TTT: Still 3.5! Emily hasn't fallen off for 2 whole days and is very chuffed indeed!
Emily's 30th birthday. Really feeling her age too; a number of mysterious aches and pains have suddenly made an appearance.
Judy and Stephen heroically got up at 6am to cook us a magnificent fry-up and see us off. Had an amazing stay there - thank you so much again!
Set off early with the intention of meeting Hannah, Sophie and baby Delilah for lunch in Bristol, which the Garmin indicated was about 40 miles away.
With a strong tail wind we were zipping along the Somerset Levels, and were almost pushed up the steep climb at Cheddar Gorge by the gusts!!
However on entering Cheddar Gorge we checked the garmin again and realised that 40 miles to Bristol was the distance 'as the crow flies': the distance 'as the cyclist peddles' was actually 60 miles and we had 30 uphill miles left and 1 hour to do them in!!! Despite cycling as fast as we could, with no stops for food, and one speedily mended puncture, we arrived in Bristol 2 hours late and unfortunately Hannah had given up waiting and gone back to work (we're really sorry Hannah!). Emily was close to breaking point after the steep ascents into Bristol and had a trapped nerve in her shoulder, but we both felt much better after having lunch with Sophie and a cuddle from Delilah. Thanks Sophie for the restock of energy food and drinks, and a big thank you to the absolutely delightful Delilah for giggling at Emily's silly hat and reminding her that this is all just a bit of fun!
It was a hard afternoon, with another 23 hilly miles, but we were well rewarded when we arrived at Stonecourt Hotel near Stroud, a birthday treat for Emily, to find we'd been upgraded to the most amazing suite we've ever seen. It was bigger than our entire flat, with a four poster bed and it's own reception / porch area! A bottle of chilled Champagne awaited us in the room, and we had sports massages which could not have come at a better time!
There were these '30' signs everywhere, they'd even painted them on the roads! It was as if the people of Somerset were 'Taunton' her...
I know it didn't feel it at the time, but it could have been worse........if you'd gone to the postcode that Ollie texted me the night before, you'd have been in Street, a good way off your route!....Watch those fat thumbs Ollie - one letter could mean another few extra miles!
ReplyDelete