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A night of chatting and laughter, a delicious home cooked meal and a cosy nights sleep. We started the day with a cooked breakfast to set us up for our stroll to Barnstaple. Thanks to Tony and Caroline.

A bright start to the day and starting to warm up, no woolly hats this morning.

Our walk to Barnstaple was along the Tarka Trail, much busier today. The cafe at Fremington was particularly busy so no choice but to carry on to Wetherspoons.

On the way we saw Appledore shipyard, across the river. It was under threat of permanent closure in 2018, when more than 500 North Devon residents rallied to save it. It is now owned by Harland and Wolff, builders of The Titanic.

Disaster, no hot chocolate at Wetherspoons today and Lynn has to wait there with the rucksacks while Steve goes in search of some new boots. Although his current boots were tried and tested before the walk, for some reason they are pinching his little toes. His feet are spreading with age, unlike his hair. Luckily he finds a suitable pair in Millets, where the staff were very helpful and gave a generous discount.

From Barnstaple a two mile climb to Brightlycott Farm campsite, where we are greeted by Charles. Although the site is not fully open yet this year, he will always accommodate walkers and cyclists. The sun has disappeared and it is a bit breezy at the hilltop site.

Another cold night, we spent the evening in the laundry room playing cards before turning in.

Steve had to ‘pop out’ in the night, as he sidled back into the tent he remarked ‘it’s worth going out just to look at the sky’, Lynn decided to take his word for it and stayed cocooned in the relative warmth of her sleeping bag.

After a frosty start, a beautiful springlike day today.

From the campsite we had direct access to the Tarka Trail and our route today followed the trail to Bideford. Early on we shared the path with birdsong and the odd dog walker, later we were joined by walkers and cyclists.

For a while the trail followed a former canal which ran seven miles from the River Torridge to Great Torrington and some of its features are still visible despite it closing in 1871.

Arriving at Bideford we sought out Wetherspoons, Lynn has discovered they now include hot chocolate in their unlimited hot drink refills.

A short walk today before spending the night with friends Tony and Caroline in Bideford.

The wind finally eased yesterday evening so a quieter night in the tent, although still cold. The day remained dry apart from one short shower.

The first section today took us into Holsworthy, 2.5 miles away along a busy A road. We decided to take a long cut along country lanes, on rejoining the A road we jumped into a farmers field in the hope we could rejoin the road later. Luck was on our side and we escaped on the outskirts of town.

Holsworthy is a pretty market town, with some quirky shops and plenty of cafes. As it’s Friday, ‘Trek and Brek’ day in Lanzarote we decided to join in from afar, with a bacon butty, but forgot to get the traditional photo.

Walking with large backpacks draws attention, while walking away from the usual National Trails. Out in the countryside people like to stop and chat about where we are going. When in ‘town’ it’s more like the aliens have landed.

After Holsworthy we continue along minor roads to Shebbear and a pub lunch at The Devil’s Stone Inn, a pretty Devon pub which serves delicious afternoon teas along side normal pub grub. We opted for pub grub. We don’t do pub lunches often, but there is no pub near the campsite tonight.

An easy two hour stroll this afternoon with views of Dartmoor to our right and Exmoor ahead.

Camping tonight at Smytham Manor Holiday Park, the first time we have encountered luxury pitches with en-suite bathrooms and personal washing up area. We have a ‘normal’ pitch, but in ‘the walled garden’

A very windy night last night. We woke to scattered clouds and sunshine and it stayed windy all day, with some long sunny spells.

A couple of mini milestones today. The first achieved before we had left the campsite – reaching 100 miles. 

The second came late in the day when we crossed the border from Cornwall into Devon. Lynn’s home county and Steve’s adopted county for the past 38 years, he still can’t speak the language. No signs to mark the county boundary on the minor road we were on, but there was a NCT commemorative stone at the border.

We followed NCT3 for most of the day, the exception was a short stretch across Davidstow Moor Airfield a World War 2 airbase for the RAF and Canadian Airforce. More recently used for microlight flying.

Near Davidstowe we passed a livestock auctioneers which was busy with cattle and sheep trucks going in and out.

A little further down the road a pick up stopped level with us and the farmer behind the wheel said ‘Ewe han’t sin no cows has ee. Thase escaped from back of market’. Once Lynn had translated for Steve we both answered ‘No’. The road was busy with search parties. This ‘incident’ meant Lynn had to endure Steve whistling and humming the theme tune from ‘The Great Escape’ for the rest of the day. No burgers this evening.

Camping tonight at Noteworthy Farm, too far to walk to Holsworthy after a long day, so we are cooking at the tent for the first time

A very windy night with a few showers and the forecast for today was 100% chance of rain. It remained windy but we only had a couple of light showers.

The first of the showers provided some confusion for Steve and a bit of laughter from both, but especially from Lynn. Steve decided to put on his waterproof trousers but was flummoxed when they wouldn’t go beyond his thighs. Although we try and avoid wearing matching kit, our trousers are very similar and had got mixed up in the tent. Neither had realised, and Lynn had been wearing the wrong trousers from the outset. Lynn normally wears THE trousers.

We climbed out of Wadebridge to St Maby and dropped down to Helland Bridge to join the Camel Trail.

Many will know the Camel Trail, a cycle route running alongside the River Camel.

All the publicity pamphlets state it runs from Padstow to Bodmin. However it extends beyond Bodmin to Wenford Bridge near St.Breward.

At Wenford Bridge, in addition to bike hire is a lovely cafe ‘Snails Pace’ an off grid eco cafe which did good locally sourced food. In addition to a warm welcome we enjoyed tea and scones and a welcome sit down.

