Day 2 : Padstow to Okehampton via Pyworthy 69 miles
Well that was an interesting day, but more of that later.
The route was pretty hilly with a long drag up from Rock to Camilford. A detour to visit friends Joy and Fred added 10 or so miles however the cup of tea and chunky Kitkat were very welcome.
So to the strange incident of the confused Buzzard. My helmet was attacked by the bird which would be OK had my head not been in it at the time. I was cycling along the A3072 between Halsworthy and the junction with the A3079 when I felt an almighty thump on the back of the head, when I looked up a large Buzzard was fly off. As you can imagine I was somewhat taken aback and in a load but polite voice called after the bird to stop and decist. After about 500 metres I got an even bigger thump on the helmet. I cycled on looking back just in case he/she decided to come back again. After about a mile I called to a cyclist coming the other way to warn him. He was local and said "yes it's been doing it for a couple of years". So you have been warned!
Post Ride Update
The post script to this was that on removing my helmet at the end of the day I found talon marks in the helmet and on checking the web I found the following article on the BBC website covering Buzzard attacks at this very spot (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/3795303.stm).