Day 3: Bude to Bampton

A much better night's sleep last night, followed by a delicious full English breakfast cooked by the friendly B&B owner. I could really get used to this ;-) After stocking up on provisions at the local Sainsburys, I finally set off from Bude at around 9:30am.

The route led out of the pretty adjoining village of Stratton, a fairly steep climb on quiet country lanes. After a while this flattened out to very gently rolling farmland (and some very muddy lanes). Crossing the border from Cornwall into Devon after about 6 miles left me with a real sense of achievement!

I joined the lightly-trafficked B3227 at the village of Stib Cross. A long fast descent into Taddiport was great fun, but this was soon followed by an extremely steep climb to the picturesque town of Great Torrington. I ate lunch at the top of a hill a little further on.

Early afternoon saw a number of relatively steep but short hills. After this the road joined the A361 for a less pleasant mile or so, before splitting back off again. Following a gradual climb to around 250m, the road was flat and fast for several miles, with great views of Exmoor to the north. Then one more fast descent was followed by a final big (but not too steep) hill before I arrived into the quiet and pretty town of Bampton at around 4:15pm. Here I was staying in a pub, so only had to go downstairs for a superb meal (washed down by a couple of pints of Doom Bar) in the attached restaurant.

Distance: 59.3 miles
Total ascent: 1727 m
Fat hairy caterpillars crossing the road: 6
Cumulative distance: 165.6 miles
Interactive route map and profile: http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1746