Day 3 - Llangammarch Wells to Tenbury Wells

The eagle-eyed amongst you will perhaps have spotted that we didn't get all the way to Builth Wells last night - instead we had an absolutely excellent Country House B&B/restaurant just 6 miles short of Builth. We were the only people staying there and we were the only ones staying for dinner, so it was just like having our own luxury house and chef!!
Unfortunately, when I started riding again this morning, the lane from the B&B took me 1 mile in the wrong direction before I could resume my easterly ride.
I would classify this mornings ride as "Boil-in-the-bag". I had decided to wear my waterproofs as there was a lot of rain in the air and it was quite breezy, but after the first couple of hills I could be best described as "moist"! Then, when I came to have a drink from my bottle I found it liberally smothered in sheep poo! As I was sulking about that, who should pull up but Jan. So I got a clean bottle from the car and filled it up with some bottled water.
Just before crossing the bridge in Builth I spotted this character:

The rain was becoming steadier now and reducing visibility quite appreciably, however I could still make out this quarry on the outskirts of the town.

I'm continuing to try and take a picture every time I get to a fold in the map. At one such point, a I stopped to turn my map over, a load of sheep came running expectantly towards me. I was puzzled for a while and then I realised - they must have been under the impression that I had some news for them from Gary!

Having left the main road and turned on to a yellow road that was also marked as a cycle route, I studied the map more closely and realised there were several steep hills ahead of me. However, I found the scenery interesting and, what with my glasses misting up on the inside and a fine spatter of raindrops on the outside, I couldn't really see far enough ahead for the hills to bother me.

I knew about this hill though - I got into granny at the front and biggy at the back and just ground my way up. Here's the view up:

Here's the view down:

and this is looking back from the top:

This was followed by a four mile downhill and then, having gone through a village called Gladestry, I took a lane that skirted round the side of Hergest Ridge. Does that name mean anything to anyone? - answers via the comment facility please.

Half way along this lane I crossed the border from Wales into England. There's no sign there but this Bridleway follows the line of the border. I left my own scent mark there! (liquid)

Just a few miles later and I met up with Jan in Kington. Due to bad planning on my behalf, we'd arrived on early-closing day and most places were shut. I found Jan chatting with a couple of locals in the town museum. Nearby a cafe was open and we had a pleasant lunch of egg mayonnaise sandwiches (me) and a toasted cheese and ham sandwich (Jan) washed down with mugs of tea. Even after an hour in the cafe I was still soaking wet from my mornings exertions, so we went back to the car and I changed my shirt. The sun was now trying to come out, so I packed my waterproofs into my barbag and set off again.

One thing that I've found quite moving about my trip is that every town and village seems to have a memorial to the fallen of the two world wars (and often other conflicts are remembered as well). It brings into perspective the scale of the sacrifices made by the ordinary men and women of our tiny little countries.

I was enjoying the afternoon ride - the sun and the wind were both on my back and I then discovered that I'd made a mistake adding up the miles on my routecard and I actually had 6 fewer to travel than I first thought - RESULT!

Here's a picture of a private school I went past. I waved at one of the boys on the tennis court and he waved back -what was he thinking!

The next part of the ride was on the A456 and it was very busy with loads of HGV's and I wasn't feeling very comfortable. Then Jan phoned to say she'd found a B&B for tonight, only trouble was, I'd have to stay on the A456 to get there. Ah well, I just put my head down and pedalled quicker.

There weren't any hills as the road crossed the River Teme and then ran alongside it all the way to Tenbury Wells. The B&B is in a pub just on the outskirts of the town.

Once again, the room is freshly decorated and lovely and clean with free wifi available as well, so I've knocked this blog entry up before we go for our dinner.

Tomorrow we head across to Bewdley, Kidderminster, Lickey, the southern outskirts of Birmingham and then Solihull to finish at Hampton-in-Arden.

My bottom and my saddle have been fighting each other for supremacy over the last two days and I've noticed that the saddle is starting to adopt the shape of my posterior - I may well post a picture of it tomorrow (my saddle, not my bottom)! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED...

Todays stats:

Miles ridden today: 50

Average speed: about 10mph

Maximum speed: about 38mph