A Sunny Day at last!!

With the longest day of the challenge ahead of us, we rose early, breakfasted packed the support car & prepared the bikes for the day we also managed to collect two more donations to the fundraising from the residents of Hazeldine Court. So at 9.18am in shorts and cycle tops (no wet weather gear) we set off (a new personal best). In the absence of an ice bath facility to assist recovery, Jon had inadvertently decided to create his own version by sleeping on the floor directly under an open window last night, the healing qualities of a “freezing” nights sleep obviously worked, as he led out for the first 26 miles setting a cracking pace all the way to Ludlow. Although it may have been the lure of a latté which proved the real motivator for this. After refuelling on Ludlow sausage and egg sandwiches off we continued in the warm summer weather through the Welsh/English border country enjoying smooth rolling roads. Meanwhile Geoff had stopped at the local Methodist church and managed to get another donation to the fund. We soon arrived in Ledbury our next refuelling stop and by now the skies were blue and the sun was enjoying it’s day out of the clouds. As we progressed along the route we found a road sign for a place named “Edwyn Ralph – Please drive carefully”, what a great idea, personalised road signs, perhaps if this catches on we’ll see a “Geoff Eggett – Please drive carefully” in the future. Passing through Gloucester we enjoyed the benefits of their cycle path scheme by-passing most of the busy main roads and soon found our first big climb of the day out of the city towards Stroud. A swift descent from this was closely followed by a second big climb out of Nailsworth, whereupon a helpful passing cyclist advised us “Don’t worry, it’s only another mile to the top!!” By now it was after 6pm, and we were just thinking how lucky we had been today in comparison to yesterday with regard to punctures, when Jon hit a pothole and low and behold got his first puncture of the day. Good job he’d spent last night repairing all those inner tubes from yesterday!! After this it was just a final 15 miles or so to the finish for the day, so we “spun” our way over the rolling roads and covered this distance to finish just after 7pm. 116 miles completed today, total distance to date 874 miles. Somewhat sunburnt arms!! Somerset and Devon tomorrow, cider and cream teas for refuelling?