 |
| New shirts! |
 |
| Grey and looming storm today |
 |
| The hills now are in the far distance, mostly |
 |
| Went through some lovely villages |
 |
| No tea for us |
 |
| Peter, the Fish, was selling fish from the back of this on the square |
 |
| Another lovely church |
 |
| Little cottage on the canal |
 |
| Canal bridge |
 |
| Field next to the River Severn, w/ Wales in the distance |
 |
| What our room looks like at night! |
 |
| ‘Rooms’ at our B&B last night! Our we’re inside the building not on top! |
 |
| Tea stop |
 |
| Okay, no cafes, we’ll settle for a pub! |
 |
| Another pub stop, first cuppa of the trip |
 |
| Clock shop Gloucester |
 |
| Gloucester Quays |
 |
| Brew pub, check out those lights! |
 |
| Quayside for dinner |
 |
| Had a great evening with Julie! |
Thank you all for your comments and messages, they are such a treat to read!
Big news today, we’ve changed our shirts! And it rained.
Yesterday marked the quarter way point, we have completed 25% of the route! We are in Avon County this morning and almost out of the Southwest. We will be in Gloucestershire this afternoon. Today also marks the end of Section 2 as tonight’s stop in Gloucester is our next rest stop - woohoo! This also means in terms of Sections we are a third of the way - counting those good things over this morning’s coffee. We have 47 supposedly flatter miles today 🤞, it will be cooler (so excited, different shirts!), maybe a bit of rain.
Thought we were going to have to find a GP for Steve yesterday. Bug bites never agree with him and this neck bite was vicious. You have to watch out for insect neck bites due to swelling in the throat, but that’s usually in the first couple of hours. This swelling occurred over the next day and headed down to the collarbone. Went to the pharmacy and got some antihistamines (which were not taken with the beer) and they seem to have brought the swelling down a bit. Keeping a close eye on that!
Also on the aches and pain front, different sore muscles today - sore pushing muscles! Even my hands ache! Hopefully all this is making us fitter!
Hilly and slow getting out of Bristol. We’d go back to the Old Town, but by train. Minimal canals and fairly small hills (once we got out of Bristol. The route was pretty flat today, which was great after the highest, longest and steepest days this week -Steve’s sister Julie suggested the title for today, the nicest! We’ll take it!
The roads were mostly actual roads - a huge plus! After we left Bristol, they were mostly quiet single lane roads, often with only passing points. As it’s been for most of the trip, really out in the deep country. We must have seen hundreds of farms so far, some small villages and not a single cycling cafe. The lanes are narrow, lined by hedgerows with periodic glimpses into the distance via a gate onto a field. The blackberries continue, now looking like clusters of grapes draped over the hedgerows. Mostly we’re the only ones on the road and the only noise is the sound of the bike, or us chattering. We went for miles down the lanes and the most we saw was the occasional tractor and a woman walking her dog. Riding along the canals was kept to a minimum today.
There’s certainly been a change in perspective since we started, different to be thinking, ‘Yay, we only have 23 miles to go!’ And it’s amazing how much energy you have when you’re ‘almost there’!
Getting into Gloucester was a cakewalk compared to Bristol. The town is set next to a canal and has a lovely quayside section with (brew) pubs and restaurants. We met up with Julie tonight for dinner as she happened to be in Gloucester for work, how cool is that?! Went to a Greek place right on the water, food was good, watched a rainstorm, had a great catch up.
Tomorrow is a rest day, looking forward to it!9
Pubs are the best rest and nourishment stops imho. 😉. How do you go about planning your mid day meals?
ReplyDeleteAnother excellent blog post by Katherine (keeper of the record). I am sure the book from this will be excellent when it’s done. In terms of “view from the front” not much to add in terms of the events of the day. I had been wondering what would stop hurting first from sitting on the bike pretty much all day everyday, my backside or my legs … I think it’s going to be my backside!! It’s slowly starting to “toughen up”, I am sure the legs will follow at some point.
ReplyDeleteI should also like to mention what an awesome “stoker” (person riding on the back) Katherine is. Navigation has been first class with plenty of warning of up coming “navigational events”, progress reports in terms of miles peddled and left to peddle, altitude climbed and approaching hills and “undulations” (what we call little hills). There is the occasional “STOP” from the back if there is any doubt as to whether we are on the right road. Also worth a mention is the enormous amount of detail planning that has gone into this trip in terms of finding accommodations close to the cycle routes in c 35 different towns and cities. Briliant job, all I have to do is my share of the peddling and keep the bike working. Onwards and upwards as they say.
Loving the multitude of pics and the elongated descriptions! I'm sure it's a lot of work, but for those of us living vicariously through you two on such an amazing trip, it's definitely something I look forward to seeing every morning. Congrats on 25%!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your rest day! I am thoroughly enjoying all the pictures and details being shared - keep them coming! Totally agree w Steve - planning for this is amazing!
ReplyDelete