Day Eight - (31st May)

Day 8 of 9. The penultimate day. Last but one. Whichever way you look at it we're nearly there.

However, getting more nearly there required us to cover another 106 miles today from Bristol to Okehampton. This was to be a challenging day, with previous end-to-end participants telling tales of woe of the rolling hills of Devon. Some clever map planning, some internet research, and some local knowledge meant that our first 60 miles turned out to be pretty flat. Despite the comfortable terrain we remained disciplined, maintaining a steady pace with head down into the relentless headwind. And thus, at around 2pm, we found ourselves in the centre of Tiverton eating lunch in the sunshine. This was the precursor to an afternoon of climbing, descending, and climbing. However, our research proved invaluable as we managed to avoid the Cadbury Hills by taking an alternative route - still climbing and descending but a bit less vicious.

An afternoon tea stop consisted of large scones, jam and cream - when in Rome and all that - before further climbing and saw us arrive in Okehampton. Wet from the last two hours of persistent drizzle.

Stat's for the last but one day look a bit like this...

Miles today: 106
Miles so far: 786
Climb today: 1655 metres (5430 feet)
Confidence score 10/10, of course!

This is is then now - we're pretty much there! Tomorrow is the last day of riding before home beckons and a comfy bed, peace and quiet and relaxing Radox bath. But let's not get carried away - there's still 11% of this adventure to go......

More photos uploaded today (and all resized to make loading quicker)
www.utrak.me.uk/jogle