Day 1 ~ Bird Fest

Having nearly missed my third alarm call I crawled out of bed at 5.00am with only an hour to finish packing, shower and meet up with Rupert at Exmouth train station 3 miles away for the 6.10 to Barnstaple.

I had also made a fundamental schoolboy error forgetting that 6 am means dark!! I quickly rigged up some lights and headed into a 28dayslateresque Exmouth, in fact the most lively I've seen it in ages!

After a picturesque journey up the Tarka Line, letting the train take the strain, we decanted at Barnstaple and decided to hit the nearby Tesco's cafe for our first breakfast.

Due to the amount of calories being burnt on this little foray Rupert assures me we can follow Hobbit breakfasting guidelines, which means up to three breakfasts, before we move onto elevenses! I like that.

A chill wind was blowing down the river Taw as we set off along the start of the Tarka Trail. The estuary marshes were a twitchers paradise and we quickly spotted, kingfisher, Curlew, Canada Geese, Egret and Pelican...!

We diverted off the trail to see the delights of Bideford having cycled through the lazily named "East The Water", the reason for it's lack of "of" is beyond me, it reeks of local illiteracy !

Bideford came up trumps with a new found delicacy, Donut Peaches, they tend to leave less beard residue. A large bag full was purchased!

After Bideford the trail started to climb, up through old tunnels and over viaducts looking down on the meandering river Torridge below. We stopped to look for signs of Tarka the otter from a spot where I had seen him many years ago, but he remained elusive.

Our minds soon turned to lunch as reached Great Torrington. The Tour of Britain had recently visited and the hill up into the historic town was worthy of a King Of The Mountains shirt. We were instead rewarded with a frothy coffee and A BLT before exploring the towns market square, ramparts and being bewildered by the number of middle aged men with Mohawks !

The final climb took us up to our destination of Yarde Orchard. This Eco award winning camp\yurt site, bunk house and cafe is an ideal stop off point on the Tarka trail with a friendly, hippy atmosphere, nice beers and good food.

We've only covered 27 miles today, but it's been a great warm up for the days ahead. From inside my tent I can hear a distant rumble of thunder emanating from Rupert's tent!

Night all.