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Thursday 13th May 2010 Wellington to Wells The morning broke bright and dry and sure enough the day turned out to be a lovely day even though there was a bit of a shower in the afternoon. I didn’t fancy eggs for breakfast yet again so instead I just had two lots of cereal, beans on toast, a bit of toast and jam and coffee. The food was ok and the staff friendly enough but the room at the Blue Mantle room was so cramped it let the place down a bit. Well a lot really. I left the B&B by 9.15 then stood around chatting for five minutes with some bloke I met in the high street. He was a keen cyclist and wanted to chat about my bike, his bike, bikes in general and, of course, my ride. I eventually set off from Wellington and happily the unrolling route was great – nothing like the dreadful A38 of yesterday.
These roads were virtually empty and hill-free, winding gently along through wonderful English springtime countryside. It was all very pleasant, just what you want of a bike ride like this. Past Taunton the route followed the towpath of the Taunton canal so that part was even flatter and less troubled by traffic.
I stopped briefly in Bridgwater and had a cup of tea and a cheese and onion toasty at Barney’s Café near the bridge. Sitting there I wondered briefly whether I should call in at Thorn Cycles where I’d bought the bike but decided not to in the end. Instead I bashed on towards Street via a rather indirect and meandering route. It was very nice though.
At Street I bypassed the town centre and took the A39 towards Glastonbury. The great mound of Glastonbury Tor is easily visible from at least 5 miles away, rising distinctively above the surrounding flatlands. I passed nearby but didn’t divert to cop it. By now I was reaching the ‘lets get there’ stage instead so I just pressed on.
The A39 was rather busy but fortunately there was an alternative, the National Cycle Route 3 which broke away from the road and followed a nice quiet route to the A371. When I got on the cycle route, which appeared to be based on an old railway line, there was no traffic and it made a fine final approach to Wells. At Wells I struck lucky by finding accommodation at No 23 Glastonbury Rd, run by Liz Evans. £40 but I got a palatial suite compared to my old room at the Blue Mantle, it was all spotlessly clean and Liz freely offered to do my washing and get it dry for me! What a nice woman.
That evening I walked into the city centre and got a meal at an Italian restaurant. I was the only person there. It was a bit pricey but my body was still screaming for pasta with lots of tomato sauce and this place provided it – very nice so I had the Tiramisu to follow, plus a couple of beers. About £26 alas but what the hell – it hit the spot and the waitress was nice. It was around this point, as I was leaving the restaurant, that I received a text message from my good friend, Andrew, telling me that in 1970 he’d been boozing here in a pub called the Sun Inn. Apparently it was somewhere near the Cathedral, and he had sloughed off several gross of brain cells by guzzling rough cider from a barrel in the bar for 1/6 per pint (ie one shilling and six pence. This was in pre-decimal currency days and equates to 7½ pence now). I had to ask two people before I finally found this place and when I did I cagily asked the barmaid whether they’d finished clearing up after Andrew yet. Of course she was far too young to have been around in those dark days of 1970 and it was even possible that her mother hadn’t been born then either. She told me primly that they didn’t serve rough cider any more but that they could manage some ordinary (presumably smooth and sophisticated) cider at £3.30 per pint. That made the ‘Cornish Tribute’ beer that I was sampling seem like a snip at only £2.95. I informed Andrew that times had changed. Distance: 56.02 miles Average speed: 11.1 mph Max speed: unknown | |||||||
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