Distance 190 km Ascent 1,147 metres

If 190 km on a bike could be called a rest day then this was it. After the hills of Cornwall & Devon the journey from Somerset to Worcestershire was relatively flat & with a helpful tailwind most of the way it was pretty easy going.

It was cloudy but dry when I set off, it drizzled briefly mid morning but then cleared to a sunny afternoon which made for a pleasant ride.

Skirting Bristol & yard after yard of new vehicles fresh off the boat was not the most pleasant of the ride to date but once the Severn bridge into Wales was sighted the scenery improved as I was back into the quiet roads & lanes.

The route was again a mixture of quiet roads & lanes, bike paths & canal towpaths. A lot of these are part of the National Cycle Network, a system of highways for bikes. The routes are given numbers just like the normal road system and are marked with blue waypoints indicating the direction of travel. It certainly helps with the navigation.

The towpaths today were more scenic as the canals were bigger and had more traffic & canal boats to look at. Some of these are pleasure craft but many are permanent homes for people. There are a series of locks to navigate as the boats move up & down and some of the bridges are low so need to be raised for them to pass.

When I finally arrived at our campsite Jim & Jo were there to meet me.

The body is holding up well so far & my back hasn’t let me down yet, probably because I’m taking it relatively easy with frequent stops for pics & food. One third of the way down & looking forward to the rest of the trip.