Time for Treasure - Sunday 18th July

On Sunday morning we re-joined our cycling buddies in the CTC for a day of Treasure Hunting by bike! It was a lovely day and we met up with Mike and Sue to cycle to the start in Exmouth. They took us a route we'd not been before and along the new stretch of cycle path from Exton to Lympstone...a route we'd end up seeing many times before the end of the day!

We arrived in Exmouth in good time, so we registered over a leisurely coffee and were delighted to see so many of our fellow Brittany tourers turn up. It was lovely to see people again and to chat about what everyone had been up to since the trip. We were also delighted to meet Tim and Judy at last having heard so much about them and their plans to cycle across France from the South to the North - a trip which they had just returned from.

All of a sudden, there was movement in the camp and we were setting off, directions and treasure clues in hand. We all pedalled off happily to investigate the first clue and were pleased to find two answers in quick succession. I soon gave up with following the directions as the others seemed to have it well in control - but I was ready with my pen and paper whenever there was a hint of a clue in the air!

Heading out of Exmouth and into Lympstone, we were amused to see that Kirby had been promoted to Station Master and many sneaky plans were developed for phoning him with complaints about the station...hope you've not had too many calls Kirby!

In Woodbury we stopped for a rather prolonged coffee stop. The pub opened up to serve us tea and coffee, but they weren't quite prepared for so many people, so as well as a rather slow moving queue, we also had to wait while they popped down to the shop to get more milk. Meanwhile Sue was keeping spirits high with some creative uses for traffic cones...

Back on the route again and saying goodbye to Sarah who was only out for a morning ride, the rest of us carried on to do the longer loop. Given our leisurely pace, long coffee stop and frequent photo stops this may have been a mistake! Up one lane the surface was particularly treacherous and we nearly lost Ant in a cavernous pot hole. If we hadn't been with the group I would have been off the bike and walking - but I gritted my teeth and chanted encouraging thoughts until we got the end. After a brief argument about whether 'Right' at the grass triangle meant we should go left or right, we turned right and carried on the correct route!

We soon seemed to be at the end of the loop with the extra clues answered and accounted for, so we thought we were doing very well until we stopped for lunch. As we were sitting down in a pub garden to munch on our sandwishes, Mike casually asked Steph how far we'd come. 20 miles came the reply, which meant we still had another 15 to do. That would be ok, except it was now 1:45 and we were due back at 3:30. We were ordered to finish up within 10 minutes and get back on the route again, so leaving my pint of coke having only taken a few sips, we were back on the bikes again. We were going to have to up our game during the afternoon.

From here on in things went a bit pear shaped! There were some steep hills which were slowing us down, then with me struggling to get much speed on down hill runs I was having to work hard to catch up on the hills. After one particularly bad downhill run and the return of my leaning issues, Ant, Sue and I got separated from the group and weren't sure where to go. We carried on, assuming someone would have waited at the junction if we were meant to turn off. Then, following some 'fresh bike tracks' Sue encouraged us off to the left. At the top of a hill, which Sue designated as a good dogging spot, we decided we might have gone wrong. Getting out the directions, we decided we should have turned off some way back...so off we set to retrace our steps. Just as we were heading down the hill again, we heard a voice calling us. Judy had spotted us at the top of the hill and although we should have turned off sooner, the road went round, so we were able to rejoin the group. By this time the race was really on and as soon as I arrived at a 'clue spot' everyone was done and was moving on again...so it all got a bit frantic and stressful!

We had a big hill to climb out of East Budleigh and then a race back to Exmouth. Unfortunately the route back wasn't direct and we had to go in to Budleigh for some more clues. It was here that our afternoon took a real turn for the worse as Ant's knee had been causing him trouble for some time and he was now finding it really difficult to keep up with the group. We got to the top of the hill on the seafront and had lost everyone again. The directions soon had us back on track, but we resolved to let the group go ahead of us so that we didn't hold them up and cause them to lose points. Don had come back to find us, so we instructed him to send everyone else on. As it turned out, most of them had gone ahead anyway, but Dom and Steph were waiting for us as we came out of Budleigh. We took it slowly back into Exmouth and by this time had given up on the clues as Ant just wanted to get back.

I thought we'd missed the deadline for completing the photo section of the quiz, but it turned it we hadn't, so we immediately had to set to and try and make sense of the photos and link them to places we'd been on the map. Harder than you might think - especially when you've not had time for a cuppa! The results were soon in and Roy had won! Very wisely it seems he had not stuck with the group and had gone on his own far more efficient mission! Ah well! We'd had a very fun morning, even if the afternoon hadn't been so good.

We'd originally planned to cycle back again from Exmouth as our training programme required a ride of 65-70 miles. With Ant's knee giving him trouble, we sent the others ahead and planned to catch the next train home. Ant was too stubborn for that though and decided to carry on past the station and cycle home. Stopping part way along the cycle path, I suggested again that it might be better to go back and get a train, but Ant was determined to cycle home...and the long way to get the miles in...so cycle home we did. We finished the day on 60 miles. It hadn't quite been the final confidence boosting ride we'd needed and Ant was seriously concerned about whether his knee would hamper our London to Paris ride. Unfortunately we coudln't do much about this, other than wait and see.

Thanks to Kirby for organising a great day out and thanks to all our fellow competitors who entertained us throughout the day. Extra special thanks go to Steph who sacrificed her time points to wait for us and make sure Ant was ok. I think you should get those back...if you speak nicely to Kirby he might upgrade you! He seems to have been enjoying downgrading Sue and Mike! :)