Enjoyed meeting Michael and Bernice, owners of the Stag's Head Inn in Dunster. Bernice is a cancer survivor and could relate to my journey. Had a wonderful nights sleep and great breakfast ready for my next leg of my ride. Penny, my sister (pictured below), picked up my panniers and dropped them of at the next Inn in Lydney on her way home to Hereford.
On the way out of Dunster I took photos of the picturesque town. Notice the castle on the next photo. Tamar and I toured it two years ago when visiting Penny and Richard and its quite impressive.
Today was 62 degrees, sunny in the morning and then overcast from 11:00am until I hit rain again around 4:00 p.m. The cycling was smooth until I hit A 38 after Bridgewater and then the hills were challenging until I arrived in Bristol. Today seemed to be the most difficult to date. Partly because of the hills and distance, but mostly the mental concentration on traffic, as I was riding mostly on A roads with many trucks and cars. My eyes burned at the end, so much that I had to use visine. Below I was riding the north Devon coastline and could see Wales ( Cardiff and Swansea) across the Bristol Channel and River Severn.
Here I caught a photo of two young men rolling out a cricket pitch in the countryside.
Below you can see mustard seed blooming in the fields
After arriving in Bristol I passed the Clifton Suspension bridge built in 1829.
Also in Bristol there is this cliff that runs alongside the river Avon. Can you spot the mountain climbers?
As per the last three days it started raining in the late afternoon. There are two bridges over the river Severn. I cycled to the second one as this is the one that has the separate cyclists path. It was approximately 5:00pm, and I had already ridden 74 miles, and it was raining. You can see the original newer Severn Bridge in the mist that I took a photo of, and was commissioned in 1966. Penny tells me my father was involved in arranging the cables for that bridge. The bridge I went over was the the older of the two bridges.
Across the bridge, you enter Wales. Crossing the bridge is a milestone, because is it marks the crossover into easier cycling. Yeah I'll believe it when I experience it.
Today I completed 83 miles in 9 hours, burned 3,233 calories and I'm sore and tired. Definitely taking Aleve tonight. Staying at the The George's Inn in Lydney. Had dinner in the pub and the locals chipped in 13 pounds equals $20 towards the Fund. After blogging I,went back to the pub to listen in on quiz night( glad I did not enter, because mostly English sports questions), but received 7 pounds 50p more in donations to the Fund. Thank you to the folks at The George's Inn for their kindness and generosity. More tomorrow.....
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