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Being lead astray in a yorkshire pub!
Caroline and Chris treated us to lovely beer in the Peak District.We got here!
It seemed so far away on the map and we took 7 days to get here. I did not really believe that we could get there until we were crossing the Severn bridge towards Bristol, when finally Wiltshire seemed close.
Robin was quite stressed with our progress or lack of it for the first couple of days after Kendal But it was hilly and we made up the time once we hit Staffordshire (my favourite county so far as it was downhill!)
I now have a better idea of the geography of England-well the bits I cycled through!
We went to Dent from Kendal and camped near Settle on the first night. I enjoyed the hills in the Dales, very long but not too steep and there were loads of other cyclists. Then we pressed on down the Ribble valley and were making ok progress. I got slower through the day, especially over the Pennines when I wished we had gone the non-scenic route via Burnley. We finally got to the top of the hill between Lancashire and Yorkshire to see 7 burnt out cars. We were trying to make it into the Peak District,
The Camp in Gloucestershire
Lovely woods with lots of noisy mice at night! but I was very tired and then I completely lost Robin by taking a 3 mile short cut! We found each other again eventually and found a lovely campsite by a Yorkshire Water reservoir overlooking Huddersfield.
We meet up with Chris and Caroline near Sheffield and were lead astray by a pub lunch of chip butties and beer! After we left them the lovely weather broke and a massive thunderstorm hit complete with huge hail stones. We cycled on smiling and laughing in the rain, at the miles and miles of bank holiday traffic jam. I was amazed near Buxton when Robin suggested we stay at a campsite but there were no other real free campsite options about. We enjoyed a hot shower that night, lovely after having soggy shoes all afternoon since the rain.
Since then we have had baking hot weather and I am burnt! The hills have all been getting more gentle and our mileage per day is improving massively.
We seem to be getting used to the cycling and it is great to speed on nice quiet roads. The back roads of Staffordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire are very lovely, lots of hedgerows. In
Gloucestershire the farming got more intensive and prospects of free camps sites were getting rare, when finally a forestry commission amenity wood appeared. It was lovely and we even had a bench to sit on to drink our beers and cook tea by!
We went to the Forest of Dean where we chilled out with the lovely bluebell woods. This is my first experience of a proper forest in Britain and it is lovely. We saw goshawks and pied flycatchers. There were lots of mice, owls and badger noises at night and we had a lovely rest day going for a walk round the RSPB reserves.
My arms still hurt, this is a bit of a weird cycling strain. I have only fallen off once since Kendal, in the middle of Bristol! I am getting better at controlled falls! Bristol was a bit of a nightmare until we finally found the railway path to Bath.
Bath was the best city so far, very well signed for those of us with no Sustrans maps! The cycle to Trowbridge was great, even though the mileage was creeping up nearly to 70 miles for the day, the flat and easy canal
path was lovely after the hectic heat of the city.
So now we are relaxing with Robin's brother and going to the pub tonight. Next stop Sussex.
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anonymous
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Congrats
Hello R + E Congratulations on making it to Bath - sounds like you have done well. I have to say that I'm shocked you like Staffordshire - as an ex resident I can think of better places to say is the best county so far!! Anyway, just to let you know that your votes in the election counted and Tim Collins is now an ex-Tory MP (hurrah!). So it was worth the hassle of Proxy voting as he was only beaten by 250 votes. Hope the weather keeps on being good - we have had cold weather and hail in Kendal. - Kate