Day 2 - No hills, yay

A good hearty breakfast from Chris and Brenda set us up for the day. They were both very interested in our charity trek and had some useful advice. They even took details of our charity and blog web pages and said they would try and muster some more support! As we were getting ready to leave they even offered to be our support team if we needed help between Sherston and our next stop Fairford. Got our bikes and spotted Chris had a classic Scott motorbike he was working on (see photo). Had to weave through lots of runners in the road as we found ourselves in the middle of a triathlon around Malmesbury. Through Malmesbury where there was a nice abbey (see picture) and they were having a carnival (see photo of the band). Had a bit of rain midday but it cleared up. Cycled through scenic Cotswald Water Park and having lunch in an angling reservoir.

Day 1 - We made it

Turns out there were a lot more rotten hills after Pucklechurch, which we found out later is the home to a prison for all sorts of sex offenders, eek. Not many highlights in the afternoon other than having to run the bike across a 70mph A road, and a cyclist asking directions as he had no map, turns out he was about 10 miles off his route. Eventually reached Carriers Farm just outside Sherston and the owners, Brenda & Chris (see photo) were lovely and welcoming and made us tea as we sat and chatted. Brenda has even offered to make us sandwiches for tomorrow from their farm produce. As if that wasnt enough they are even giving us some money towards our charities! Had yummy dinner and Steve sampled a couple of local bitters. Ready for day 2.

First leg achieved

We were up at seven and on a train from Walton by 8:10. This meant we were at waterloo by 8:45 giving us plenty of time to get to paddington. We went via Horse Guards Parade and through the parks. You can see in the photo how nice and quiet and tourist free it is at that time. We caught our Bristol train in plenty of time. First mini incident occured as we left the station as we realised Steves real light bracket had fallen off. Soon had it repaired and under way. Followed an old disused rail line and got to cycle a huge rail tunnel. Passed an old mine beside the line too. Encountered our first bloomin hill as we entered Pucklechurch where I am now sitting having lunch in a pretty churchyard.

I have started using 'Sports Tracker' which plots details of our journey using GPS. You can see the various stages by going to www.sports-tracker.com/#/workout/Gebbly/

Last preparations

Steve & I are back at my place for the night and doing last minute packing into panniers and backpacks. You can see my load in the photo where I have laid it all out ready to pack. The butterflies are really fluttering in the stomach now and I'm rather nervous. I think I will settle down once we reach bristol and are on the bikes.

I need a centrally heated garage

Took my 2 new tyres home last night but by the time i got home it was about 9pm, very cold and dark. So I ended up putting a dust sheet down in the front room and working on the bike there. Surprisingly easy when you have lots of light and are warm.

Turns out the old tyres and inner tubes were all mismatched so I ended up putting on new tyres and inner tubes. This meant I got to test out the new pump I bought which worked a treat and gets my thumbs up. It was a "Lezyne Micro Floor Drive HPG". It is small enough to attach to the bike frame in transit but is designed as a floor pump which means you can push against the floor whilst pumping giving you more oomf. Another couple of nice features are the pressure gauge and the cap screws on to the valve so you can get a tight seal.

I've picked up another couple of inner tubes to replace the ones I used last night and I think I'll take the bike for a quick spin tonight to make sure all is well.

Bike grease under the fingernails is starting to become a regular look for me :)

Clean and shiny but not for long

Steve and I spent the evening cleaning up the bikes, degreasing the chain and gears and applying clean grease. Of course as soon as we start the trek on all those muddy tow paths and fields they will get dirty again. It was quite a faff to clean them using a bowl of soapy water, rags, brushes, degreaser, grease. Not sure i want to lug all of that with me.

I managed to pick up a new bike pump and a spare folding tyre to take with me yesterday but what i was really after were 2 new ordinary tyres to put on the bike. After phoning around many stores and having no luck I had to put in an order and hope they arrive at a store in time for the trip. I shall be chasing up the store today as they reckon they get deliveries every day. i also bought OS maps for the whole route which gives me a bit more confidence with the navigation.

Only 4 days to go and I'm getting a bit nervous now. Once the trek starts I'll start making blog posts which include photos to liven it up a bit.

Last pratice and more repairs

Steve and I went out on our last practice run last saturday and Steve brought along a friend of his, Rob. Rob was convinced we should be able to do the entire ride in 3 hours and that we were taking it far too easy. 5 hours later when we got back I think he was a bit surprised. I found that when building up to the last trek there would be a few people that didnt think it sounded like much of a challenge and surely if they can do their weekly 5 mile ride in 30mins on nice smooth roads then surely that just multiplies up and 30 miles is doable in 3hours. It was nice for one of the doubters to see the reality. It takes a lot longer when on rough hilly towpaths, dodging walkers and trying to navigate at the same time. Trip computer showed our average speed to be about 14mph which I thought was pretty good for all day. On top of which its a lot more tiring than 5 miles and you have to get up the next day and do it all over again for 8 days. Getting on a bike in the morning with a sore backside isnt much fun.

At one point we went past a large group of cyclists just setting off who, a short while later, went whizzing past us. Then we caught up at a junction where they were unsure of the route. I think they were following NCN route 4 same as us. This happened a couple of times until we stopped at our usual rest point to take on water.

Just about to set off from our pit stop Rob noticed our now had a flat. After a little close examination I found a rather large thorn that had embedded in the tyre and pushed through to the inner tube. Fortunately I had a spare but it prompted me to get a couple of much more resilient tyres for the trek which I will have to fit tonight.

I'm hoping all the rain we are having will be over by the end of this week and give us a few days dry riding during the trek next week, fingers crossed.