To Wells

I got out of the house before dawn. The dawn breaking wasn’t much to see, the sky went a dull red. It was very cloudy. There was a stiff headwind to Honiton. I found Richard’s road and we left in the direction of Chard. For this leg up to Wells there would be some kind of tailwind. Better than a headwind.

This bit of the route looked like it could be pretty in the summer. But on a grey day, the views were washed by murk. The rain held off though.

We got to Chard and then Somerton. In Somerton we were looking for somewhere to stop but the whole town was having the day off. In Street we found a coffee, a good coffee and then pressed on to the furthest point at Wells. A bit of lunch in Wells and then the turn around.

I was dubious about the ride out of Wells into the wind but it had dropped during the day and it was ok

On the A361

We pounded across the levels, up over the top of Taunton to Bishop’s Lydeard. It was perhaps a tactical error to leave the section with the most ascent to the end of the ride. But at least the road from Milverton to Wiveliscombe is fast.

The rain started as we left Tiverton, so only 10 miles for me in very uncommitted rain. Richard had a bit of Christmas cake at my place and then left to go on the last bit back to his house. Alas, I found out later he got two punctures just getting back in the rain

But we agreed that overall we had great weather and an enjoyable time. 200km in the bag.