Day 05: Bridge over the river (K)Wye

Saturday June 9, 2012, 59 miles (95 km) - Total so far: 259 miles (416 km)

Today was a defining day for us... It was a long day at 60 miles, but for the majority of the day there was the severn crossing pulling use forward. The severn estuary is very meaningful as it is 1/4 of the overall distance, and feels more like we are leaving the hills of Devon and Cornwall behind. Both of us were quite emotional on the bridge.. There's a few photos later. Once checked in, we walked down to the river (wye) and had a few pimms... What a great way to finish the day.

now back to the start.. We knew that parts of today were flattish, but looming were the Mendip Hills.. Well after what we've done the last few days, it's more like the Mendip gentle slopes..!. The fun part as following the disused railway route for a long way today... Even including station platforms that were still there...!.. And a tunnel too...

Following the Valley down from the Mendip Hills towards the severn estuary, it was a long while yet before we got to the bridge, but even seeing it was fantastic for us, and as a practice run, we took some photos of us going over the Avon too.. 

The GPS Was a bit on-and-off today, sometimes playing up, so we reverted to the actual paper maps a few times... I still feel a bit guilty about cutting them up to save weight...!!.. But once we got to the severn bridge, we knew it had a lot of meaning for both of us.. Here's a few photos of us... There's a few better ones on the other camera for when I get back... 

These are the photos from the other camera... 

We shared a manly handshake and pat on the back at the highest point of the bridge, but we both know that it means a lot to get this far..

Sipping our pimms later, we both reflected on how Devon and Cornwall had been... We both rated it 9/10 difficulty compared with our expectations of it.. Basically because neither of us had actually thought of giving up at any time.. The emotional dark point so far is definitely halfway through day one... That was horrible for both of us, and something we don't want to repeat if we can help it, but you just don't know what will happen in the next two weeks...

On a cheerier note, here's Andrew enjoying his pimms, and a photo of a "bridge over the river (k)wye"...

It's a long day in the saddle tomorrow.. It's supposed to be raining for most of the day, there's a few hills to come, and we've again got our longest day at 70 miles.. We may not finish riding until early evening. On the slightly positive side, our coughs seem to be getting a bit better, but certainly have not gone yet... We often Sound like the sickest people in the place wherever we stop...!

Flies eaten by Andrew: 3 

Feet Climbed: 1484 

Calories used: 3418

Day 06: getting nowhere, really really slowly