today's leg was rated the second toughest of our whole tour: 75 miles, 4,000 feet of ascent and a over 7 hours in the saddle. we were down on numbers aswell with phil, a core member of the team, nipping back to oxford for a couple of days before joining us again in london. we certainly missed his climbing prowess, good humour, not to mention his multicoloured cycling gear! we look forward to meeting up again at woodford.
the first couple of hours ride were punctuated by several lung bursting climbs to wake us up after our day off. the legs certainly took some time to get used to the 1 in 7s. but our uphill efforts were more than rewarded by some stunning views across the valleys of the avon. fields and fields of rapeseed colouring the countryside yellow, and combined with a hot sun, it was a pretty perfect morning's ride.
running a two stop strategy today, our first stop was in melksham to meet up with
ann tyndall, who is one of cms' trustees. ann had kindly nipped out from work and had spied a good, if slightly eccentric 50s themed coffee shop, resplendent with neon jukeboxes. thanks for your support ann!
then it was onwards up onto salisbury plain and lunch. sadly the m.o.d. had obviously not got the message we would be passing through the area and had organized exercises which forced us to veer from our original route. but we found a nice little country pub for a lunch stop and, well fed and watered, we ploughed on to winchester, even forsaking a tea and cake stop, before arriving, slightly late, at christ church winchester.
we have had a couple of mishaps along the way today. jenny had a small tumble (she may have been looking to intently at the make of some sheep at the time). thankfully no lasting damage. and peter has been diagnosed with cellulitis on his shin so has had to nip off to pick up some anti-biotics. do remember him in your prayers!
the final word must go to julie who was unanimously voted queen of the mountains. we are not sure what she was eating and its legaility - suspicious pickled onions were ingested at lunch time - but whatever it was certainly powered her up the hills in record time.
tomorrow we head to guildford and are joined on the way by deb and james gibson on a bicycle made for two, along with mr. paul thaxter who was threatening to wear purple lycra (the mind boggles) ...videos to follow!
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