After a cheeky brew and minimal faffing, we set off out West into a belter of a headwind on the disused railway tracks out towards Burrator Reservoir. The wind was such, that Taylor was convinced we rode uphill, but in actual fact we rode in the downhill direction! We stopped briefly to admire (and add to a rather fuller than normal) waterfall that feeds into the reservoir.
Moving on over the dam we trundled along the token bit of tarmac past Sheepstor and then turned South passed Gutter Tor and onto Ditsworthy Warren House, which was the bit of Hollywood glamour I had promised. The Stephen Spielberg film based on Michael Morpurgo's story, "Warhorse" was filmed here. It is privately owned and would make a nice place to camp in the round field behind as it has drystone walls that would give good shelter if it were permitted.
Turning North, we passed the warren itself, which was made to breed rabbits to feed the workers in the Tin workings nearby. It was here that we had our only mechanical issue. One of Paul's seat post bolts snapped. As the light was starting to die, we rummaged around seeing if one of us had a spare. Unfortunately we didn't, so Uncle cable tie came to help. We managed to "re-attach" the saddle at a rather jaunty angle and then carried onwards. I'm sure Paul's voice was an octave higher when we finished riding! We had already decided that we were not going to sleep out as the weather was less than kind. The wind had not dropped significantly all day. That and the rain would have made camping a proper challenge.
So we headed up Drizzle Combe with the intention of meeting Nevis (of this parish) who had told me he was riding in the same area and had booked Nun's Cross Farm for his group. We arrived before 5pm and waited around for over an hour and a quarter, getting colder and less enthusiastic as time went by. Unfortunately, being locked out, and with no signs of incoming riders in the blackness, we set off back towards Princetown at 6pm with the hope of finding space at the Bunk House behind Foxtor Cafe.
Arriving around 6.30pm, we managed to collar the proprietor Dave who very kindly squeezed 4 decidely damp, cold and very hungry riders in for the night. So a quick change into dry clothes, bikes safely tucked up and locked away for the night and off we popped to The Plume of Feathers pub next door for hot food and fine ales.
Here we bumped into Nevis and crew, who only rolled into town as were ordering our dinner. We estimate if we had stayed waiting for them out on the Moor, we would have been waiting for over 4 hours! We would have been very cold bikepacking chappies by then!
After some good grub and beer and a damn fine chinwag, we retired to our room in the bunkhouse. I must confess that at 3.30am, due to some rather impressively loud snoring, I had to give in and went to spend the rest of the night in my car in the nearby car park...
After regrouping in the morning, we enjoyed a nice cooked breakfast and another good gas about all sorts at our host's fine cafe, and then went our separate ways homewards.
I would like to think that the inaugural SW Bear Bones Winter Bivvy was an enjoyable success. Roll on the next one!
Cheers,
Si
