Day 6. Stoke St Gregory to Cove.

Day 6. Stoke St Gregory to Cove. 68 km 5:00

We set off from Meare Green after a hearty breakfast cooked by Hannah our hostess. The route took us through small country roads and lanes through Knapp and then onto the Bridgewater-Taunton Canal tow path at Creech St Michael. We stayed on the path until Taunton where we made a detour into the Centre to buy some lunch at Morrisons. 

After Taunton we went along small country roads until we got to Greenham where we joined the Great Western Canal. Just as we got onto the canal we stopped for lunch across the canal from the Waytown Lime Kilns. These were built around 1810 to provide materials to restore the canal. The surface of the towpath was good and it took us 4 km beforeTiverton were we turned onto a beautiful path through a forested green belt into the town.

We picked up some supper at Tesco on the outside of town and cycled through the centre which was pretty ordinary. It took a while to figure out how to get out of town and to where we were going. And Garmin was not performing. Fortunately we spotted the tourist info were we picked up a map which pointed us in the right direction to Cove. We were now off route 3 and had to rely on Garmin and our maps. 

We made our way over a hilly road passed diary farms up the Exe Valley with a serious hill to negotiate where our trusty steeds dug in their heels halfway up and had to be coaxed and pushed to the top. 10 km from Taunton we free wheeled into Cove and down to our B&B, The Old Mill, where we were very well looked after by Jane and Chris. Supper was a picnic beside the Old Mill which we enjoyed while watching the iridescent flash of kingfishers as they darted up and down the stream.

L