Land’s End to John O’Groats (LEJOG) – Winter bikepacking 1250 miles! PART 1

Join me on the trip of a lifetime, fully traversing the mainland U.K on a basic bike.
I chose winter, solo, without relay support for my kit (i.e. carrying it all myself) and wild camping.
The first third of my journey is documented in this video, as I traverse the first 350 or so miles from Land’s End, through Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Avon to the north of the city of Bristol.

I hope you enjoy being my companion…

So I’ve been looking forward to this trip for years um to Traverse one side of the UK to the other lend and jres not they’re not actually the furthest toart points of the United Kingdom they’re the furthest apart habited area is in the United Kingdom on the mainland uh it’s a

Journey of 876 miles um or if you do it on the cycle Network and their recommended sustrans route it’s 1,176 miles so 300 more uh and it’s very easy to add a good 50 or so more by being an incompetent mat reader as as

You’ll see in a minute um I choose to do it in winter most people do this in 12 to 15 days in summer summer um they have a team that relay their kit ahead of them to hotels good night sleep good Square three meals a day and a good 10

12 hours in the saddle I I did it in winter so you get half that biking time so it takes twice as long and you get the weather uh and I decided to Wild Camp uh add all that together uh and it was quite an adventure um one last myth um everybody

Seems think you should come downhill from Scotland to England while it’s not downhill Jon grz is actually slightly lower than lanen by a few meters and here’s one thing I can tell you after doing this trip you need the wind up your backside and that’s why people go l

In to John GRS um um because there was quite a lot of wind as you’re about to See bike there it is says jna Gro 874 but it’s actually 1,176 if you uh do Offroad so I’ve stopped for lunch in penans uh I’ve already been here once cuz I stayed here last night in the swordfish Inn um so there this morning I made my

Way to lend I’ve now made my way back from lend to pensant so I’m now going the right way IE towards Scotland so in the distance you can see St Michael’s Mount the uh prior I think it is on it and penants Bay that’s Newland on the southern Cornish coast and

Penants which is all right probably looks better in summer still pretty beautiful now excellent thought this was the cycle track it’s not it’s a dead end well it was pretty let’s go back yeah I found the right cycle track again Now okay well I’ve only been going a half a day and I’ve already gone wrong three times so they say this route is 1,176 MI wonder how far it is for the spatially disadvantaged these little BL blue signs are going to be my constant companions well they are if I’m on the right

Route um so next stop sent earth whever that is um so I’ve got about an hour of daylight left um so I’m now on the lookout for campsites there’s lots of fierce signs telling me how I’ll be tortured and imprisoned for life if I do

Camp um or sleep overnight it sits so on a lot of these signs so presumably if I just sleep in the day by the side of the road that’s all right um but obviously I get it um my plan is to pitch up just for dark

And pack away just before light or Dawn no one should care no fires no litter even though I’ve been there in a tent this time uh not just in a bvid back right anyway I’ll crack on right well it’s uh day two decent enough sleep certainly a nice comfortable sleep um

So today I have to well I want to get to Truro cornwall’s capital by lunchtime think that’s vague enough a deadline and then the next stage is TR a r to bodmin up onto bodman Mo so I’m going to get as far as I can

Maybe even get up on to boding more to camp tonight uh short interlude so I’m now in cambor should say camborn in North North Corell and there’s loads of these little pump houses um preserved with their own little signs from the old copper and tin mining Circa

1897 if the sign is to be believed um but what I like about it is it’s just right in the middle of a housing estate just I wonder what that was there it’s pigeons echoing thought we’ got a ghost anyway yes that’s quite interesting hello pigeons um so I’ve just been through an

Hour of rain it was % chance of rain on the weather app uh and it rained for the entire hour you think they’ just put 1% wouldn’t you instead of saying it can’t possibly rain and then it does um I feel all right this morning but I’m loathed to break about that um

As I’ve still got nearly 1,200 mil to go right I’m looking for a cafe in Camborn Well that was a real Panic um I’m out of daylight as you can tell um I had to come into new to get supplies as I didn’t have anything but didn’t have enough daylight to get out of Nuki and find a campsite so bizarrely on the edge of the city Town

