A Lands End to John o'Groats cycle via the Three Peaks

Day 5. Thursday, 02/06/2011: Cheddar YHA to Aberllynfi House, Glasbury

Actual riding distance 159km. Ascent 1807m. Total distance 558km. Total ascent 6168m.

A bit of a disaster of a day as it turned out. We set off up Cheddar gorge as planned. The traffic was very light, the sun was shining, the air was warm - it was as good as it can be. The alternative route proved to be fine and we picked up the original route with no problem but then the problems started. We were running a bit behind schedule when we stopped for our cafe and kuchen stop in Clevedon.

This was a bit too relaxed and it was heading towards lunchtime when we started off again. I phoned Frances to arrange our lunch meeting near Usk and arraged to meet at the Greyhound. After losing track of the NCN signs to the Avonmouth bridge we lost more time so that by lunchtime we were only at Redwick. Cycling across the Avonmouth bridge was an "interesting" experience as we were effectively right beside the hard shoulder. We made another coffee and cake stop that again was too long so by the time we had made it across the Severn bridge and into Wales we were well behind schedule: so much so that it was 3.30 before we made it to the Greyhound to find they were not serving food again for several hours. Drinks and crisps were all that was available.

It was nice to see Gareth and Frances even for such a short time. It was good to talk to people ouside our bubble and have some conversations that didn’t concern what time to have breakfast, etc. We bid our farewells and headed off to Abergavenny where we found a Weatherspoons to get our first proper meal for several hours. We also phoned our B&B to let them know we were running quite late and estimated we would be with them by 10pm.

This was a big guess as we had to cycle over the Gospel Pass which rises to well over 500m. There were several quite steep sections on this road and we were quite relieved to get to the more gentle ground towards the top. Over the summit we were presented with a wonderful sunset but were then concerned that it would get dark soon. A very rapid descent was made down the narrow roads towards Glasbury and it was indeed just getting dark when we arrived.

Despite the late hour Neil and I went off to the pub for a pint and a wind down after our exertions while Ron turned in for an early night. This was the start of the rot with the website.

Day 5 track

Elevation plot Day 1