Eclipse 1999 Cycle Tour

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A cycle ride from Newbury down to South Devon over four days, watch the eclipse and home again, two hundred miles each way, it should have been easy...

I started getting the bike ready a week before I left. I have an old bike which I use for touring expeditions, twelve speed with all round brake levers and gear levers on the handlebars; it saves me having to stretch down. Its not special but it does the job. For this expedition I needed to fit a front pannier with rack and lights. Fortunately I have one of those 'don't throw anything out because it might come in useful one day' garages and managed to find everything except the panniers, which I obtained from Craven Cycles in Newbury. I compiled a list of everything I would need on the PC and ticked them off as the week progressed. Nothing could go wrong.

The general plan was to take four days to go down to South Devon, stopping for the first call at my father-in-laws, then planning the next two stops before ending up near to Salcombe. It wasn't on the central line of the eclipse but would be near enough to see about two minutes.

Saturday 07-Aug-1999

I estimated the journey was about fifty miles so at a gentle ten miles per hour with a couple of stops and references to the map, it should take six to seven hours. I had filled both sets of panniers, put the tent on the back pannier and my 'new' ex-army extra-brilliant sleeping bag on the front. The bike was extraordinarily heavy. Gently I wobbled down the road starting off in a westerly direction.

Past Newbury I saw more countryside and less cars, gently pedalling on. This was the life, no worries, a nice cycle ride in the afternoon, just a bit hard work on the arms keeping it in a straight line. After an hour I reached Walbury hill, which was the first real and greatest test of the day. There was nothing for it but to get off and push up. The Newbury Road Club hold hill climb races up here every October, unloaded I could do it but...

Going down proved to be almost as tricky as going up, having to keep the speed low and brake all the way because of the weight. Near the bottom I suddenly heard ...squeek...Squeek...SQUEEK...KERBAM!!! as my back tyre blew out. A four inch length of the tyre had ripped off the bead and the inner tube released from its prison had ballooned out and ripped to shreds. So much for cheap tyre imports. I guess the heat of the day adding to the superheating of the rims by the brakes had been too much for it. This left me with a major problem. I had to fix the bike quickly because it was Saturday afternoon, the shops wouldn't be open much longer, and closed on the next day because it would be Sunday.

I quickly reviewed the possibilites and it was clear I would have to return to Newbury, ten miles away. It took me nearly two hours, up and over Walbury hill again, three hundred feet up and down, with a mixture of walking and just riding the bike slowly with the flat tyre, bump, bump, bump. Back again at Craven Cycles in Newbury, Jeff the proprietor sold me a new inner tube with free pressure gauge, and a Michelin World Tour tyre. In fact he sold me two; I was working on the addage that if I had a spare I wouldn't need it. Just over four hours later I was back where I had originally blown out. It was after 6 o'clock in the evening.

Through Linkenhold and Upton I stopped at the beginning of a long down hill stretch for a drink. I casually glanced over the bike to make sure everything was alright when I noticed something of great significance. Here is an invaluable bit of advice for anyone going camping; DON'T FORGET TO TAKE THE TENT POLES - THEY ARE VERY IMPORTANT. I could see why it had happened, I forgot to put them on the list, so I didn't put them on the bike. It was an easy mistake to make.

Wildhern, Weyhill, Monxton came and went, then I arrived at Nether Wallop. Up to this point I knew the route well because it is the one I take when cycling to the New Forest but now I departed from it to head towards Salisbury. It was half past eight and I was only fifteen miles from George, my father-in-laws as the crow flies according to my GPS. The road to Salisbury was not straight however because I was keeping to the minor roads and not taking main roads. It was still going to be a couple of hours. Now I had to start map reading and I was very glad of the clear waterproof map pocked that attached to the handlebars that I bought a few days earlier.

It got dark, I got tired and my bum got sore. I plodded on, fortunately there weren't any more severe hills. For my lights I had set up a ex-dynamo powered front light and used the light in my mudguard at the back with a 6v sealed lead acid battery in my front pannier for power, and I was very glad of it. The light was good and I knew the battery would last for at least twelve hours following a test earlier in the week. Thank heavens also for my Vodafone which meant that my wife and father-in-law knew where I was, so nobody worried.

Eventually I arrived at eleven o'clock in the evening, and after a very welcome bacon sandwich collapsed into bed.

Sunday 08-Aug-1999

Oh boy did I ache next morning. George made me a cooked breakfast, then I set to with the first important job of the day, making some tent poles. We found some wood which I carefully measured, cut, and bound my two spare tent pegs to the top of them, then tied them to the bike. The weather had deteriorated and it rained heavily a couple of times whilst I was doing this and fiddling about with plastic bags making things a bit more waterproof.

