Devonshire and Exeter

My next destination was Exeter in Devonshire via the wild hills of Dorset and Blackdown Hills. My touring equipment allows me to setup a camping site anywhere in these national parks and use the local village facilities as needed. If your willing to put yourself out of your comfort zone with unpredicatble weather this can be a rewarding mode of touring and extremely cheap but I'm a fit senior citizen. In fact my total budget including return airfares from Australia for nearly five months was around A$6000. Why would you spend $15000 on a 15 day cruise of the Danube? I guess you have the funds, not like roughing it and happy to let the tourism operators take your money.

Being a short person I can easily fit into this one person tent

 that only weighs 840g and withstands storms and snow

Rewarding views from my tent after a long day's ride

and a stunning sunset

I loved meandering through the Devonshire wild parks stopping for the occasional cuppa and take in the view. Even in late September the weather is comfortable which is not surprising given this south west region is some of the warmest parts of the UK. I've only had two wet days since leaving Dover a couple of weeks ago. The paths aren't to bad being mainly fine gravel or bitumen so riding is quite easy. UK does have a network of pathways not specially for bicycles as many counties have signage for this national network supported by the Sustrans membership network.

The academic city of Exeter like anywhere in the UK will have the promise of history and it did with the stunning medieval cathderal and Tudor buildings. I discovered the strong academic culture here after an unexpected moment. In 2013 I walked from the Amsterdam train station into a laneway lined with large glass panels that pivoted and what I thought were sensually dressed female manikins. Oops it was the central Red Light district. I think we've all done this before in varying circumstances and chosen a wrong path by accident. Who would have thought that WW1 would be triggered by such an event where Prince Ferdinand of Austria and his wife were assassinated by a Serbian nationalist in 1914 because their driver took a wrong street trapping their quick exit. I expect WW1 was likely anyway with tensions rising between the various European cousins over power and land.

Well, after arriving in Exeter I made my way into the city centre with my bicycle fully laden with pannier bags and still had my high vis jacket on and helmet. I turned into the high street only to be met with a cacophony of sound coming from hundreds of student/civilian protesters marching to the town hall apparently about the NHS. There were people all around me and of course I had no choice but to become part of the process. Funny no one noticed my Aussie accent. It was loud but thankfully peaceful and the police were quite accomodating of the event. Don't let my grey pony tail fool you.