We started the day in a Marston’s Inn waking up in what was described as a “super comfortable bed” by the manager. Anyone who has slept in two single beds pushed together knows this is a lie. So, aching still, we went for breakfast which turned out to have far too many rules for me to follow before I’ve had coffee. The value of our included breakfast was equal to the “classic” breakfast, listed under “cooked breakfast”, thereby negating the point of having a heading as everything under “cooked breakfast” was a classic. We couldn’t tell what the price of this was though, as all the menus and tables are so sticky, the pages of the menu had stuck together and pulled the top layer of paper from one side of the menu to the other. So once we cleared up that we had £10.75 to spend, we were game on.

Unfortunately, the neat little grey box surrounding the omelette and pancakes did not mean that they come to £10.75 together, despite being listed under cooked breakfasts and outlined in the same grey box, they are actually separate items. A) I don’t know who in this world is prepared to spend £10.75 on three American pancakes and B) again, I’ve spent a lifetime telling junior consultants that better communication is not achieved by putting a shaded box around two items that are not related only to make them look pretty. This is an ink:information ratio problem. If you put ink on a page, it has to convey more meaning than the absence of that ink.

The expression on my face obviously said all of that without my mouth moving as my decaffeinated brain was incapable of speech. I was, however, offered a pain au chocolat to supplement my omelette. Breakfast sorted.

So, then we set off, resisting the urge to stop off at the local sites. I will never know whether the museum was actually made of wool now…..

We’ve now reached Devon and it looks as though we are headed for villages filled with cream tea parlours and local pubs that actually open for more than 3 afternoons a week, rather than ones with seven Turkish barbers.

The village of Cullompton has a whole art thing going on to help build a community: there is a local butchers and a farmer’s market going on.  

In villages here there are signs above pubs advertising Cornish gins and lagers and in pub windows advertising very local entertainment.

But as soon as we’ve walked in to any of these more authentically rural villages, we’re through the other side and back on single path roads with great views, blind bends and ubiquitous gloves.

We walked gingerly through a National trust owned field and saw a moderately cool chapel and house. Apparently these are part of Devon’s top attractions so we’re not holding our breath for the rest of the county.

Thankfully we did also see the coolest tree on the planet that looked like the combination of a Tolkien Ent and a Harry Potter thumping willow. The resulting AI video Mark made of it is definitely situated in uncanny valley though.

Finally we arrived in Exeter, which has been likened to Bath in size and history. It definitely has some strong highlights.

We still prefer Bath, but importantly Exeter also has a Michelin recommended Japanese restaurant.

We’re in food heaven tonight, better than a Marston’s inn by a country mile…….

Distance – supposed to be 20 country miles / 32.37 (oh how we laugh at Strava’s initial guess at its own ineptitude) but after cutting a little bit out, we came in at 34.05km, meaning I won the sweepstake 🙂