees and the hint of a headwind heading north were enough to dissuade us. We pottered around Cornwall for a day or two before catching the train up to Taunton to get home. So ended 2020’s adventure week. 