Whatever nuke is town I would imagine wa there’s a salt marsh an estery and uh damp though it is it’s um pretty sure it’s not tidal so I’m not going to get wet in anyway I found a little bit of Higher Ground absolutely tucked out of the way around

Here just in here is absolutely ideal it’s just a little bit raised look at that that been in a den so I’ve got pretty much 360 protection no one’s going to know I’m here and there is a place for a tent morning it’s uh day

Three um it’s fair to say my body is beginning to communicate to me that it a it doesn’t like the level of exertion I’ve put it through over the past two days uh and B and this is probably the thing it’s saying most do not carry on biking

Today but I’m going to ignore it um that that was all right I’m not actually going to sleep for huge amounts of time but I am resting for 14 hours in and out of sleep it’s about half 7 and it’s time to get up and get going

It’s not cold it’s not been cold or particularly inclement um so far which is nice touch wood makes camping a lot more fun right let’s get up so there she is my little Den for last night tued away and a little um shrub Thicket on the banks of the estery which I’ll

Uh put up on the screen cuz I can’t remember what it’s called Beautiful I’m right next to New right let’s get going uh I managed to step in some Marsh um and so my shoes are completely sodn but they will have to dry off as I

Get going as there’s no plan B still nice to wake up to wet feet it’s quite a pleasant experience on a cold Morning It says in the book that the uh the section from newe to padow is a killer five successive massive valleys um it’s so steep I’m walking um probably about a third of the time uh and um this has happened to me before I uh on my previous Journeys I now feel sort

Of heart and lungs fit in fact I feel like I’ve gone forever but um my legs are starting to feel like they’re running on empty but everybody experiences this about the third or fourth day it’s just not natural to exercise for 6 hours a day which it’s not natural for me

Anyway um so we’re making our way to padstone made famous by Rick Stein um won’t be buying his fishing chips though 22 quid I heard um but I need some fuel so even though that’ll leave me bloated all afternoon I need some fuel cuzz I’m I’m sort of

Grazing and uh you’re burning about between 5 and 7,000 calories a day when you’re doing this uh you can’t possibly eat that but you’ve at least got to try and eat some way towards it else you start to really flag as you can probably tell from my monotone voice oh look at that

Hill yeah pad Stow marks 8% of the way um I’m not sure 1 to percentages is particularly helpful when it’s that morale sapping maybe a bit later when it’s 80 odd right anyway I only recorded that message so I could stop for a minute so if it’s 874 by Road how come it’s

1,176 on the network and the answer is it dog legs backwards and forwards there’s no as the crow flies going on at all um and here’s an example so um my route is left 7 m to padto I could take a cycle route that’s 4 miles straight on I’m

Going to stick to the itinerary but when you’re already biking nearly 12200 M I’m not sure these extra 3 Mile bits four or five times a day are doing me good tall but I do like the sound sound of Constantine Bay don’t you so I’m going to go there cuz I’m on

Holiday this is padto Harbor how quaint right I need to eat immediately BBC weather app pad sto 1:00 2:00 3:00 % chance of rain cloudy and overcast but it’s absolutely pushing it Down La La Well I could probably do do another half an hour cycling but what I really want tonight is a special peaceful spot to camp I’ve been a bit frenetic and semi-urban my first two um camped in a scruffy field by a hedge on the first night and then or

Beit in a beautiful Ester but right next to a hous in estate last night in Nuki but this looks absolutely Exquisite the bank drops away next to the River there are little sand banks where no one will be able to see me out of the river flood

Plane hopefully and um I reckon that’s worth sacrificing 30 minutes riding for plus my legs have just signaled that uh it might be time to stop exerting what a beautiful little Camp spot I’ve not pinched pinched pitched my tent yet but so on one side of this little Mount I’ve got the

River and it’s Sundy bottom and Beach just Cliffs on the other side no paths as far as I can see little trails and then if we go down here with great care there’s my bike hiding and on that raised Beach is where I’m about to put my

