As usual, I woke up pretty early. It was grim outside, but not so bad as to stop me getting going. So I went to the washrooms, got half packed up and it started chucking it down.

I crawled back into my sleeping back hoping it would pass.

After a while it got a bit better, so I had another go at getting going, but no sooner had I stepped out of my tent, the wind and rain increased again. So it was back inside. 

I was seriously considering abandoning the day and staying put. I would have to go out at some point to get food, but riding in such crap wasn't appealing. 

Anyway, to cut a long story short, by 10 o'clock I just decided to go for it!

It wasn't too bad once I got going. I had no idea how far I'd get, so was in no mad rush. I just plodded on in a general north with a bit of west thrown in direction. 

I stopped a couple of times for food and coffee, but it was really rather uneventful. 

After a while it did clear up a bit and I even took off my waterproof jacket (the one that I now know is no longer waterproof anyway!) 

I realised then that I could actually make some decent distance - I just needed to head to Torrington to pick up the Tarka Trail which would be flat and even slightly downhill all the way to Barnstaple. 

So once all the climbing was over and I was on the trail, I just smashed it! 

I made rapid progress and knew I'd be in Barnstaple in good time. Most of the campsites are to the west, but I found one just to the northeast and headed there. 

Of course, there was a massive hill to get to it - there always is! Check out the last kick on the elevation chart and you'll see what I mean! 

Anyway, it's a nice quiet site and I've had my dinner - I just finished up the pasta I got yesterday, so now I'm all done. Well, I need to go and wash up, but that won't take long. 

The sky is very dark, but it's not actually raining. The forecast for tomorrow isn't too bad, so I shall head over Exmoor because I haven't done enough hills! My total climbing for the tour is more than Everest now!

So until tomorrow...