So here we sit in the Eagles Inn in the lovely little village of Rhayader several 16oz steaks a Lasagne later (and more than a couple of pints) and we're all agreed that it has been an truly excellent start to the week. The weather has been extraordinary all day, with sun in abundance, a light breeze and plenty stunning scenery. After a compulsory kit weigh-in when Martin and Adrian arrived at the Tillin residence, Pete won with a 2.8kg backpack. Kel just missed out at 2.9kg, Martin 3.9kg and Adrian at 4.1kg (after thowing out the kitchen sink).
A quick visit to the Dorothy House charity shop in Warminster for thr official start to the ride and we headed off to Westbury. We are duty bound to throw a huge shout out to the 30 wonderful Westbury Wheelers who escorted us the first 55 miles from Warminster across to the West and across the Severn bridge into Wales where we eventually stopped in Chepstow at the Aslan Cafe - Martin commented that his Lentil soup was a bit 'Lentilally' and Kel mentioned that his bacon baguette was a bit 'unbacony', but despite these shortcomings it was a very enjoyable cafe stop and the service was superb! We parted ways with the Wheelers who headed back toward good old Blighty and headed north.
Another quickish 40km and we decided it was time to stop for an ice-cream and pulled in to the Bikers cafe in Abagavenny... I am not sure we were the type of bikers they usually welcomed, but managed to find a table and park the bikes without getting beaten up, which came as quite a relief. Off again at 3pm with 75km to go And the weather was still stunning.
Adrian was starting to suffer from sore butt syndrome so we pulled in to a cheeky little roadside pub for a pint (which got a huge thumbs up from Kel). After an interesting chat with the locals we hit the road again to finish off the last 20 miles. Adrian had serious beer legs and forgot about his sore backside and took off like a bullet. 15 minutes later after a rather unsuccessful tractor drafting attempt involving inhaling about 3 bales of hay, Kel decided it was time for a mechanical and manage to snap his gear cable (actually I just needed a rest, any excuse honest). Fortunately Pete had a spare cable and a quick 5 minute mixup the lads were off again... 10 miles later the boys finally hit Rhayader - a quick sprint to the sign (Adrian won as apparently still had beer legs).
So here we sit digesting our steaks wondering when Kel will ever finish this update... On that note, I'm done! (nightmare trying to update this thing on an iPhone).
Please check out all the new photos we've posted on the album over on the right and keep an eye as we add pics during the week.
Well done boys!
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