JOGLE 4 Day 7 - 9 Sep 11

Start 0845 Finish 1900 Distance 21 miles. Sampford Peverell via Tiverton too Crediton. Today turned out to be the longest and most challenging of all our walking days because someone had miscalculated the distances on the map, nothing new there then! Except this time instead of shortening the day it became rather longer, by about five miles longer! The weather remained overcast most of the time with the odd shower but it stayed relatively warm. We started off at a good pace along the easy walking of the Great Western Canal and soon made short work of getting to Tiverton. At Tiverton we stopped for a well-earned coffee and sticky bun break and admired the Tiverton Canal Basin as well as watching the canal boats being pulled along by Cart Horses. Tiverton is quite a nice rural town and relatively unspoilt by the usual commercialism. I suppose that’s nice way of saying it didn’t have a Costas or Nero’s around but it did have a Greggs! After a quick exploration of Tiverton we headed off to find the start of the River Exe footpath. The River Exe path was relatively easy to follow and we quickly arrived at Bickleigh. This is overly commercialised with the Mill being converted to an Art Gallery/Pottery and shops and of course the Steam Railway but no picnic spots. We had our lunch on the wall of the main river bridge that is a single lane road and watched the world go past. It was quite interesting watching all the near misses with cars, buses and vans as there is a massive blind spot on the approach to the bridge. I am quite surprised that traffic lights have not been installed. Bickleigh has certainly changed a lot. The last time I was there was in the late 70s when as a Junior Soldier we had to undertake the Royal Marines challenging high level rope course, followed by a Bridge Jump into a river some 30 feet below near Ashburton. There were no hard hats or safety ropes in those days and definitely no risk assessments!! Just as well my mum didn’t know! From Bickleigh to Crediton it was minor roads all the way with some tracks meandering along the contours of the Devonshire Hills. It wasn’t until we arrived at Crediton and settled into our comfortable B&B that I realised how bad a way Ian was with some very nicely swollen legs. Luckily a short hobble along the road saw us eating at the local “Two for One” where it transpires that the manager was from Dorset and ran a few pubs that we used to frequent in the Wimborne area. An early night followed with legs suitably elevated and a plan B quickly convened in case we couldn’t get all the way to Oakhampton the following day, a 20 miler on hard tarmac all the way.