Total mileage: 72
Terrain: Hills – challenging with some really tough moments

After the pleasure and comfort afforded us by Andrew, we headed off, through the increasingly complex urban streets and cul-de-sacs of Yatton on a glorious sunny morn.  Although we got underway in the rush hour, we soon left the slow moving traffic behind by taking smaller, less obvious routes.

Within half an hour, we crossed the M5 and then headed up towards Avonmouth, via Clevedon and Portishead.  Much of the route was along intense A roads but fortunately the West Country drivers were courteous enough to pass us at a sensible distance.

Avonmouth is an absolute hole of a place where we unfortunately were stuck for an hour or so as the signs were nonsensical.  After talking to a teacher manning the gates of a local school, we found our way onto the cycle path and over to Seven Beach, where we jumped onto the Severn Bridge and crossed our first border.

Wales much not surprisingly much the same as England, save for the broken glass on the cycle track.  We headed towards Chepstow for lunch and found a small grassy knoll.

After filling our bellies up, we took the A466 on one of the best rides of the trip, through the Welsh valleys up to Monmouth.  The mountainous landscape covered in green trees was much like Scandinavia.  We all pelted around the roads at great speed, enjoying the relatively traffic-free roads.

After getting lost in Monmouth, we escaped, taking another very pleasant road, the B4347, north west towards Pontrilas.  We were all pretty knackered as the terrain was very hilly.  All of us were on heavy steal bikes, weighed down by our luggage.  Although we had anticipated that the toughest parts were in Devon and Cornwall, Wales offered equally challenging roads.

We passed through Ewyas Harold ending up in Abbey Dore.  Unfortunately, due to a completely random choir singing contest, we were unable to find anywhere to stay.  We were lucky enough to befriend a local publican who called a few B&Bs in the area, and ended up finding us a lovely room back in Ewyas Harold.

We were greeted by the landlord, Mark, who turned out to be a lovely guy.  He and his daughter invited us in with a very cheery demeanour and cooked us a sumptuous meal, much needed after the long day’s ride.