Tent right on the side of the river but 2 ft above the waterline oh I found my magical little spot so if I want to lie in in here tomorrow no one’s going to find me look at this so tent there as designated by cycle helmet and there’s the river camel um

So uh brief uh 3 update uh is as follows um across the 100 mile Mark today uh but there are 12200 miles so that means there’s 1100 to go so that doesn’t give me a huge amount of satisfaction um however they were amongst the hardest of the miles that I’ll

Do um according to the book and other people who’ve done it and other people on YouTube who’ve done it it body 18 hours of riding in the last three days no riding for months prior um definitely some residual thickness from the stuff I did last winter spring um aerobic fitness fine

Surprisingly uh muscular skeletal Fitness all right backside all right um overall fatigue starting to build now um so tomorrow will be interesting not been eating enough but I had fish and chips at lunch time and that was pretty uh well it was like shoving durac cells

Yeah so that really helped as it did it being on the flat the mental bit is interesting I’m thoroughly enjoying the the isolation um and I’m so pumped full of endorphins um from exercising for six hours every day that feel fabulous um but all of the afor mentioned could change at any

Minute um one skid one lack of concentration or just one of those days where your body part um so I’ve done three days out of 28 days um so I might just hold back on calling it a success at this stage um absolutely stunning Riverside location as already

Discussed what a peaceful place to sleep quite a few owls um banging out the tune on the other side um uh and something just met its Enda Spar hawkk based on the noises um so rest in peace small bird so I’ve reached uh the top the start of

Bodman Mall um this is the village of sent blood which had many things in it two defibrillators seven benches even a gritter distribution network but nowhere that serves tea um so I’m a bit dehydrated I got no supplies I had a very light breakfast and I was hoping to refuel

Um as for the mo well it’s just in Cloud I’m not going to see any of it it’s a little bit forboding just heading off into the MS when you can’t see where you’re going just looking at the war memorial here with the Cornish flag for those

That don’t know it uh pretty devastating loss for such a little village so um I’m cold I’m wet it’s not supposed to be raining but well to be fair I’m in Cloud it’s not rain um because of the elevation so I’m just going to crack on and hopefully come out

The other side of bodman more alive but as for taking panoramic views no that’s not happening so I uh in a minute I’m hopefully going to stop for a Cornish Pastor that’s in my backpack I had to get one um because I potentially leave Corall this afternoon into Devon first milestone

Um by the crowdy reservoir um which a very very Cornish man in green dungar told me is I was going to try and do the accident but I can’t yep near-death experience um you could always break a little bit earlier mate you know not when you’re actually bumper into me anyway

Um Cornish man in dungar said it was up here BL one of the longest most complicated set of directions I’ve ever been given uh I had to make a little story of it as he was telling me it so I could remember it uh I’m in chapter three of the directions he gave

Me um so up here there’s a some sort of Ford and then beyond that um I don’t know what Ford’s doing at the top of this hill maybe I made the wrong story out of what he told me could this be the Ford of which the man in dungar Spoke

Yes oh man in dungar you are a legend yes what did he say to do them though oh Okay so I am lost but only partially so I think that that down there is is a reservoir with no name which is the precursor to crowded Reservoir see normally I’d use the sun to get my bearings I’ve not got a Compass by the way but I could use the

Sun um but there a’t any um can use the stars but it’s daytime um I could use the prevailing wind in my face but the weather app is so unreliable I don’t know where that’s coming from it is in my face but unfortunately that doesn’t tell me which way I’m going

Just that I’m going into the wind um the other way I do it solar panels or um on rofes face south or Southwest but I can’t find any houses so I’ll just keep going down this track um which looks like it ends here at a farm so it’s all going well it’s

All going well that might have been two miles of my life I’ll never get back hopelessly lost just about to give up in the middle of some wind sweat Morland and there painted on the road cycle Route 3 literally where I plunk my bike for a rest only downside seems to be

