The husband has been reading blogs and made some suggestions. First, he said, yesterday sounds very nice but I don’t think people realise how hard it was. Talking about hills would just bore people I say. He agrees, but will just say that yesterday had some incredible climbs.

Then, he said, you haven’t told them all the things that have gone wrong. I was being nice, I said. But he told me not to be. So, husband is into gadgets, especially for this trip. First to go was the holder for his iPhone so that he could easily use it to navigate. I was behind going downhill at 30-odd mph when I saw something flying through the air. I screeched to a stop, went back and found said iPhone and the bits that had been holding it onto his bike. Cracked and crumbly, but still works. Holder had snapped off.

Then his bike fell over and broke the mirror (hours on the internet and lots of small packages arriving at home). And fortunately behind him again today (I do tend to apply brakes going downhill and he doesn’t; says it’s the motorbike riding that makes him confident to go fast around corners) and picked up the gloves he had left on the bike. Actually it all started at Lands End, when his bike blew over and he hadn’t closed the handlebar pack and 16 days worth of maps and hotel bookings flew around the car park.

So, we’re caught up with all that. Today was a lovely day, almost too hot when cycling uphill. I actually stripped down to my short sleeves for a while.

The cycle route was very beautiful and pleasant. Two problems. Cars were allowed and though there weren’t many, I resented every single one of them. And second, I do tend to meander slowly along cycle paths, stop to take photos, sort of forget we are on this epic journey. Which is nice, but we do go quite slowly at the best of times.

From the path we skirted round Wells, and I will now quote from the book we are using:”Departure from the cathedral city will be memorable for the very steep 200m climb into the Mendip Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.”

Oh, and the emus remind me that I forgot to say yesterday that we went past a free range chicken farm. Hundreds of chidkens very happily doing chicken thigns in a big field. Should have taken a photo, but we were cruising.

The Bristol photo should be here, but haven’t yet, and probably never will, figure out how to put photos where I want them.

So it was all going well, until we got near Bristol, then some difficult navigation, traffic, pesky pedestrians on the cycle path, and an uphill climb to our hotel resulted in my arriving very grumpy. Washed all my cycling clothes, took a long shower, and feel much better.

When I first looked at our route and saw that we were meant to be in
Bristol on our fourth day, my stomach turned. But here we are 229 miles later, Meeting friends for dinner. Cross into Wales tomorrow, I think just to say we’ve been there.