I eventually started out at eleven o'clock and the first part of the day was spent climbing up and over the ridge south of Wilton, then down and along the River Ebble valley. It was a grey misty day and as an indicator of how heavy it had rained whilst I was safely indoors making tent poles, the road had flooded in two places to a depth of a few inches. At one place water poured off the hillside and ran over the road looking like milk because of the chalk.

At Shaftesbury the weather had improved, and I ate my sandwiches sitting on an octagonal bench in the central street in glorious sunshine. I went to take a look at Gold Hill, famous from the Hovis adverts with the lad pushing a bike up it. And me - for the camera (cue cornet music).

My plan for the day was to cycle to a camp site the other side of Yeovil, taking the minor roads as much as possible, although there was a camp site before Yeovil if I needed it. I was using Ordnance Survey Landranger maps to navigate. The map pocket proved extremly useful as I cycled across sheets 184, 183 and onto sheet 193.

Small villages came and went as the afternoon progressed into evening. Eventually I decided that I was going to have to 'put my foot down' and make a bit of progress if I was going to get to the campsite. The minor roads are much safer for the cyclist than the busy A and B roads, but in some places, mainly near large towns they seem to meander all over the place and you end up doing nearly twice the distance. Near a tiny village called Oborne I took a connecting road which I can see now wasn't yellow on the map and is crossed by a couple of contours. I scrabbled and scraped down a muddy rocky track before gratefully emerging onto tarmac again. Keep on the yellow.

Over the top of Yeovil I found Tintinhull and turned down through Martock to the Southfork Caravan Park camp site. The owner greeted me warmly on the way in and still smiling relieved me of nine pounds for the night which the most I have ever paid for one nights camping without a vehicle - in fact including a vehicle. The camp site however was a pleasant family site which is very nicely set out with marked pitches, a childrens play ground and dog walk around the outside. The toilets and showers were very clean, well maintained and pleasant to use; I wish my bathroom at home was as good. There was a nice washing up place as well. It was a case of you pay for what you get.

I collapsed on my sleeping bag for ten minutes before tackling anything else, fortunately this sleeping bag has an attached ground sheet so if it didn't rain I could just sleep in that. I set up the tent and found that I had carefully measured the improvised tent poles about three inches too short. I propped one on my cycle helmet at one end and the other on my cycle bag which seemed to work and then I had a shower. After that I cooked up a good carbohydrate meal of pasta in chicken sauce, put that inside myself, put myself inside the sleeping bag which was now inside the tent, and fell asleep.

Monday 09-Aug-1999

I was doing well and making good progress to Devon despite the best efforts of exploding tyres, torrential rain and missing tent poles; I was where I wanted to be at two days. I had another energy rich breakfast and studied the maps to see where I should head next. My general idea was Exeter but on closer study there were camp sites near Exmouth, and several over the River Exe on what I considered to be the main objective, the start of the South Devon peninsula. There was a ferry marked on the map which went from Exmouth; I took a gamble that it was still running and would take bicycles. If the worst came to the worst I would just have to cycle an extra twenty miles via Exeter so that I could cross the river.

I packed as quickly as possible and set off on an overcast damp morning which slowly brightened up. I crossed the A303 trunk road at South Petherton and looking down from the bridge I was glad that I was sticking to the minor roads, the A road was so busy. Through Ilminster and approaching Combe St Nicholas it grew dark and started to rain heavily so I took shelter under a tree. By the time it eased and I started off again I had started to feel hungry. I detoured and dropped down into Combe St Nicholas. In a pleasant little shop on the green opposite the church I bought amongst other things some rasberry and custard squares, they were gorgeous. Going out of the other side of the village I experienced what was to become the order of the rest of the day - hills. Over millennia the earths forces have dictated that the hills in this region generally run north-south and my journey dictated I was travelling east-west; not a good combination unless you like pain.

The village of Stockland was notable mainly for the four hundred footer I had to trudge up as I left, the A35 notable because I stood at the junction for two minutes, and, bored of waiting for a break in the traffic retired to a nearby gate for refreshment before trying again, and Ottery St Mary for the steep hill I had to come down. Ottery St Mary was a large well equipped village which gave me the opportunity to stock up with provisions and have a snack in front of the large church. I was also into sheet 192 - the penultimate map.

Now I was getting somewhere. My direction had changed to mostly south and Exmouth was only a few miles further on. Whilst I was getting tired I still felt that I had a good few miles left in me. I have noticed when walking that the first two days are difficult, and on the third day your energy really picks up - this was as true today whilst cycling. Following a detour because the hawthorn hedges were being trimmed and I have had many punctures from hawthorn, I finally coasted down the long road into Exmouth and found the ferry.

