Day 2 - A Tale Of 5 Counties And 2 Countries

Today was quite tough, and things did not augure well this morning, as we sorted out the bikes in the spitting rain. Matt and Joe put jackets on, while James held out, as he didn't want the faff of getting hot and then having to sort out stowage again (his jacket is too big to go in a pocket, so is being kept on his crossbar). The other slight hiccup was that the B&B didn't do breakfast before 0800, so we hit the road at 0900, which is a bit late really.

Luckily the rain eased off fairly quickly, but not before we'd got soaked feet and backsides (a side-effect of riding road bikes with no mudguards). However, the route took us down a lot of narrow, up/down/up/down lanes which were quite sapping. The good news according to route-meister Matt was that these were taking us on the most direct line!

We reached Taunton - at 55 miles - around 1300, and started the hunt for a lunch venue. After considering and rejecting one very busy pub, we had the genius idea of going to the local garden centre (which was on the route), where they had a 5 star restaurant. Don't get too excited - 5 stars for food hygiene, and we don't know if it's out of 10! However, having wheeled (James wanted to ride, but was told to behave by the others) the bikes through the centre, we tucked into a very nice pasta bake followed by eclaires and bananas. After a bottle refill from the very friendly staff we were off.

Oh yes, just before lunch, we nearly had a full-on Tour De France wipeout as a group of local racing cyclists pulled out in front of us as we reached the bottom of a hill (doing around 30mph), and promptly (tried to) turn right. A near thing, but no-one came off, luckily. Not sure what they were thinking! This was followed by James's first puncture (in fact the first at all with his road bike - the tube was welded to the inside of the tyre, it had been in so long).

After Taunton it was North to the Somerset Levels, over a tiny hill (apparently the Quantocks, we think - but this map sheet's disintegrated in the rain) then more Levels, past Cheddar Gorge and past Bristol, over the Severn Bridge (old one) and up to Chepstow. A long day, arriving at 1930 to find that the pub stopped cooking at 2000 so all a bit of a rush.

Daily statistics

Miles ridden: 128 (despite Matt saying it was 121)

Calories expended: 7,500

Calories consumed: lots!

Tractors overtaken: 1

Punctures: 1

Near wipeouts: 1

Counties: Devon, South Somerset, North Somerset, Avon (that's a county isn't it?) Monmouthshire

Countries: England, Wales

Strangest sign: "Blogg's Garage"

Wives Worried: 1 (Helen noting that the GPS tracker stopped right outside Chepstow hospital, calling James and finding his phone being answered by Matt).

Plan For Tomorrow

Up earlier and start the Sudocrem treatment!