Tonight we are camping at Cherry Cottage, just outside Camelford

Camelford was the location of a water contamination incident in 1988 when 20 tons of aluminium sulphate was poured into the wrong tank at the waterworks. The worst drinking water contamination incident in British history.

A windy but dry night, meant a dry tent and a quicker get away this morning. The day remained dry with sunny intervals. Good walking weather.

We received a couple of messages via our blog overnight. One from an ex work colleague of Lynn’s, who is starting JOGLE, with her husband today and another from Ryan and Gerri, friends from Exeter who met us at Land’s End with fizz and chocolate cake last time. Disappointingly, they aren’t going to make the same effort to meet and greet us at John O’ Groats this time.

Our route took us back through St Columb Major, which was open this morning and then followed NCT 32, minor roads and supposedly a couple of footpaths, the signs for both had been removed. The first one meant an extra bit of road walking, the second we had no choice but to pick our way along the missing path, through a ploughed field and undergrowth.

Near Newquay airport all day, we saw military transport planes practising take offs and landings (bumps) and surprisingly a Jet2 airliner originating from Manchester doing the same loops. Hope it had no holiday makers on board.

Tonight’s camping is at Little Bodieve, Wadebridge a site we also used on JOGLE when we were joined by friends John and Sam. This time they have chosen to holiday in Lanzarote, not sure if this is bad timing or they didn’t fancy camping in April.

An early finish meant an afternoon of drinking coffee in Wadebridge and a lovely meal at the The Ship Inn.

After a comfy nights sleep we were re- charged and ready to go again – at least, our phones, charging banks and Lynn’s Garmin were.

We have to survive until Saturday now without any guaranteed charging facilities available. Today we will resort to using our printed maps to preserve power.

After what turned out to be a lovely spring day yesterday, we emerge from the Premier Inn to a drizzly, overcast morning.

Our route today continued along National Cycle Trail (NCT) 3 to Truro and then we picked up NCT 32. For most of the day the route followed minor roads.

On the way into Truro we chatted to a lady who’s husband had cycled LEGOJ a few years ago and she asked where we were headed today and jokingly suggested we took the Number 85 bus, we saw said bus 4 hours later when we stopped for lunch.

Truro was bustling with activity and our route took us passed the Weatherspoons and the Cathedral both of which we resisted.

We had planned to camp near Newquay, but following last year’s growth in ‘staycations’ the campsites we looked at were only accepting bookings of a minimum of three nights, therefore we had a long days walk to St Columb Major.

It turned out to be a ‘grey day’ all round, it remained wet and overcast all day and the route was without much of interest and views were obliterated by the low clouds.

Camping tonight also turned out rather grey. We filled in the online check and got lots of info including details of an outdoor swimming pool opening in May, it all sounded rather grand. It turned out to be a predominantly residential site for local workers. On a positive note there were nice hot showers

Our tent pitch is in the flight path for Newquay airport and a very large military plane appeared low overhead as we pitched the tent, our main bit of excitement for the day.

St Columb Major is shut on a Monday, there are three pubs, either shut or not serving food, so fish and chips tonight.

Another very cold night and we woke up to ice on the tent. The drinking water taps on the campsite were also frozen, fortunately we had filled our water bottles the previous evening.

A false start to the day when we followed a footpath only to reach a farmers hand painted ‘no right of way’ sign.

The campsite proprietor had mentioned an awkward farmer closing a path the evening before but it didn’t register that it was the path we were due to take. Note to listen to local knowledge in future. Two kilometres later and we were back at the campsite.

Having found an alternative route, we rejoined our original route just outside Camborne.

We do like a Wetherspoons and the ‘The John Francis Basset’ in Camborne, right on the route, didn’t disappoint for a mid morning extra breakfast. It’s in a building which was the old Market House and is topped by a clock tower said to be a replica of Big Ben.

The remainder of our route followed National Cycle Route 2 along minor roads, disused railways and bridle paths, passing through Camborne and Redruth, a couple of the poorer areas in Cornwall, a real contrast to the wealthier coastal towns.

Part of the cycle trail took us through Wheal Maid Valley Mines. During the 18th & 19th Century it was the largest copper mine in the world and was the richest square mile on earth. The mines were 200 meters below ground and the workers accessed them by ladder.

Our accommodation tonight is the Premier Inn at Carnon Downs as there was no camping available. A night of luxury.

We survived the first night of camping , a cold night so we layered up with clothes, hats and gloves, inside our sleeping bags. All quiet on the campsite as unsurprisingly we were the only campers there. There were a few people in static caravans who offered to lend us a kettle, not sure where we would plug it in, but it was a nice thought.

It was nice to wake up to a few comments on our Blog, a particular surprise to hear from a couple we met briefly at a B & B on the Great Glen when we were walking JOGLE in 2016, if we remember correctly, at South Lagan. Any comments in the Blog help us to remain positive when the going gets tough, so please keep posting.

The walk today was through ‘proper’ Kernow. Fields full of unpicked daffodils, remains of the tin mining industry (Steve likes saying ‘Poldark’ in a mock Cornish accent) and strange standing stones and circles. Steve found a pack animal for his rucksack but Lynn vetoed it.

Different views for us, as usually we follow the coast path up through Cornwall and Devon but we decided to try an inland route, which delivered glorious views of both the north and south coasts. Dry all day until we reached Lelant.

In 2016 we used paper maps and posted maps ahead to a number of campsites. This time we are trying to navigate using the Ordnance Survey map app on an iPhone. Steve preloaded all the routes and we follow ‘the line’. So far, charging the phone and power bank hasn’t been an issue. We will see.

This evening at Gwithian Farm campsite which is a lovely well kept site and came with a warm welcome but wet weather.