Tintagel Castle to Westward Ho!

I've been tired today after yesterday's 68km ride from Tintagel Castle to Westward Ho! but it was a significant ride not only because it's quite a way, but also because it was my first border crossing.  Yes, I crossed from Cornwall into Devon, and on each side of the border I've been confronted by folk saying that they hope I only eat scones their way as their way is the right way!  For those of you unaware of this eternal battle between the Cornish and the Devonians, they have forever been at war about whether you should first put the cream on the scone with the jam on top or the jam on first with the cream on top.  Now I have to get this right or I'll be lynched ... I think the Cornish insist on jam first with cream second and Devonians insist on cream first with jam on top.  Personally, I agree with the Cornish because the cream on a scone has a habit of sliding off, and if the jam is on top of the cream then that will slide off with it, leaving one with only a mouthful of scone.  Sure, that's better than a mouthful of nothing, but if I'm having a scone I want something on it.  Also, I reckon that having jam on top of the cream (as those in Devon insist) is going to make the cream top-heavy, thus even more likely that the whole lot is going to slop onto the plate.  I suppose the Devonians might argue that the cream is kind of a fat replacement for butter and that one would instinctively put butter on before jam, but cream is not butter, it is cream.  It has its own mouth-watering yumminess and should be treated on its own merits rather than as a replacement for anything.  However, I'm not going to shout this too loudly while I'm in Devon for fear of being pelted with stale scones.

Before I crossed the scone war border, I still had a few days in Tintagel to rest and explore.  As promised, I spent quite a while looking for two famous blokes from the area - King Arthur 

Image from Google Images

and Merlin

Image from Google Images

I am greatly disappointed to report that neither were able to come to tea in my tent.  They were both tricky to find as they'd changed somewhat since these pictures of them were done, and Arthur was being closely guarded by royal henchmen...

Image from Google Images

...who were outraged that I was attempting to invite His Royal Highness to tea in a tent with a rectangular table!  They demanded a round table!  I said I would oblige and went off to look for one, and what do you know? I even found his original!

Great!  I thought I was all set, but when I finally managed to find old King Arthur again, and then get him on his own, he was completely obsessed with trying to pull a big old sword out of a lump of rock.

Photo from Google Images

He was taking a break here because I'd interrupted him, but he wasn't going to let up so in the end I left him to it and went off to hunt for Merlin.  He was an even trickier fellow to find, and it turns out that he's changed loads.  Of course, I should have remembered that the reason Merlin was said to be able to predict the future was because he lived his life backwards, so I really shouldn't have been surprised to find how he'd aged.

Photo from Google Images

I hadn't accounted for him having aged backwards, and when I did eventually find him in a pram outside the Post Office, I didn't imagine that he'd really be wanting to join me for a cuppa and a scone. I guess he'd have preferred milk and a rusk, but the conversation wouldn't have been quite what I'd hoped.

So instead of having folk round for a last Cornish cream tea I went for a mooch in the Tintagel Old Post Office and farmhouse - a National Trust property

It's small, but definitely worth a look around if you're in the area.  If you're not in the area then do take a look at the above link.

Yesterday morning it was time for me to pack up my tent, stuff the dining table into the panniers, cram in the four poster camp bed too, and set on my way to Westward Ho! on the North Devon coast near Bideford.  It took me two and a half hours to cover the 68km (42.5 miles) distance, and I did 25km of it at four gears of higher resistance than my usual.

My sole reason for making Westward Ho! one of my stopping off points was because it is the only British place name officially with an exclamation mark in it.  I've since learnt how that came to be, and it's all down to Charles Kingsley, author of The Water Babies.  I may get some of the details wrong, but this is what I remember from what I've read.

Charles Kingsley lived in nearby Bideford and wrote a book based there, and the book was called Westward Ho!  An entrepreneur in the area thought it would be a great money spinner to build a hotel in the area called the Westward Ho! Hotel, and did so by the cliffs on the coastline not far outside of Bideford.  As time went on, other businesses and small industries began to crop up in the area, making the most of the tourism that the hotel was generating, and with that came the need for places for the workers to live.  Thus sprung a small town getting it's name from the hotel, which had in turn taken its name from the book.  Fascinating, huh?

Being a book-ish type, this rather appeals to me and I'm glad that I've made a stop here, and now that I'm here I'm really rather enjoying the place.

I decided that I would treat myself to a couple of nights in a hotel in Westward Ho! because when I move on from here on Monday I have a very long ride, so I could do with a pampering weekend.  I'm not staying at the Westward Ho! Hotel, partly because I don't think the original one still exists, but also because I was very taken with this wonderful B&B, The Waterfront Inn.  Doesn't it look fabulous!  So airy and comfy, and a fantastic bar with lots of local beers and ciders on tap.

