Day 4 - Lucky Escape

Contrary to the in-depth weather analysis on Sky TV, the day started dry (although cloudy), and stayed that way for most of the day, with occassional moments of sunshine.

We found our way out of Bristol with the help of Bill's trusty compass, and all liked Gloucestershire's flat roads and frequent cycle lanes. Later on we found a bizarre cafe in Tewkesbury that could easily have been in Royston Vasey, where the staff understood the concept of a jug of water, but didn't bring any glasses to go with it.

We spent a more pleasant half an hour in the sunshine in Worcester Cathedral Close, then made good progress down a long hill after that.

At the next break Nigel and Patrick were waiting outside a petrol station and heard lots of banging from inside. Luckily Julian was more public spirited, and standing proud like a Colossus, thrust himself into the Ladies where he rescued a woman who was stuck in the toilet.

We made the mistake of relying on Julian's memory of how many hills there were between Kidderminster and Telford, unfortunately he normally does the trip by car so undercounted by a factor of about 10.


After surviving five miles of hell on the Telford ringroad, we chased after a taxi driver to get directions to our hotel, which seemed to have a convention of retired Girl Guides in progress.


Julian's statoids - Day Four
Distance: 100.5 miles
Cumulative distance: 316.5 miles
Ride time: 6 hours 40 mins
Top Speed: 32.6mph
Average speed: 15.0mph
Calories Burned - 5000
Terrain - Mostly flat
Number of hills between Kidderminster and Telford: Depends who's counting
Key Events: Julian's toilet rescue.