Suggesting have just come down the cycle track three um the wrong way for 3 miles so I’m just going to sit down and come to terms with that for a little bit without the use of aggression back at the Ford 75 minutes later wish I’d taken more care in

Recalling the directions from the man in dungar um that’s the most welcome little blue sign in 4 days of biking that was a painfully energetic detour um but I’m back on Route on route to David Stone so I’ve just stopped for supplies at week St Mary Community shop and post office two delightful

Ladies who drew my attention to a number of products that are now in my uh backpack including two mini Christmas puddings which I’m going to eat later chap over there Cornish Thatcher doing the thatch on the roof I’ve just been watching him and it looks absolutely exhausting but uh what a

Craft but he’s cheap um so I can basically Camp from any point forward now I like it when I fill up my supplies for overnight at this time of the day with about an hour left cuz it means I can just stop at any point and I’m not Duty bound to find an

Urban area or a shop um cuz I’ve already done it so sorry I thought the latch was broken on my camera then but it’s not right so uh next St campsite um to eat Christmas puddings right right it’s 400 p.m. campsite hunting next to a wood the top of hill not near

Houses mobile signal for communication um and uh I noticed that the marsh plants stop here and the trees start so maybe a little bit drier in like yeah straight away straight away that’s where I’m going to live tonight morning it’s uh day five first little bit of progress look what does that

Say so uh I finally got out of the longest account which not the longest that’ll be Highland in Scotland but uh um certainly the hardest County cornall so goodbye Cor well I love you um and hello Devon you’re just as bad for the first half but uh progress

Herah meet Tom Tom’s just saved my life right all right so my chain snapped and uh Along Came an angel in red who’s not only picked me up and told me about his new house project he’s brought me to ride its cycles and rang the guy to mend my chain

Excellent respect mate good yeah yeah right you take care mate luck thanks for your help take care look what a view I’m in North Devon and they are the Uplands of xmore so I did bodmin more but we didn’t really see that that’s xmore which is my next national park beautiful mackerel

Sky and Views over North Devon that must stretch for 30 miles solar farm well I can’t show you as much of it as I’d like to cuz I’m trying to make progress today in filming holds you up but um sheep wash marks my halfway point on day six uh and is apparently stunning

So I’ll be capturing in that thatch Cottage Village but North Devon is just Exquisite it’s just gorgeous um we’re in the flood plane of the river Tamar I think it is you can see the little flood signs 4 feet marks the top of that marker um there’s even

On this one the flower Mill a little working wheel look at that sure they won’t mind me uh capturing that I’ve done about 20 miles today really hilly but to be fair after today the worst of it is done Devon and Corell um although I may come back to uh

Regret those poorly chosen words imminently so this is sheep wash the thatched Devon Village how quain uh don’t know which one of those two routes I’m supposed to take so nice pause vintage car on Q it’s like better in the 1950s apart from the BMW M3 but yeah it um let’s have a

Look um well HS where they have just come from so that’ be a mistake uh there’s the post office look community store closed Saturday daytime um right I think I need to get the map out Christmas trees and all the windows this really is beautiful I might just stop here for 5

Minutes take it in in fact I’m going to stop there under that little bus shelter don’t know why I’m whispering cuz this appears to be an uninhabited Village right so according to my book that’s the end of the climbing for today which is GS is nearly the end of me um views are

Uh pretty special from up here and the next bit is to turn onto the Tara Trail to follow the river Tara famous for Tara the otter in the uh children’s tale I’m temporarily ashamed to admit I can’t remember who wrote it um I know it’s somebody really famous but I’m under blockage anyway

Um the taka Trail promises to Be straight and flat and there’s a car coming that kindred spirit in a VW so uh hello so we’re going um downhill now all the way to bidford and then Barnstable um from memory the the bay the Atlantic Bay Beyond them is uh an either or it’s either barnable Bay or

Bidford Bay I think you can choose pretty sure they’re one and the same not two separate I think I’ll choose barstable cuz it’s further away and makes me feel like I’ve made progress and this is Devon in a nutshell Hedges lanes and today at least dappled sunlight little fatch Villages updale down