Mind you, shouldn't they be selling Devonshire Farmhouse Cyder instead of the Cornish stuff?  Perhaps there isn't the same rivalry with cider as there is scone and cream/jam serving.  I feel it is my duty as a tourist to support local business and test their regional cider and beer, don't you agree?  Maybe not tomorrow night as I'll need a clear head for Monday morning, but no worries trying it tonight, especially as I've had a busy day.

I had a lovely lie in this morning, enjoying the comfortable bed and lack of wind flapping at the tent, and then I went out for a wander.  I'd been for a little explore yesterday evening and discovered that the beach is rather lovely.

Photo from Google Images

 As you can see, there's a big expanse of sand, making it a holiday-maker's dream for sunbathing, picnicking, dog walking, and digging holes to Australia.  What you can only see a little of in this photo is the great Pebble ridge that runs between the sandy beach and the cliffs.  I understand that the pebbles/rocks fall from the cliff face and quickly have iron stains removed from them by the action of the waves, which also shape the grey sandstone into the round-edged pebbles we see today.  I can't claim to know how long this process takes, or why it is of particular prevalence here, but it has apparently been happening here for thousands of years.  Anyway, I think there's something rather beautiful about them.

These 3 photos from Google Images

Westward Ho! beach is a great place for rock pooling, and in amongst the rock pools is a tidal seawater swimming pool!

Photo from Google Images

Well, you should know by now that I'm a sucker for any opportunity to swim so of course I took a dip.

I couldn't resist a bit of posing when I came out.  I'm not sure why because I don't usually feel so comfortable in my own skin, but perhaps I was feeling sleek after all the bike riding I've been doing.  Whatever it was, I seemed to attract a bit of attention

I played it cool, though, and lounged by the pool to dry off instead of heading straight back to the bar with my spectators.  But I must have been more tired than I realised because I quickly fell asleep, and it wasn't such a comfortable place to be sleeping. I was lucky that the tide didn't come in while I was snoozing and wash me out to sea.

The benefit of my impromptu doze was that I got to see a beautiful sunset when I woke and was able to enjoy it all the way back to the hotel.

Both photos from Google Images

So getting back to today, after my delicious lie in I went back to the beach.  I love the beauty of the coast and the way it frees my mind.  Along these shores it's also a great place to people watch and to see how surfing is meant to be done, because Westward Ho! beach is another great haunt of surfers.  In fact, everyone here is so in to surfing that even the animals do it.  I don't just mean dolphins riding the waves, but people's pets - cats and dogs!

both photos from Google Images

'Well,' I thought, 'if the pets can do it then surely I must be able to master it!' I booked myself a lesson at the North Devon Surf School and gave it my all.

Photo from Google Images

Nope.  I still can't do it.  I think I will finally have to accept that I am not a natural born surfer, and having resigned myself to this I decided to stick to the much safer pass time of rock pooling.  There are some amazing little worlds to be found in the rock pools along Westward Ho! beach, with sea anemones, all kinds of seaweed, teeny tiny crabs, bigger crabs, the occasional jellyfish - though they more often lie like blobs on the sand - sometimes even a star fish, and not to mention all the pretty shells.

both photos from Google Images

You'd think I'd be safe from myself peering into rock pools, wouldn't you?  And perhaps I would have been if all I'd been doing had been peering in, but no, in all my infinite wisdom I thought it'd be great to get a closer look by having a little paddle in a rock pool.  What harm could possible come to me by having a wee mooch in the middle of the rock pool, lifting up a couple of bigger pebbles to see what lurked beneath?  I'll tell you what.  It turned out that the bigger pebbles were the opening of a canyon and before I knew it I'd fallen through the bottom of the rock pool into a submarine cave!

Photo from Google Images

It's not what you expect when you're minding your own business on the North Devon coast - to fall through the ground and find yourself being stared at by a zillion fish!  Plus, it was freezing!  Probably colder because it was such a surprise, and I have to say that the fish weren't too friendly either.  There was no friendly Nemo looking to help me or Dory forgetfully guiding me out.  No, they all just stared at me and darted around looking to tidy up their cave after my intrusion.  It was all I could do to get out of there, and thankfully I did, but after I'd found a piece of driftwood to cling on to I had to wait for an off-duty life guard to see me in the sea and come to my rescue.  Look, here's the proof...

Photo from Titanic still

The life guard was a bit dishy, don't you think? He made sure I was okay and then walked me back to the hotel.  I'm now tucked up in my room, warm and dry, and tomorrow I'm going to stay clear of the beach and take a little look at the headland.  I'll need a gentle day because Monday is a big one with an 87km (54.38 miles) ride to Wellington.

Please remember you can sponsor me for my journey (and blog writing) to raise funds for Pop-Up Gym, a small charity providing rehabilitation and exercise for folk with spinal injuries and other neurological conditions.  Please click on my Just Giving page and donate what you can.  I am grateful for every penny of sponsorship, as will be all who use the gym.