Wells to Shirenewton

Wednesday September 15
I was rudely awoken again by a bloke asking if I was there, or something to that effect. I reluctantly unzipped the tent to talk to him.
"Are you going to pay for camping?" he asked, in a thick English accent.
"Ah...yeah, sorry I got in late last night and I'll be heading off soon, how much is it?"
"Just you on your own is it?"
"Yeah, just me"
"That'll just be a fiver then"

My campsite in the Wookey Hole camping ground.

I was actually pretty annoyed that had to pay him; I should have just camped alongside the bike path somewhere for free. I decided I'd try and camp for free when I could from then on. Am I too tight with money?

I packed everything up and headed back into Wells to grab the usual litre of milk and rolls for lunch. I am always so hungry by breakfast time, I use the whole litre of milk on the cereal, I love cereal!
Just after mid-day I headed back toward Glastonbury, riding hard because I thought I was running late and had a strong head wind. When I got there, the race wasn't due to finish for at least another hour, I had plenty of time. There was a significant crowd of spectators gathered; I wandered around to find a reasonable spot to watch. It's difficult manoeuvring a loaded touring bike through crowds.

The crowds for the Tour of Britain in Glastonbury.

I was standing beside a bloke called Andrew, who was a chiropractor from Yeovil, luckily it was his day off and he'd just cycled over to Glastonbury to watch the stage.

Standing by the final straight to see the sprint finish.

The race was slightly exciting, but I imagine the Tour de France would be much more exciting. Bradley Wiggins, the big-name British cyclist, came second.

It was about 4pm by the time I left Glastonbury again, and rode back to Wells. I went to the Vodafone shop there to enquire about their phone plan deals. I ended up getting their 'Pay As You Go' deal, which you can top up when you like, and includes reasonably priced calls locally and internationally, and 50 pence for data per day (which is what i really want it for), for unlimited data supposedly. That means I can be on the Internet all the time, and this has proven useful for google maps, looking things up on the net and getting/sending emails straight away. Only thing is, I can only use the SIM in the UK, unless I want to pay excessive data roaming charges. The Vodafone salesman told me that one guy he heard of downloaded a few movies while roaming and had to pay thousands of pounds in charges for it!
I might have to get another SIM when I get to other countries in Europe, because it is really much easier than trying to find Wi-Fi hotspots everywhere.
I got back to my bike and there was a bloke admiring it. Very friendly chap, and very interested in the bike and what I was doing. He said he'd read all of Josie Dew's books. I didn't actually know who Josie Dew was, but apparently she's done lots of bicycle touring all over the world, and written about five books about her tours. The bloke reckoned her book about her Japan tour was the most interesting. He also warned me not to tour in New Zealand, because he reckoned there were heaps of logging trucks and they don't give cyclists any space, so I'd probably get hit by one of them. I got a shot of him (on the right) and his wife beside him as they were walking off.

A shot of the bloke that stopped for a chat (on the right) walking off with his wife (on the left).

 A sense of excitement was growing in the town as I left; lots of people were out and about, because there was some kind of big street party happening there in Wells that night.
I rode past this percussion group on the way out.

A marching percussion group.

They were really cool, had some good beats going, I was impressed.
I was then on my way to Cheddar, not too long before dusk.

Countryside on the way to Cheddar.

As always, I passed through lots of little villages on the way, which I usually neglect to mention. There seems to be one recurring phenomenon with these villages though - they all seem to be in valleys or low points, because the road always drops down into them, which is annoying because you have to slow down as the road narrows and winds through the town or as you come to an intersection. With such a heavy load on the bike, you really want to maintain as much momentum as you can.
Then the road climbs back up out the other side of the village.

Anyway, I rode through Cheddar and hit Cheddar Gorge on the other side. The gorge was quite spectacular; Max Braid reckoned they were the highest inland cliffs in England.

Cheddar Gorge

Cheddar Gorge

Cheddar Gorge

Cheddar Gorge

The riding wasn't as challenging as I had been expecting, only had to use first gear for one short 16 % section.

Birds in the sky just past the top of Cheddar Gorge.

I actually covered quite a few kilometres that night, made it to Chepstow via the towns of Langford and Bristol, and the Severn Bridge to get across into Wales.

Heading into Bristol.

An impressive old railway bridge in Bristol.

Leaving England and crossing the Severn Bridge into Wales.

It took quite a while to find a suitable spot to pitch the tent, eventually set up on the side of a sports field in Shirenewton, a village just past Chepstow. Didn't get there until about 1am, I was about ready to collapse, I was so knackered!

Ride stats:
Distance: 129.64 km
Average: 17.7 km/h
Maximum: 57.1
Time: 7:17:37