Day 9: Tiverton to St Columb Major and St Agnes

Yesterday's blog told less than the whole truth.  Before we left our Taunton hosts, Manju had an acute muscle spasm in her back.  She moved very tentatively and it slowly eased so by the time we got to Taunton bus station, she was quite happy to climb to the top front seats on the double decker.   Just as we were coming into Tiverton, she had another spasm and slowly fainted.  Luckily we were meeting a friend of hers in Tiverton, Marilyn - another doctor - who helped me to get her downstairs.   We found a bench for her to lie on with her head on my rucksack, her phone went, and she conducted a perfectly lucid live interview with BBC North West news.  Marilyn said her pulse was weak but strengthening.  But she was suffering considerable discomfort so Marilyn took us to her home where she rested and I tried to be a competent nurse.  Its no good this.  I go on a trip with my own personal physician an end up looking after her.  We thought the trip would have to be called off but by the morning, Manju felt able to proceed.

We got a bus from Tiverton to Exeter.  It left at exactly 9.30am and our passes are only valid from then so the bus driver couldn't give us our timed tickets until after we left.  So we just failed to be twirlies - which is what Liverpudlian bus drivers call the elderly who try to get on buses before 9.30.  Great busy vibrant bus station at Exeter with loads of good information and helpful staff who even let Manju charge her phone in their office.  And there we found a wonderful bus which I had missed on the internet, from Exeter to Newquay.   Getting so far into Cornwall would make up for our lost day.  This was our longest single bus journey on a little 33 seater on which Manju was quite comfortable.  It took three hours and 45 minutes to St Columb Major Interchange which, we had been told, was the hub for buses south and west.   St Columb Major Interchange turned out to be two perspex bus shelters on either side of the road with no seats and no timetables.  But there were plenty of buses.  Four came and went in the few minutes we were there.   Not quite up to the standard of Sheffield Interchange but at least it works.  And there we met Arthur Page and his daughter who are doing our trip in reverse.  They come from the West Midlands and were delighted to meet us as they had seen publicity about our trip. We all took smiling photographs of each other and exchanged email addresses.  We caught a bus to Truro and our bus driver from Exeter joined us with his mother and got off at the WesternGreyhound bus depot to get his car home.  Well that's one way of spending the day with your mum.

At Truro, we caught a T1 Trurorian bus to St Agnes, a destination recommended by Mary from Taunton.  The bus driver gave us a lot of useful information about places to stay in the town and, more or less, gave us a tour.   I'm not sure how much of this followed his scheduled route.  We are now settled in the Moat House B and B and are just off to the local pub for meal.   Manju is coping.  She had a call from Lucy at the Bolton Evening News who is writing a daily column on our progress who told her we are now famous.