Camelford and Tintagel

Cycled with James along the 'Tarka Trail' (ex railway line) alongside the Taw Estuary as far as the new Bideford Bridge - great!

Bike comparison ......

Trainspotting and reflections at Bideford station.

They had a kind of mini rail museum and cafe at Bideford, and as a train enthusiast, I had to stop. 

I went on the last rail tour on this branch line before they took the rails up in the 1980s - I was a bit of a train spotter from an early age.  Anyway, in the little museum they had a picture of the very rail tour in question, see middle photo!

Whilst I was drinking tea and eating my flapjack on the station platform, I reflected on the fact that my dad must have arrived at this very station in the 1940s when he was evacuated to Bideford!  This is is his account /"blog" (you have to scroll down a bit to get to the part about Bideford).

I also ended up talking about food hygiene with the cafe owner as it came up in conversation- free consultancy provided!

Audiobooks

Moving on from the subject of Bideford, it was another day of great cycling - and also listening to audio books! Over the last few days I've finished off 'To the Lighthouse" and a French book which was probably equally as challenging to understand but for different reasons (my French learning project has suffered a bit during this trip!).  

Most of today I was listening to a detective story set in North Devon which Ralph told me about - it was a good distraction for the hills. This this photo shows the bluetooth speaker fixed to the handlebars which allows me to listen to loads of stuff, audio books, french radio and anything else on my phone - it's great!

Some scenery on route today:

Bridgerule

Bridgerule church

Tintagel

I decided to head to Tintagel before my destination B&B in Camelford. This involved a huge descent and then quite hard work getting back - I think it was worth it?  At least I can say I've been there - see photos and details.

The castle, from what I could see of it, was very definitely in the ruined category! 

Bridge to the other bit of the castle - (closed when I got there unfortunately)

It's got a tenuous connection to King Arthur by legend - but I think they make the most of it! I had to have a stoke up meal (to get back up the hills I mentioned) and I chose the King Arthur pub of course.

The old post office across the road was quite historic! .... and is also 'a thing to see' in Tintagel.

Once finally installed in Camelford I went out to see the town and had a drink in the local pub.  An unpredicted random power cut helped break the ice with the folks at the bar and after that I had a good chat with some of the locals.

Definitely now in Rattlers (ie Cornish)  territory.

Nearly there - tomorrow ojective - St Ives.