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Friday Day One:
Dawlish to The Anchorage Camping, Near Clun, Shropshire
We eventually left home. Not at 8 am as planned but at about 10 am. Actually not too bad and in any case, giving us plenty of time to reach our destination.
Except that the traffic was far heavier than we thought likely. Although not slow and certainly moving, there were lots of vehicles on the move both towards Bristol and away from it. It seems many travellers had a similar idea - get away early and avoid the jams!
With most drivers behaving properly all went well: that is until we arrived at the Weston-Super-Mare junction, 21 for aficionados. We approached the joining slip road as a large empty tipper truck also arrived on the slip road, aiming to join the motorway. Travelling at about 55 mph and on cruise control I was a little ahead of the tipper truck, say 5 yards, but was also aware that a 44 tonner was in the process of pulling out from behind me at the same time. Rather to my surprise the tipper truck decided to treat the slip road as a race track, stuffed his foot to the floor (or in the Clarkson mode, pedal to the metal) and the truck inched forward in front of me but only partly. What now? Am I supposed to brake, slow down, swing into the outside lane as this idiot rapidly runs out of road?
I dabbed the brakes, the truck behind hits his horn and the tipper makes the road. No pile up but some really annoyed people. Shortly after this, with the tipper in the inside lane, the 44 tonner draws alongside him and for what seems likes ages, and in reality maybe a mile, proceeds, I think, to tell the driver what he thinks. Probably using the standard signals.
We continue on our way noting down all the relevant details but fail to find any police to inform!
After the excitement we have a quiet journey into Shropshire via the A49 from Gloucester. Although a little slow there isn't much traffic and we can admire some wonderful scenery. We can also stop at a specialist farm shop where the food is very tempting; local meat, bread, vegetables and cheese.
Our campsite, small and remote, is 10 miles west of Clun and about 10 miles south of Bishop's Castle. It's in a valley full of farms and narrow twisty roads that I immediately see as suitable for a bike ride! We settle in, and very rapidly we are preparing supper and as it's the first night, a bottle of wine emerges, a Pinot Noir from Chile; its light and easy drinking, lacking the richness and taste of a good Pinot but drinkable. At £5 we cannot complain!
So, we settle in for a good night's sleep in the quiet of a Shropshire farm setting where the only noise comes from sheep, birds and the very occasional car on the nearby road.
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