Tina & Al's LEJOG - Stage 2

It had seemed to take an age for 8 May 2010 to come and for Al & I to be setting off on the second leg of our LEJOG journey.

The first stage had been quite easy to plan as it was essentially the South West Coast Path from Barnstaple to Lands End with a brief detour to avoid the Camel estuary. For the second leg, I had spent the winter months poring over various sources of information to plan the next bit of the route. First I had read Mark Moxon's LEJOG and secondly the late John Butler's LEJOG - which I found were both informative and inspirational websites. Another great source was Cicerone's End to End Trail by Andy Robinson I used this book a great deal, but didn't stick to the recommended daily distances, being a lady in her late forties with a full rucksack to carry!

The day had dawned however, and there we were catching the 08:36 train from Stirling to Edinburgh. On arrival at Waverley we found the correct platform and it wasn't long before we were aboard the 10:05 to Exeter St David's, where we arrived at 17:47. Again there was just a 10 minute gap until the 17:57, an hourly service to Barnstaple. Trouble was the station was mobbed with football supporters returning home from the match and everybody wanted to get on the two carriages that had been thoughtfully laid on. Somehow Alistair and I managed to squeeze on and to avoid standing on the labrador dog or the two bikes that were also wedged in with us. The football fans were great and I had a good chat with them, which was necessary to stop myself from thinking I was going to faint. It was also quite intriguing whenever we got to one of the small stations or request stops along the way, where inevitably someone in the middle of the carriage would want to get off. Eventually though we arrived into Barnstaple at 19:13 and made our way to The Royal & Fortesque Hotel.

Although we had enjoyed our stay at the Premier Inn last time, it was quite a bit out of town and we needed to start our walk the next day from the Long Bridge (where we had started before) in order to join up our route. When you took into account the price of a taxi to and from the Premier Inn, it was probably about the same to stay in the town centre.

When we got to the hotel and went to check in they had no note of our reservation (due to a change in their bookings system), but luckily were able to accommodate us for the night, despite there being a wedding in full progress. We decided, for obvious reasons, to go out and eat in a local pub. This particular Spring had been unseasonably cold; however, when we returned we couldn't find any way of turning the heating on in our room. I reflected on how lucky we had been with the weather last year, receiving two weeks of glorious sunshine after a rainy summer and hoped it would happen again this time, although I wasn't holding my breath!

Below is a summary of the walks and mileage undertaken for this stage: -


Our photos from this second leg of the LEJOG can be found on Flickr

Cost of rail travel for two people from Stirling to Barnstaple - £75.00 (cheaper than last autumn)
On 8 May we stayed at The Royal and Fortesque Hotel -  Boutport Street, Barnstaple, Devon, EX31 1HG Cost - £100


No comments:

Post a Comment