Day 7 - Glastonbury to Bristol


Day 7 – Glastonbury to Bristol


A straight forward day today (we hope).  Our BandB host makes us very nice breakfast.
We are off by 9 and take the back way to Wells, the smallest city in the UK.

 It is famous for its cathedral complex


and also it has a residential street from the 14th century in great (more or less original)  condition. It is supposed to be the oldest of its kind in Europe.

We also go to a bike shop here and buy 2 new tubes and a seat spongy cover for Zita. She had been experiencing discomfort. But she takes a lot of convincing to get this extra seat support. It ends up making a big positive difference for her.
We have our first Cornish (vege) pasties for lunch here.
 While in Wells there is a major downpour but this has cleared by the time we start cycling again.

 It is a steep climb out of Wells up onto the Mendip Hills with great views back over the Somerset Levels.

We cycle across the relatively level upper plateau and then down to Chewstoke. At one point on a narrow winding road with high hedges, a car comes from behind to overtake. I can see a car coming from ahead. I indicate the car behind that it should wait. He overtakes anyway and missed the other car by inches. Bloody idiot!
And more climbing up again. And then a huge almost everlasting downhill run to Bristol on a suburban cycle path. . As we ride into Bristol we see nice houses and many attractive  suburban areas.
 But the city centre seems too busy and exhausting for me. In Bristol it is Saturday late afternoon /early evening and there is a lot of loud music and drinking. Not our scene.  

Luckily our accommodation is 5 miles further on. It is a cheap room at Hanbury. So some more climbing past the University and out to the suburbs.

I wonder before hand, from what I have seen on google maps, if the area is a bit rough and the accommodation will be rough as well. But we get a friendly welcome and it is a nice room and the area is fine.
Accomodation in Hanbury

  We go to a local pub for a cheap but good meal. Other guests in the pub have had a lot to drink and are pretty raucous.

We are now trying to think ahead. How we can combine some stages with part stages to make up some time so we can finish the trip a bit earlier and have some free time at the end of the trip.  


As we ride so far we would be spending:

 65% approximately on very quiet country roads
30% on other trails and canal paths
2% of more busy roads
3% of our time trying to figure the route when the route markers disappear or we lose the markers

Tomorrow on to Gloucester

Distance so far:  505/1920 kms


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