Day 22, Ilfracombe to Mumbles

An early start, as we had to get to Barnstaple for Grizzly's PCR test at 9am. Meant missing breakfast,  as they don't start serving till 8:30. Apparently the owners like a lie in, as when Grizzly rang the bell to pay the bar bill, on the third occasion, the woman came down and said she'd been in bed! Morning Fawlty.

From Barnstaple we made our way to Lynmouth, the approach to which is a very steep and twisty road. Tricky in the dry, doubly so in the wet, as it had been raining since we left Ilfracombe. It's a very pretty village. 

If getting in was tricky, getting out would surely be as bad. Hill in, hill out.

As it turned out, the hill was the least of our problems. Though not as steep as the one in, the way out took us into the cloud and almost zero visibility.  Thank fuck (no apologies for language) the road had a white line down the middle,  as that was all that kept me from going off into the greenery or the oncoming traffic! Reminiscent of a similar incident in Portugal in 2019, this was as, if not more scary. For mile after mile  I crawled along keeping my eyes on the white line, constantly wiping my visor from the rain. For the best part of 12 miles from Lynmouth to Porlock, this torture continued. Only as we dropped out of the cloud did the vision improve and my body relax. Not something either of us would care to repeat in a hurry. 

In Minehead we stopped for breakfast, courtesy of the  golden arches.

Continuing along the coast,  we passed through  Watchet, where a steam engine was puffing away at the station, before we eventually arrived at Weston-super-Mare. A quick stop for a photo  across the water of where we would be not so long after and then our fuel stop.

From Weston-super-Mare we had to adjust our route, which took us on the M5/M4. Not ideal but did make up some time.

Through the back roads of Newport and Cardiff and on to the lovely seaside  town of Penarth, we made our way to Barry Island,  where we stopped for coffee and a lemon meringue muffin. The muffin was very nice. I managed to persuade Grizzly to pose with the Gavin and Stacey crew before we left. He hasn't a clue who they are. 

Refreshed, we rode the last leg to our hotel in Mumbles,  Swansea, though somehow we got separated,  so I had already checked in by the time Grizzly arrived. 

Tomorrow is our last full day together and we have a trip round the coast to Tenby to look forward to.