BURKEYS END 2 END : Day 13: Unlucky for Some

Street to Dartmoor: 81.38 miles

Time Spent Cycling: 7 hours 59 minutes

Average Speed: 10.1 mph

We left Street YHA at 7.15am with no breakfast as we knew this was going to be another long day on the road. An oat flapjack made do as breakfast further down the road in Somerton and we headed off to conquer the Blackdown Hills. Right at the bottom of the climb, Ella heard a ping come from her back wheel. This is the ping of death as far as one of her spokes is concerned and upon checking her wheel, sure enough a spoke had snapped and yet again her rear wheel had buckled. She would have to ride with it until we could get it fixed. It was an extremely low moment for us all but more so for Ella. Her constant bike problems were making the long days on the road more of a misery for her. I looked at today's route and convinced her that once we got to Exeter we would find a bike shop and get it fixed, again.

The Blackdown Hills were cycled up apart from two stretches which we had to push. Maybe our 'legs of steel' had finally come to the party? It was lovely cycling terrain along the tops and when we dropped down into the hamlet of Broadhembury we were now in Devon. What a beautiful hamlet that place is and we stopped off for drinks outside the thatched post office which doubled-up as a cafe. Cream teas on the menu confirmed we were in Devon! Again it was ridiculously hot - 28 degrees and we drank energy drinks and Coca Cola like there was no tomorrow before heading back out like mad dogs and Englishmen into the mid-day sun.

The afternoon's cycle ride was aided by Rob's sat nav device which was working like a demon and the 'purple line' navigated us through the narrow country lanes of Devon without the need to constantly refer to the map. It was a great afternoon rolling merrily along beautiful countryside as we headed on down to Exeter.

Entering Exeter our luck changed for the better when one of the first shops we came across was a bike shop, Richard's Cycles. I was well-versed now in my approach, 'Hi mate, we're 2/3 of the way through the End2End and my daughter's bike has a buckled back wheel due to a broken spoke, is there anything you can do to help us out right now please and we'll be forever grateful'. Ella would accompany me into the shop to get the sympathy vote and low and behold the bike shop man would drop everything and get the job done. Richard's Cycles were no exception. 'Sure, give me 20 minutes to half an hour and I'll have it ready for you' was their response. We were, like I promised the man, forever grateful. Not only could we get the bike fixed we could also combine it with a chance to drink energy drinks and eat Mars Bars, Boosts or Double Deckers!

We left Exeter with eight wheels running straight and true and took the only road we had to take for the rest of the day, the B3212 firstly towards Moretonhampstead and then onward into Dartmoor. Unfortunately the road began to take on steep proportions and we climbed slowly for a mile or two and, as we congratulated ourselves for defeating yet another long climb, the road would plummet all the way back down to 'ground zero' and all the hard work we'd put in on the climb would be wasted. This trend went on for three or four huge climbs and it was exhausting work. Infact it carried on all the way to Moretonhampstead where we rested up outside the Coop whilst we drank more energy cans and braced ourselves for Dartmoor. We had already cycled 65 miles by the time we got there and we had had enough, well I know I had. It was a struggle to raise the energy and the spirits to get over Dartmoor and we delayed the inevitable some more by talking to another cyclist who we had overtaken earlier. He was cycling from Bristol to Tavistock. Eventually he left and so did we and we entered the Dartmoor National Park.

Huge climbs, huge descents, huge climbs, huge descents. You get the picture. At the top of one of the climbs a large group of Dartmoor Ponies had gathered and I stopped there to wait for Ella and Georgia but by the time they reached the top of the climb the ponies had all cleared off!

Eventually every day comes to an end and the final descent into Postbridge was one I'll never forget. The light was closing in and to be on Dartmoor on a bike with your two children, riding the End2End and descending at 44mph was an emotional experience. I hated those climbs leading up to this moment but you've got to put in the hard yards to appreciate the joy that you could only get on a bicycle on these descents. I realised there and then that I love cycling.

On the approach to our YHA Ella (who else) got a puncture to her rear wheel. Bloody typical!