Tuesday 11 June 2013

Welcome to Wales

"You pays for your own sheep see" lol!

Total miles 70 miles
Total ascent 1405 metres

After a good night's kip I didn't wake up til 8am. It was raining and my desire to jump up and ride 60 miles or more suddenly left me.

Kevs day started with a puncture that appeared overnight. Eventually we set off into the grey murk, kitted out in longs and wet weather gear.

The ride started with a tailwind and flat roads...blimey a tailwind???
Getting around bristol was fun, then it was off to cross the severe bridge into the looming gloom and mist that heralded the arrival of wales! ...tidy.

Tintern abbey was I good ride, lots of green forests and tidy roads boyo. The hill down to the abbey was a good ten minute cruise to the bottom, where we met a Scottish.couple cycling the other way. I was pleases she had mastered english because I couldn't understand a word of what the guy said! Riding along the river Wye was picturesque, nice villages and pretty much what  I thought wales would be like. Sheep everywhere see...erm...boyo!

All was going so well...then the route took off up into the welsh hills...and let me say now that those who say the Cornish or Devon hills are the toughest on this ride clearly didn't come this way! These hills were pigs. Steep and repetitive, pne after the other for a couple of hours. Not even a bag of jelly babies was going to
Get me up a couple of them and Celeste was groaning on agony under me so I just got off and eked up several. Kev is better at hills so he rode up.

I was over heating I'm my wet weather gear so I found a hedgehog and stripped off and changed into my summer kit. Much better. Then it rained.

Thankfully the rain didn't last and the hills became less and less as we finally rolled into howton, and found the bed and breakfast.

So here I am on a nice big room, chickens outside, bike in the hall,
Tea and biscuits, and pasta .

Knackered!

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