There being no food at Street we had bought porridge the night before which Richard made up. For a change we started off going downhill into Street and then had flat riding on minor roads as we went through Glastonbury and on to Wells.
We managed to lose our bearings on the network of minor roads around Wells which led to Andrew and me consulting maps while John just had a look around and asked what that rather large building was over there, pointing towards the Cathedral. And so we found our way into Wells with a stop at Tesco’s to pick up food, and then along to have a look at the Cathedral, or the outside at least.
The CTC route took as out of Wells again on minor roads towards East Harptree and, in fact, took us straight up onto the Mendips. Up was the operative word here as we faced a long and steep climb. We stopped to eat our lunch and then progressed towards Chew Magna and the B3130 towards Bristol. As we approached Bristol we followed the CTC route at first and met a local cyclist on a cycle path. We asked how best to get into Bristol and to get to the Clifton Suspension Bridge as the CTC instructions were not that clear. He advised us to follow the path and to go through a large gatehouse and through a park to exit through a similar gatehouse on the other side. We found the first gatehouse and went through a very pleasant park where there was a children’s event going on with several hundred youngsters singing along with someone on a stage. We joined in but somehow managed to exit the park wrongly. We came out at the bottom of a rather steep climb towards the town centre and found the gatehouse at the top. All we had to do from there was find the Clifton Bridge, which somehow was there when we turned a corner. Very impressive it was too, demanding a good stop and look around. Whilst looking down into the Avon Gorge we spotted a couple of fellow hostellers and cyclists from Rugby who had been at Street the night before. To our surprise they saw us looking down and waved.
Leaving the Clifton Bridge behind we attempted to find our way towards the Severn Bridge but took a wrong turn somewhere. We all found Bristol difficult as there were very few signs giving directions using road numbers. We found that we had been heading away from the Bristol Channel and not towards it. In fact, we found ourselves in the St Paul’s district. Luckily, there were a lot of police around and one of their number gave us directions out. Again, we tried to navigate across the city but again found ourselves lost. Andrew went and bought a street map whilst John and I chatted with a local. From our chat we were given directions along the A38 so we decided that we would simply follow that road out to pick up minor roads towards
Olveston and the Severn Bridge. Although this was not as direct it proved to be a fast ride out, but it was still 5PM by the time we had reached the bridge, and with at least 30 miles still to go. As a precaution I phoned ahead to the hostel to ask them to save us some food.
Crossing the Severn Bridge was quite spectacular and we duly arrived in Chepstow to a long climb away from the bridge towards the A665 along the Wye valley. We were pleasantly surprised to find a very long descent into the Wye valley which perhaps just showed the extent of the climb from the bridge. The road along the valley was closed to through traffic because of road works so we had a very pleasant ride along the valley , made better by the evening being cool and still, although still sunny. Because we were running quite late we had no opportunity to stop and explore, so Tintern Abbey simply flashed by, although it would have been good to have been able to stop and explore. We did manage a brief stop towards the top of the valley as we were starting to run on empty and food was required.
Continuing our journey, we rode to Monmouth and joined the A40 to Great Doward where we joined the B4234. We came across the very welcome sign for the hostel but found we were still a couple of miles away. That last 2 miles consisted mostly of a steep climb up and once crested an equally steep descent, but the descent was on very broken road/track. None of us relished the prospect of climbing back out the same way.
We arrived at 8.15 and went straight in to eat the food that had been kept for us. We were all tired after what had been a very long and hot day. It was, perhaps, an indication of just how tired we were that I fell off just before we found the turn off for the hostel. Well, in truth, fell off isn’t quite right as I simply failed to get back on after a short break when I found myself on all fours on the grass and the bike on its side.
We managed to lose our bearings on the network of minor roads around Wells which led to Andrew and me consulting maps while John just had a look around and asked what that rather large building was over there, pointing towards the Cathedral. And so we found our way into Wells with a stop at Tesco’s to pick up food, and then along to have a look at the Cathedral, or the outside at least.
The CTC route took as out of Wells again on minor roads towards East Harptree and, in fact, took us straight up onto the Mendips. Up was the operative word here as we faced a long and steep climb. We stopped to eat our lunch and then progressed towards Chew Magna and the B3130 towards Bristol. As we approached Bristol we followed the CTC route at first and met a local cyclist on a cycle path. We asked how best to get into Bristol and to get to the Clifton Suspension Bridge as the CTC instructions were not that clear. He advised us to follow the path and to go through a large gatehouse and through a park to exit through a similar gatehouse on the other side. We found the first gatehouse and went through a very pleasant park where there was a children’s event going on with several hundred youngsters singing along with someone on a stage. We joined in but somehow managed to exit the park wrongly. We came out at the bottom of a rather steep climb towards the town centre and found the gatehouse at the top. All we had to do from there was find the Clifton Bridge, which somehow was there when we turned a corner. Very impressive it was too, demanding a good stop and look around. Whilst looking down into the Avon Gorge we spotted a couple of fellow hostellers and cyclists from Rugby who had been at Street the night before. To our surprise they saw us looking down and waved.
Leaving the Clifton Bridge behind we attempted to find our way towards the Severn Bridge but took a wrong turn somewhere. We all found Bristol difficult as there were very few signs giving directions using road numbers. We found that we had been heading away from the Bristol Channel and not towards it. In fact, we found ourselves in the St Paul’s district. Luckily, there were a lot of police around and one of their number gave us directions out. Again, we tried to navigate across the city but again found ourselves lost. Andrew went and bought a street map whilst John and I chatted with a local. From our chat we were given directions along the A38 so we decided that we would simply follow that road out to pick up minor roads towards
Olveston and the Severn Bridge. Although this was not as direct it proved to be a fast ride out, but it was still 5PM by the time we had reached the bridge, and with at least 30 miles still to go. As a precaution I phoned ahead to the hostel to ask them to save us some food.Crossing the Severn Bridge was quite spectacular and we duly arrived in Chepstow to a long climb away from the bridge towards the A665 along the Wye valley. We were pleasantly surprised to find a very long descent into the Wye valley which perhaps just showed the extent of the climb from the bridge. The road along the valley was closed to through traffic because of road works so we had a very pleasant ride along the valley , made better by the evening being cool and still, although still sunny. Because we were running quite late we had no opportunity to stop and explore, so Tintern Abbey simply flashed by, although it would have been good to have been able to stop and explore. We did manage a brief stop towards the top of the valley as we were starting to run on empty and food was required.
Continuing our journey, we rode to Monmouth and joined the A40 to Great Doward where we joined the B4234. We came across the very welcome sign for the hostel but found we were still a couple of miles away. That last 2 miles consisted mostly of a steep climb up and once crested an equally steep descent, but the descent was on very broken road/track. None of us relished the prospect of climbing back out the same way.
We arrived at 8.15 and went straight in to eat the food that had been kept for us. We were all tired after what had been a very long and hot day. It was, perhaps, an indication of just how tired we were that I fell off just before we found the turn off for the hostel. Well, in truth, fell off isn’t quite right as I simply failed to get back on after a short break when I found myself on all fours on the grass and the bike on its side.
No comments:
Post a Comment