Day 9 - Okehampton to Crediton
Debs is on her way! Had another fantastic breakfast courtesy of Simon and Pam : they were heading off to meet friends in Salisbury (typical...I'm staying at their place down in Devon and they pootle off to less than 30 miles from my house!). Pam refused to take any money from me for my fantastic stay and I am really really grateful to them both - if anyone is going anywhere near Okehampton I thoroughly recommend Northlake B&B (they have kennels there too so you can take your pooch on hols with you!). Then a very strange thing happened - remember the two guys from the (very) steep hill yesterday? Well they were staying at Northlake too....what are the chances of that!? Their wives dropped them back down into Okehampton so that they could pick up on the Coast to Coast trail where they left off yesterday and they then came back to the B&B with the morning's papers - got talking to them and they had heard all about me (I presume) from Pam and Simon. They then donated £10 each to my efforts - we do live in a nice world really...
Debs and Mike then turned up with a further £5 from Mike's mum (thanks Mike's mum!). The weather forecasters predicted a bad wet day so although Mike kindly took the bulk of my 'luggage' in the car, I decided to take the backpack with the waterproofs and camera stuff as it still made easier carrying. We headed back up the B3260 then crossed over the main A30 into quieter country lanes. Although it's only been just over a week since we've run together (Bournemouth Joggers get together!) we still had loads to talk about. I think Debs was initially a bit disappointed that we weren't going to be on many footpaths but that disappointment didn't last long as we hit a bridleway which led downhill to Sticklepath..fantastic running. Then we picked up the Tarka Trail (made famous by the otter!) which took us back over the A30 and through a string of tiny hamlets. Debs had a fit of giggles at a sign announcing 'appointments required to visit the plants' posted on a gate....do the cabbages really have diaries? We passed a lot of animal runs and managed to pick out tracks of deer and fox or badger - looked as if they made regular trips down through the field, over the hedge bank, across the road then down through the bottom fields to the river. Running into Spreyton, we had only just commented that it was yet another village where no-one appeared to exist when, like an oasis, the pub appeared round the corner....The Tom Cobley Arms was heaving...massive plates of carvery were being wolfed down and who were we to just run by...of course we had to stop and savour the atmosphere with a diet coke and lemonade and lime! Definitely a place we'd like to revisit so make a note of the location! Unfortunately, Debs didn't do a very good job as my PA as although the barman politely questionned her activities when she went in to buy the drinks, she just said we were out for a 'run in the country'....flippin long run if you ask me! We then ran down to the valley floor and followed the stream to Coltsfoot. Rustling in the hedge made me stop and I found an adder....this was becoming a safari! A bit further on, more rustling resulted in some sort of mouse making an appearance. One confusing point is the signposts - one told us 'Crediton 4' then after a further 1/2 mile running the next one said 'Crediton 4 1/4'...were we going in the wrong direction? No, definitely going the right way....next signpost 'Crediton 3' then 'Crediton 3 1/4'....something to do with the Devon sense of humour I guess!? Just before reaching Crediton we watched a farmer rounding up his sheep...not in the conventional way with a dog but appears the poor hound had been made redundant as he was using his 4x4!! Then, just to prove we're not too far from home, passed a pub advertising Badger Ales...they come from Blandford! Unfortunately we then arrived at our final village destination which meant my time with Debs was quickly drawing to a close. We passed a lady sweeping outside her house and she was interested in what we were doing - Debs had clearly learnt from her actions at the Tom Cobley and proudly (I think!) told her what I was endeavouring to complete - the lady gave me £1 but then let her neighbour know who gave me £5 (well, actually £4 plus a €0.20 posing as a £1 coin!)...maybe I should employ Debs after all!? We ended up in the local Wetherspoons drinking house whilst we waited for Mike, Matt and Jons to join us from Torrington for the ride down to Exeter. Mike thinks I'm a bad influence on her as that was 2 pubs in one day! Unfortunately it was then time to say good-bye...can't believe it'll be another 9 weeks until I see them again (we'll have to go on an ultra marathon run in order to catch up on all the gossip for that length of time!). It's been great to see friendly familiar faces over the last couple of days and I do really appreciate Liz, Paul, Debs, Mike, Matt and Jons taking the time to join me. Love you guys :o)
Total mileage today : 16.6 with 'moving' time 3.53