The ferry was doing a roaring trade, not only were there plenty of cyclists like me with sleeping mats, bags and tents, but the Radio One roadshow had been in Exmouth that day and many people were on their way home from seeing it. I had to wait for the next one before getting on and was fortunately helped with my bike. Once over on the other side at Starcross I manhandled my bike over the railway bridge then followed the main road around. As I still felt capable of a few miles I started out for a camp site near the River Teign bridge at Kingsteignton.

I hadn't paid any attention to the contours on the map and I paid the price. Up and up and up it went, or down and down and down. There wasn't much flat and my progess was very slow. Each descent I counted to thirty then stopped the bike and checked the wheel rim temperatures, more often than not I had to get off and walk to allow them to cool. Presently I crossed the hills and got back on the main road. The first site marked on the map was tents only but I couldn't see a proper entrance sign. There were only two tents in about twenty acres of fields with no visible facilities so I moved onto the next site.

Wear Farm campsite is down off the main road and caters for all, including large quantities of mosquitoes. It had opened up three fields for tents. Eclipse fever was beginning to grip with eclipse t-shirts, eclipse solar viewers and other eclipse souviners available in the shop, and lots of additional campers present. I arrived at just after seven o'clock, paid six pounds fifty, and set up my tent in the lowest field with a captivating view of the River Teign. So captivated by this view was I, that I completely failed to notice the main railway line to Plymouth until an Intercity 125 tore across in front of me.

I cooked a meal then went for a shower. The facilities were not as luxurious as the previous site, but functional. A couple of boys occupied the next two showers. I had always been against charging additionally for hot water/showers/etc. in camp sites but now it struck me as a good idea. I don't know what girls are like but boys mess about in free showers for hours. I was splashed several times with water thrown too far over the top when I was trying to get dry, only after a shout to the lad in the end cubicle did it stop. This sort of thing doesn't happen in pay showers. It was getting dark when I returned to the tent so I didn't have much time to plan my route, but did my best on a bit of card which I marked 'South Devon or bust'. The night was punctuated by the sounds of Intercity 125's and mail trains roaring back and forth, and mosquitoes being slapped.

Tuesday 10-Aug-1999

Once again it took me ages to get ready again in the morning. I don't know what I do but it always takes me about one and a half hours; I am going to have to work on it. Once I got moving the first job of the day was to get over the river and to do that I had to use the A380 bridge. This was a dual lane fast bit of road and I kept well over to the left hand side and up onto the edge where available. I made it into and through Newton Abbot and back onto minor roads without incident except taking a wrong turning near the cemetry.

At Ipplepen I found a general stores and stocked up. The South Devon minor roads were fairly uniform in size and mostly free of traffic which made cycling more pleasant. At Totnes I had to take the main road for a bit but this wasn't much of a problem because all the traffic was queueing. I walked up the main street which was full of the sorts of shops that are interesting to explore and poke about in when on a day out. The other side of Totnes had a very steep hill which I could barely cycle up but at the top I then had a long descent. It was at the other side of Totnes that I started seeing temporary signs to special eclipse camp sites. I still had several miles to go to the south.

I continued through Harbertonford, Moreleigh, then over the main road again and down a superb long mainly flat minor road with good country views and trees showing the effects of the prevailing wind. These roads were single track with passing places and many times I had to pull over to let cars through. I saw a couple of temporary camp sites including one where the farmer had got in a row of temporary loos, oil drums for bins and put flags over the gate. Unfortunately the field was empty. I made a note of these sites in case I needed them. Eventually I got to roads where the cars weren't going and I really cruised on compared with the previous progress over hills.

Kingsbridge is a busy town situated on the edge of an estuary, boardered by water on one side and steep hills on the other. It was just after two o'clock so I looked for some lunch. Unfortunately the chippie closed at two so I was out of luck. I had one of my pasties instead. I had only a couple of miles to go now to the camp sites I was aiming for, I just hoped there might be space. I wanted a permanent camp site so that there would be proper showers, proper toilets and reliable drinking water.

Up and down the last couple of hills I came across the Alston Farm camp site with 'Full' signs displayed. A group of six motorcyclists arrived just ahead of me and the man on the gate confirmed that they were full to them. Once they had left and peace returned I went over and asked him where he could suggest I go. He started to explain about a temporary site up the hill then asked me to hang on whilst he phoned the boss on his mobile. 'Its alright' he said, 'you haven't got a car or anything, go and stick yourself on the corner there', pointing to a terrace with tents on it. 'I'm afraid I am going to have to charge you five pounds' he said looking concerned. 'Bargain' I thought as I handed over a fiver. I set up the tent about twenty feet from the next one, and I was in.

I had made good time because it was only just gone three. I had time for a leisurely shower, some food and generally time to relax. In the field opposite someone had made a series of crop circles the previous night according to another camper. My early arrival gave me time to plan my route home carefully, once the eclipse was over I wanted to get back as quickly as possible. I heard a weather forecast which was not promising for the eclipse tomorrow.

The eclipse and journey home...

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