Dale very low population density and very beautiful I wonder people come here a lot on holiday so uh I think we’ll have a bit of a musical interlude for the Target Trail and I’ll shut up take some footage and play some nice music um so I’m hoping in the last 2

Hours to cover the same ground I covered covered in the first far and a half today um Hope Springs Eternal E He P The Oh morning it’s uh day seven day six of biking um as already mentioned I camped in a at the edge of a nature reserve near bidford last night it’s cold uh and that was me just getting out of my tent feeling cold and stiff but I

Actually feel all right now I’m uh up and about so first stopped barstable supplies and then over xmore today so that’s going to be fun it’s going to rain uh all day from 10:00 but I’ve managed to pack up away in the dry happy days so I’m just making my way between

Bidford and barnable and all the way along are these from the distance look like shipwrecks till you get your eye in they’re actually lived in can you see the little stove burning on that one bikes chained up on the side solar panels someone’s actually made their

Home in an estery and that one as well that one’s actually got a garden clading how absolutely beautiful what a great way to live see if there’s any more I mean that one’s just lovely solar morning thank you yeah that one as well this one uh that one’s got a wood burner

There’s his bite look chained up wow what a cool way to live your life Kudos so there’s the uh bay bidford or barable Bay Sunday morning so not that many people are up yet there’s a few Hardy Souls walking at this chap here morning in what a lovely way to spend a Sunday

Morning eh feel alive I’m still on this hill 300 M elevation over 3 MI without a break uh 3 miles do sound very far but it is it is it’s made worse by the fact that um I can’t really see where I’m going cuz I’m in Cloud um low Mist

Cloud so I can’t see the Horizon so it’s um it’s like a classic torture scene really a never ending Hill that you can’t see the end of um this is a completely unnecessary video but I need to stop um I’m uh I’m absolutely wet through it’s been raining for the last

Two hours I’m not cold well I’m not cold as long as I’m uh exerting myself um so really it can only get better morning uh it’s Monday the 27th of November everybody who does this trip talks about hitting a wall at some point um this is

Mine um I feel like I’ve got him flu um nice to feel like this in a in not in a tent um but I think I’m going to have a slow start this morning check out at 11:00 a.m. God bless you so I might I might literally push that to the minute

Um yeah body talk about saying don’t do it anymore yeah so the plan today is was is to get as close to glastenbury as I can and then tomorrow to Bristol Bristol feels like I’m sort of getting somewhere on the on the main drag I just face North um an aim at

Scotland but yeah with the physical exhaustion Comes This mental fog um but then after 40 hours on a bike in the last week um that’s quite understandable is it so I’m going to go on have some breakfast now Courtesy of the Red Lion in dolon never heard of it all right

Day one two three four five six seven day eight day s biking the wonderful little Somerset town of Dolton um on the edge of xmore so just need to crack on now and get to I think taon is the next town of note so toron here we

Come there’s a sentence you don’t he very often you know Somerset is exquisite look you’ve got a little stately home on the hill beautiful clear River look at that church everybody’s friendly it really is true that the only bad thing about Somerset is Jacob re’s MOG everything else is absolutely bloody

Brilliant and just to keep that theme going what an Ace Flag one Earth our home I like that not seen that before it’s cool last hour of the day now just gone through tton uh Town Center City Center uh out of town now along the canal toe path

Hello just making sure no one front me hello little Moran quite Pleasant in its own right when you’ve been uh camping and living up in the hills and not seeing anybody for days towns and cities are uh quite overwhelming to the senses and I can’t I for one can’t wait

To get out on the other side of them and away from everyone again more little morens look totally unfaced so the sign said 12 miles to Bridgewater with daylight I’m probably going to have to or choose to uh Camp up in between it’s thankfully stopped raining um which it was doing

Earlier that it’s just quite a nice little uh evening ride so I’ve just met a guy who cycled past me on the track got talking to him he’s done lener jnag gr a supported ride in the summer which took him 14 days I did point out I’d be taking at least

