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answers to where am I ?

My friend called William FARM OF WILLIE CLEAVE AT HIGHHAMPTON and I are in the smallest Devon town HATHERLEIGH and it was close to the outbreak of a terrible disease in the county during this century FOOT & MOUTH.

The town is the starting place (in alternate years) of a half marathon RUBY RUN and was created as a result of the disease. My friend is very fit, and was tempted (best foot (FOOT) forward and all that), but the prize may not be as bejewelled RUBY as he thinks.

Disappointed, but not defeated, he discovered there was a cycle trail not far away, and he knew where we could hire bikes – there was no escape for me! Although I did insist on stuffing a pasty in my mouth MOUTH before leaving. On our journey, I kept seeing reminders of that half marathon. DEVON RUBY CATTLE

Off we went, in cavalier fashion heading to a to a town nearly 10 miles NNW  TORRINGTON, CAVALIER TOWN, but was it the large one GREAT TORRINGTON or small one I asked LITTLE TORRINGTON . Not quite either, friend replied, just an old transport centre.,TORRINGTON OLD STATION

On the way we pass 2 nature reserves on the left. One with links to the history we have already discovered ASH MOOR – LARGE HOLE!!, the other with links to the history we will discover later. MEETH QUARRY - CLAY

Once we had our bikes, the idea of a gently declining ride DOWNSTREAM TO COAST sounded very appealing, but friend had been studying a map and was keen to test his fitness.

That place sounds interesting he said – it could be where the monarch lived in poverty during the epic battle CIVIL WAR 1646 near here. Friend was really being stupid now, but off we pedalled – and wow, that was a hill! TORRINGTON HILL It might have been less than 4 miles in a SEE direction, but I was suffering from lanes and hills when we arrived., KINGSCOTT,

Only 124 houses, although many were very pretty, THATCHED so possibly worth the journey. But no sign of the monarch’s abode, even though it had royal connections, and we then discovered it was named after a Saxon peasant! CYNES (COTE)

However, close-by was something far more interesting. An entire village was built and owned ST GILES by somebody rolling in money LORD ROLLE. His vast mansion STEVENSTONE is now a ruin, but the pack he founded lives on in the grounds.  STEVENSTONE HUNT / TORRINGTON FARMERS HUNT

We both agreed it was time to return, and although the return to our hire point was mostly downhill, even William was puffing when we got there. PUFFING BILLY PUB

Still time for a much easier journey friend convinced me, as he assured me were going from 161ft above sea level to 7ft (he forgot to mention that was start and finish!!) REF TARKA TRAIL MAP WEB SITE. Off we went, and there was an uphill section and for some reason I got ‘otter and ‘otter. OTTERS!! TARKA/WILLIAMSON ETC

Most of the time we were following several transport routes. ROAD, RAIL, CANAL (CYCLE AND WALK WAY) The most interesting CANAL terminated close to the local RHS establishment ROSEMOOR– but it had a different name then. ROWES MOOR This route transported materials from the ground COAL, LIMESTONE, (from Wales to use in limekilns) CLAY (from Meeth) in both directions, so was ideal – until replaced by what we were pedalling along! RAILWAY

We could have diverted to see a massive stone industrial construction, built for a specific purpose, LIMEKILN AT ANNERY or crossed a bridge, that I assume used to cost .0020833p at a toll. HALFPENNY BRIDGE – ANNERY

However, it was getting late, and we passed the olden times opportunity of continuing a sea journey to Wales or beyond. SEA LOCK AT START OF CANAL At last, we reached our final destination, left our bikes, EAST THE WATER/BIDEORD/STATION and retired to another monarch sounding establishment – although we could not afford the suite named after a local author! ROYAL HOTEL, KINGSLEY SUITE.

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