Meeting a fellow Jogler

Day Eleven

From Slimbridge To Cheddar
Distance Travelled: 48 miles
Ave speed: 12.3 mph
Max speed: 38.1 mph (officially confirmed as a new land speed world record for Shaun)
Weather: Hot and sunny
Cycling time: 3 hours 52 mins
Total Distance so far: 738 miles

Not a particularly good nights sleep was had by either, and nothing to do with the previous evenings visit to the Tudor Arms. Our room had a sink which made some very strange gurgling noises throughout the night, and one stage we thought it was about to explode!

After a late breakfast (8.00am) we were soon on our way to Bristol. It was by far the best morning we have had so far weather wise. But unfortunately the A38 into and out of Bristol is a narrow road, and busy with lorries, that don’t seem to recognise the effect they have on cyclists. We will now both be more considerate to cyclists given our experience, and hope you will also think about this!!!

After making it through Bristol, (and for any Bristol City fans, we also passed by Ashton Gate), we had lunch at Sainsburys, before continuing on our way. A short while into our ride we were caught by another cyclist, called Kev, who was also on his way to LE. And it just so happened he had left JoG on the same day as us! Although his route had taken him down the east coast of Scotland. Kev told us he had met the man walking and drumming all the way from JoG to LE (we had heard the story in Scotland but weren’t sure we believed it until now). Kev headed South as we turned off for Cheddar, not knowing his next destination. Maybe we will see him again at LE.

As we waited to check in to our hostel, Shaun received an urgent message to contact a reporter who wanted to interview him for his local newspaper – The News (a local pompey paper). Apparently he has been nominated as ‘Hero of the week’, and they wanted to get an interview on our progress.

We dined in the garden of the Gardeners Arms in Cheddar (which unlike yesterday’s pub, has not received any awards).

The last two days have been good fun, mainly because we haven’t had to cycle great distances. Our thoughts have now begun to think about getting to the end which we are really excited about and the prospect of seeing our families again. But we know the next two days are going to be very hard because of the hills.