Twice that long um but he did say he was riding till 7 8:00 at night so anyway really nice chat um I’ve stopped just to admire the sunlight and the conditions it’s absolutely stunning it’s like lemon sherbet and uh the sky in the background is just black there’s even a rainbow I

If you can see it um not so sure I like the black Sky bit and the rain that’s just start good Lord look at that Sky up there it’s like one of those Midwest of America storm cells still I’m glad it’s over me just as I’m about to set up

Camp W well the challenges of solo bike packing so right in the last 15 minutes of light in the middle of nowhere I swerved and hit a fence just wasn’t concentrating and I’ve smashed the paner it’s uh barely holding on to the side of my bike now I always thought it was a

Bit flimsy um so no way to tie it back on um so uh nightmare still quain little boats on the canal look might be asking to stay in one of them at a minute right well I’ve completely run out of light I don’t know where I am My

Pan ears are broken but I have found a little picnic site by the canal uh in the pitch black so I’m going to make my Camp here near somewhere near Bridgewater good night morning day nine day eight of biking I think uh it was so dark I couldn’t

Really work out where I’d Camp last night but there’s your answer by a canal lock the Taunton to Bridgewater Canal which is very pleasant uh and I’ve managed to camp on the far Bank from the foot path in a little picnic area not seen anybody or heard anybody

All morning but it’s quite an isolated part of the canal and a bit muddy so maybe the dog walkers don’t extend this far from the town um I don’t feel very good today but to be fair I think it’s just fatigue so I’m just going to get on with

It first job is to go into Bridgewater to get my pan paner fixed or replaced and then um I can make progress to glenbury and then towards Bristol which is today’s agenda so uh oh my body is saying don’t do this um it really is so just starting to warm up a

Bit um and I’m really enjoying the somerset levels the clue to why I’m enjoying them is in the title it’s uh it’s like been in a parallel universe there’s just nobody on this uh Canal tow path but there’s the uh over Bridge of the M5 with people just going about

There Daily Business there’s a boat stranded boat and a lawn mower also stranded look to have been Washed by the floods yes so just this endless marshy tract along the canal bit bumpy but I’ve managed to temporarily fix my paner with a uh uh what do you call them rip tie thing I

Know what you call them um that I borrowed off a guy way back in pennant so thank you man in penants it’s noticeably colder the weather is starting to turn this week into the minuses at night starting from tomorrow but that’s all right I don’t mind cold it’s the

Wet it’s the wet I don’t get on with so uh we’re on the somerset levels alongside the river that I’ll be posting uh on the screen the river something in Somerset very beautiful very calm all the shrubs along the edges are absolutely Laden with berries look at them every shade of red and

Purple imaginable so I’ve in my 11:00 really really glad to be alive moment there’s there’s a bit of a rhythm to this uh there’s the 8:00 I think I’m going to vomit and I don’t want to get out my tent moment followed by the late morning what an incredible thing I’m

Doing this is superb moment followed by the 3:00 I can’t F my legs and I don’t feel well again moment followed by a panicky bit about 4:00 cuz you’ve again left it too late to find a camp spot followed by finally warming up and drying out in your tent feeling good

Again it’s quite a quite an addictive Rhythm I think my body’s actually getting addicted to exercise they do say it’s possible I can’t say I’ve ever really exper it bit makes sense high levels of endorphins for long parts of the day must after a while become expected addicted like your morning caffeine but

Stronger guy fishing there looking at me while he talking to himself so I have no idea whether that view comes out but uh what a view it is right over the somerset levels and they are the uh mips mendip Hills I’m heading beautiful just gone wrong again 2 miles wasted

Um I just took the wrong cycle network uh thinking I knew where I was going great time to name my bike it’s actually called detour look uh what a fantastic name so she and it definitely is a she um she’s called detour you are christened detour a little late on in

Your life but uh very apt I’m just walking this bit cuz it’s quite long and protracted and I can’t be bothered today uh and up here we can just rejoin the right cycle Network and go the right way we’re in a very special place in Somerset today very special as everybody who

