Lejog Day 6: The joy of the flatlands...
Updated: Jan 6, 2020
The day could not have got off to a better start. We were staying at The Old Vicarage in Bridgwater and after a much needed good nights' sleep went down for a delicious continental breakfast. Fresh fruit, all manner of cereal and tasty treats. All week we have been living off full English breakfasts, but a girl can have too many sausages, so this was perfect. Gary Dennett, the Assistant Manager was caring, thoughtful and kind. I cannot tell you what a difference this makes. Before we left he gave us a genereous donation which was super, but even better was that he genuinely cared. If only all other hotels could have that level of care from their staff.
All day long we only climbed a total of 209ft, compared with the 2,000+ ft per day in Devon and Cornwall, so these hills were but pimples.
Slip Slidin' Away...
The downside of todays ride was Cow Shit Lane... a two mile farm lane that was covered in half an inch depth of cow slurry. We were sliding and skidding all over the place, especially when going down hill, but such was our determination not to put our feet (up to our ankles) in this digusting, stinking mess that we managed to stay on our bikes against all odds. The bikes were covered in shit!!!
We stopped for lunch at....
Still smelling of cow shit!!
Much of the day was spent cycling on the Strawberry line, a delightful cycle path on the old railway line. Rather like the canal paths the difficulty is that every few miles there is a traffic calming barriers to stop motorcycles using the paths. They are awkward to get through and the stop/start effect takes up so much time. Cycling on the rough tracks also makes cycling so very much slower.
We are feeling concerned that we will never make our 50m a day target if we are on either canal paths or cycle tracks. We only cycled 29 miles today but it took as long as 45miles on the roads.
Had a truly wonderful surprise today. John and Valerie Camm, the ex owners of Oxygen Bicycles are going to make a massive detour from their route from Rotherham to France tomorrow to meet up with us for lunch. Their kindness and support has been extraordinary and we cannot wait to see them.
Day’s Mileage: 29.03 m Total mileage to date: 244,23m
Day’s climbing: 685ft Total climbing to date 15,189ft
Tomorrow we tackle Bristol.
It's 8.30pm now ... so it is a good night from me and a good night from him.
Annette & Bob
xx
12/09/18