While the bikes were getting seen to yesterday we spent the day in Bath checking out the sites. We did the tour of the Roman Baths and was impressed. We caought the train from Bridgwater to Bath and back again in the afternoon. When we picked the bikes up they didnt charge us for the forks, chainrings or any labour......very good service from SJS Cycles.
Today's riding conditions:
Wind: tailwind :)
Road gradient: flat until just before the end
Road surface: firm
Traffic: none to speak of
Pretty good day for cycling really.
So today we set off after breakfast and were following the National Cycle Network (NCN) route 3 which runs from Bristol to Lands End. We picked it up in Bridgwater and it followed the tow path all the way to Taunton.
Found our way through Taunton which is a bigger town. We dont actually have the map for NCN route 3, we only have our little road atlas which is missing quite a bit of detail but the routes are signposted pretty well and we've only had to do a double check once or twice. After Taunton we left the canal and were back on to the trusty laneways. Despite my initial fear of meeting traffic on a single lane road with hedges right to the edge we have had no bother and they are actually my preference rather than the bigger roads.
Road past a couple of dairy farms spreading the cow manure onto the fields......what a stink!! Certianly upped the speed to get past them.
After about 40km we thought we better start thinking about where we were going to spend the night and today we thought we might finally give camping a go. The problem with that is there are so few places to pitch a tent. Anyway we road into a little village called Appely and saw a sign for a Tea House so we pulled in and had a cuppa. Our fancy iPhone app that finds camp grounds told us there was one at Waterrow which is about 6km off the route 3 but at least we could camp. It's funny but B&Bs are nice but lack a bit of privacy, well it feels that way.
After our cuppa we rang the Waterrow Caravan Park to double check that it existed and not some figment of my iPhone's imagination. Sure enough someone answered the phone so we set off. Not far down the road I got our first real flat in England.
Just after we left route 3 and headed directly toward Waterrow and we hit the first hill of the day, we rose 150m in less than 1km and had to push for a section of it. not very sociable if you ask me.
We road on and came to Waterrow which is very pretty with a stream running right through it.
The caravan park is gorgeous and has a walk trail which we visited. Our little camp site is set up and we've just cooked dinner in the Trangia.
The temperature is dropping as we reach for our beanies. The sky is perfectly clear so I think we might have a cold night.
1 comment:
Hey Gary and Sandy - we've finally caught up with you - boy it looks B&^%$y cold over there - does the sun shine for nor ethan 2 hours a day or what. Hope you can find a green frog for the morning. Looking forward to reading more have fun - catch you on skype when we can - just thinking about putting on something warm here cos the temp is down to 21C. Have fun and keep rubbing the cold bits. bradntrace
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