Knows me closely will realize yes we’re in Edington yes hello Edington well it’s taken me an hour longer than I expected because of my detour on detour but I can now see Glaston Bri tour Glaston Bri tour the monument you can see on the hill above the famous Festival town of glastenbury

Um so I’m about 20 minutes ride I’m going to stop for some lunch and then head that way into the mendip hills um over the mendip hills and down into the uh into aen and um Bristol um a city where I once lived for 9 months in

1999 as a research scientist at Bristol Royal infirmary that was a lifetime ago now but a very pleasant little time it was uh I’ve never been to glassenbury it’s uh it’s definitely got a Vibe going on not sure I fit into it in my workman’s hi is but um but it’s a pretty

Cool vibe seems that holding your horn down to attract your mate’s attention is uh standard fair I can’t find my cycle track at the moment but I don’t care cuz I’m just going to stop for a minute and uh probably sit here and have some in my

Lunch I I I like Glen Bri yes lots of people in purple yep there he goes from wherever he’s been doing whatever he was doing to wherever he’s going to do whatever he’s going to do next goodbye man in red trousers so that’s Wells cathedral in the distance and the small city of

Wells because of its Cathedral now looking at the the map I really really want to push on and break the miles before Bristol but I’ve got an hour of daylight left it’ll take me 20 minutes to get to Wells and then you see those Hills they’re the

Mendips I don’t want to be climbing them in the last half hour of the day plus I’m exhausted it’s not it’s not been a hard um circuit today it’s just it’s 8 days at the last nine biking and my body need needs a day

Off so I think my plan is I’m going to find somewhere in these Woods before Wells I’ve already got my supplies for the night and then tomorrow morning and early afternoon I will push on to Bristol and then I’m going to grab um a hotel and depending on how

Late I get I might get two nights so I can have a full day off because I think uh I think I’ll benefit fit hugely from that and maybe even make up the time by giving my body a rest it’s there are bits of me that are saying you doing too

Much got to remember I’m 48 now not 18 um thoroughly enjoyed the riding today um but yeah that’s the plan in fact there’s some nice little bits of Woodland on that approach so that’s where I’m going to go and check so day nine on the bike it’s 1° centigrade and it’s

Blowing the minute you stop you turn to ice but what a view I’m just I’ve just climbed what I hope is the end of the climb up onto the mendip Hills area of outstanding natural beauty and from here I can see Wells 2 and 1/ half miles to my South Glastonbury

Tour which is 14 mil to my West the somerset levels are Northeast Somerset North sorry Northwest Somerset just over that Hill is Bristol but I can see for my bit Misty very wintry but what a view I’m right on top of the mendips now and it’s uh it’s pretty challenging it’s minus

One and uh I’m in the cloud free freezing Mist see all the water’s frozen and I’m getting very cold despite pedaling hard so I need to get off this High Ground which is ultimately what I will do um but my right hand side where the wind is prevailing is a

Numb go past all these farm houses with roaring wood burning stoves just want to knock on the door and go In so it’s the contrast that I love on this route this morning hypothermic in the mendips in Cloud it’s afternoon Urban Bristol City Center presume that’s the river Aven or one of its tributaries uh so I’ve got about hour and a half of daylight um at the City Center Cycle

Route three which I’ve loyally followed since Land’s End Cycle Route 3 becomes cycle Route 4 which takes me up into the West Midlands uh glester Worcester nwit and then up to Manchester in the Northwest with a few bits in between but you’re just taking a moment

To uh enure the urban scape as well as uh but yeah um reiterate The Point again how disorientating it is sirens and traffic when you’ve been there living in the Hills so I’ve actually changed the route given by the book because I wanted to come up the Aven and see Clifton suspension bridge

Again that’s Clifton off to the right the wealthy suburb of Bristol beautiful feature so I’ve got about an hour to get out of Bristol um and into some Countryside to Camp I’m not cold anymore but it is cold very there’s the river aen how very Beautiful