Friday 10 August 2012

Day 4 Glastonbury to Monmouth – 70 miles

This was billed as a slightly easier day than the past three although the weather was looking like it may spoil it a bit.  My knee felt ok this morning, but I strapped it up just in case.  The start of the route was through a quite muddy cycle path which was messy as…. But lots of fun.  We then had a few very steep climbs to tackle before the road started to even out a bit towards Bristol.  Our route took us through the Long Aston Estate which was in the process of setting up for the Bristol Balloon Festival.  The road through the park was lovely, passing a herd of fallow deer.
Clifton Suspension Bridge
We then headed for Clifton and over the Clifton Suspension Bridge which was absolutely stunning and made a great photo stop.  Afterwards we headed for the lunchstop at the Plough Inn where the sun had come out so it was an al fresco affair.
Our next major point of interest was the Severn Bridge as we headed into Wales, cycling over it was fantastic, there was a really warm breeze blowing across and the sights and smells were amazing, and then we emerged in Wales.


Me on the Severn Bridge
 Our final destination was Monmouth so we headed in that direction, passing Chepstow Racecourse, which was massive and heading up the Wye Valley with beautiful scenery.  After a fantastic descent we arrived at Tintern Abbey where we decided to stop for ice cream, a very good ice cream indeed.  We think Nick inhaled his as it disappeared so quickly.  We then cycled the final 10 miles to Monmouth, the road felt strange at this point, like there were downhill-ups, and uphill-downs, or maybe we were all tired and delirious!!

On arrival in Monmouth the whole group was split between 2 Inns for the accommodation, Rachel and I were sharing in the Punch House Inn which was excellent, and where I got the first WiFi of the trip!


Tintern Abbey




 Another amazing day, the weather improved as the day progressed.

Roadkill – 2 x deer, 3 x hedgehogs
Mechanicals – Nil
Ice creams – 5 (one each in our group!) not just for me.




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