Day 7 , Upton to Taunton

116 miles,  8 hrs 35, 13.5mph, 4885 ft of climbing

Now, Im writing this from the luxury of a fab hotel having finished ( have been too tired to update), so I might miss stuff out. Day 7 seems like months ago!

Hot sunny day again, as we rolled out of Upton in a big group ( too big really on such a busy comuter road at 0800).
We picked up 3 guest riders today from Birmingham,  keen and eager to get going ( more later.....)

Unusually,  by the time we hot to Tewkesbury,  I was in the leading group on the road!!! Especially good as I was meeting my buddy Kevin Rose to ride together for a few hours.

Kev had a particularly impressive "Go Dave" homemade sign to spur me on. ( where did he findvthe crayons by the side of the road?!).

Was a lovely ride, chatting in the sun, riding through the cotswolds and up some good climbs.

At the break, we picked up Richard Marsden. Rich was having terrible trouble with his knees, but is normally an excellent rider in the fast group.  So carrying an injury, he was handicapped down to my level.

Richard is one of the nicest, most generous guys i have ever met.
Always the first to congratulate me and the other slower riders at the end of the day. Always there with words of advice support a smile and a hug at tough moments. Thank you for all of that Rich.

We rode together through the rest of the day, alternating between helping each other through a long hard painful ride.

It was all quite straightforward untill just north of Bath. ( other than a lot of abuse and tooting from motorists - the worst day for that in fact).

Bath to Wells was 4 hours of hellishly steep climbs, until finally getting to the wonderful fantastic lovely beautiful flat non hilly even ( get the picture?) Somerset Levels.

We had spent the day following directions from my Garmin Sat Nav , all good until getting lost in Taunton, and ending up in the wrong place.  Cue grumpy riding aroumd trying to find the right
premier inn, and a late finish at 830.

Poor Denplan Simon got a lot of stick from me, as he had downloaded the garmin. Sorry simon.  Thanks for putting up with me.

Meanwhile elsewhere,  others were having a worse day. Poor (much less Big) Andy broke his rear derailleur ( gears on the back- VERY IMPORTANT). After roadside and bike shop repairs he limped home very late and in the dark, with Simon for company. The Birmingham 3 guests were even later. Not getting back until almost 10pm -shell shocked and battered from the journey.

It was a long hard day,  made bearable by a great riding buddy and lots of good chat. (Also the best lunch of the trip in Lansdown,Bath).

Early night of course, ready for the horrors of thenlong awaited and feared day 8.