Day 7 | jogle-2014

Day 7 - Chester to Hereford

Up early again as per usual but by now we were used to it, your legs are pretty tired by now so your quality of sleep suffers a little, the more comfortable a bed you can find the better, I'll remember that for the next trip. There was no breakfast at this hotel so it was up and out with an energy bar. After getting the bikes back down in the lift (not easy) we left the keys in a box and let ourselves out on the the sunny streets of Chester.

We headed off out of the Chester ring road and on to the A41, it was quite quiet and a really pleasant morning for cycling. Apart from my hands I felt good, this being the second 100 miler day on the trot I was trying to block that from my mind. We got to Whitchurch after 20 miles and stopped at a Sainsbury's where by now my hands were such an issue that I had to do something about it.

What eventually became a bit of a standing joke I bought a round bath sponge and taped it to my handlebars with electrical tape so my hands could rest on something soft and the surface area of the bars to my hands increased. After refuelling with some food and water we set off. There was an instant improvement on the right hand which was quite pleasing, it hadn't sorted it but gave me enough relief to feel mentally a bit better about it. Little did I know that the damage I had done was to take the best part of 4 months to heal. You can make out the sponge on the handlebar in the picture below

Back

Route: Day7
Activity: Cycle
Started: 20 Jun 2014 06:08:28
Ride Time: 7:15:48
Stopped Time: 3:33:14
Distance: 103.66 miles
Average Speed: 14.27 mph
Fastest Speed: 34.70 mph
Ascent: 8605 feet
Descent: 8488 feet
Calories: 6151

Temperature - 18oC

Weather - Mostly Sunny

Wind - 7mph Easterly

Humidity - 88%

Sunrise - 04:43

Sunset - 21:43

Heading down the A49 then diverting in to Shrewsbury for a mid morning tea, we arrived after about 40 miles of cycling. It was only about 10:30 so we had made good time and all of a sudden the 100+ mile day seemed more manageable.

We headed out of Shrewsbury on the A688 toward the Welsh border and immediatley climbed about 650ft up a steady forested incline which must have been an 8 mile climb. The scenery was simply stunning and the weather made it an absolute pleasure to be out there. Quiet roads, sound of the countryside and smell of fresh air with the sun shining through the trees .... it doesn't get much better than days like these.

The picture on the left was at the top of the climb where we stopped for a rest and some refuelling. I think John parked his bike closer to the bus stop for a reason, luckily the busses only past every hour or so!

We headed down a fabulous decline which for once the corners were wide open so you could enjoy the decent without worrying about impending death. This took us to a small village, Bishops Castle, where we decided to stop for lunch. 66 miles by lunch time, makes you feel good, you can't underestimate the importance of the psychological effect of this on a long multi-day trip.

'The Happy Bap', indeed it was as by this time I was hungry and it was hot outside, especially after the short acutely steep climb to get to the top of the high street where the shop was. Lovely setting though and would recomend this as a stop to other riders.

We set off for the remaining 37 miles to Hereford following the 'B' roads most of the way which made for a pleasant countryside ride in the sun. The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful other than a stop in Wigmore for an ice cream which was well recieved. Also the irony of the 'Wigmore Cemetary', which reminded us of another location that we are familiar with.

I wouldn't say my neck was better but my brain had just got used to how it felt, the tennis ball method still helping every evening to relieve the pain a little. My hands were not good, especially the right one. As I started off in the mornings I could feel that my nerves in the outside ridge of each hand had siezed up and in the early part of the ride this made it difficult to get the strength to change the gears on the double tap mechanism. This was all the more difficult if the early stages were hilly in any way, which made me worry a little about the last 2 days through Devon and Cornwall .......... still, the bath sponge on the handlebar was holding up quite nicely ..... every cloud!

We eventually found our way on to the A4110 which led us all the way to Hereford and a quick left turn on to the Roman Road (A4103) as we reached the towns outskirts revealed our B&B for the night. Both of our rooms had a bath (by this time a pre requisite) and both had four poster double beds, very reasonably priced and a very nice welcome piece of luxury. The lady who ran the B&B was lovely, her husband (who had died in the preceeding years) had an aviation background and there was all sorts of relics and photographs of a once great time dottted around the house, including a very large bent propellor. We didn't pluck up the courage to ask if this was linked to his demise, might have cut our stay short! One thing is for sure, he left behind a lovely wife and a beautiful home.

Tomorrow (day 8) would see us reach the point where we 'turned the corner' of England and on the home straight to Lands End, we had cleared 2/3rds of the length of Wales today and we were very much looking forward to the much talked about Wye Valley and the Severn Bridge. We had another incentive at the end of tomorrow, my partner Emma was meeting me (with youngest daughter Isla) and John's son was joining us and riding the last 2 days with us, which after 8 days on the road is the best reward you can hope for. I also recieved 2 short videos from my eldest daughter Niamh and son Archie (pre recorded) which really made me miss them but gives you more than enough encouragement to keep the legs spinning. These are the sort of incentives that make you forget about actually riding another 250 miles.

I know we were blessed with near perfect weather for the whole trip but if you aren't enjoying it at this point it's either not for you or you are doing something wrong. Although we focussed on tomorrow's route over a large Beafeater dinner and we never talked about the experience we were on we were both in our element. This is the sort of thing you do that makes you realise you can do anything you want to should you choose to do so, quite liberating, why more people don't expose themselves to this type of experience I really don't know.

Take me to Day 8