Day 8 - Bristol (Hanbury) to Glouster

Day 8 - Bristol (Hanbury) to Glouster

In an earlier than normal departure we are away about 8:00 am. We have postponed breakfast until later as there was no included breakfast here as there often is with AirBandB's.

Also,  since we left New Zealand,  and actually for a couple of weeks before,  I have been doing a 45 minute meditation routine based on a stress management program developed by Jon Kabat Zinn at the MIT in the United States. I feel this has been a big help for me to keep me more relaxed than I otherwise would have been. Not a perfect Mike but better Mike. This is a big commitment at the beginning of almost everyday. Especially as there is often pressure to get going so the end of the day is not too late. But I really believe the time delayed  is worth it.

On  leaving from Henbury we are already 10 km ahead on this section making this pretty flat 65 kilometre day quite easy (Hopefully).   We see a repurposed phone box on the way converted into a book swap library.

We have seen a few of these phone boxes on the way with defibrillators included.

 Nice morning conditions and with lots of Sunday morning cyclists out we reach Berkeley where we visit the home and museum for Doctor Edward Jenner. He is famous for developing a vaccine for Smallpox which could also be considered the beginning of vaccinations in general!

The medicinal garden at Jenners house

Information about smallpox

The hut where Jenner would give the cowpox vaccine to patients

Before vaccination came along it used to be that one in 4 people throughout the world contracted smallpox. Of those who contracted it, one in 3 would die.  Others would be blinded or develop other complications including major disfigurement. There is evidence that smallpox was even around in ancient Egyptian times. We got to watch an excellent video about his work.  Jenner found that local milk maids who milked the cows would get  cowpox, a mild non fatal condition, but , unlike the rest of the community, would never get smallpox.

So Jenner infected a young boy with cowpox and  then the little later with smallpox. The boy had become immune to smallpox having been protected by his exposure to cowpox.

The house Jenner gave to the boy who was his test case.

 Thus the birth of vaccines and the saving of  many many millions of lives in the future. We tour his house as well.  This is a completely amazing and wonderful story of human invention relieving the suffering of many millions of people.
We have lunch at a local café. Outside is a wonderful assortment of old bikes.

We continue to Slimbridge Wildlife Centre. This is famous for the wildfowl and wetlands trust. This is also where we meet the Gloucester canal for the first time.  This canal was built so shipping could sail to Gloucester without having to traverse the perils of the Severn River.  For a time it was the deepest and widest canal in the world. It is still impressive with its massive rotating bridges to allow both vehicle traffic and canal traffic to travel in this area.

We cycle out to the wildlife centre  but entry is expensive and bike security not great so we skip this and head back to the canal and ride on beside the canal north to Gloucester. The extensive recreation traffic on the canal with a wide variety of canal boats is fascinating.

We  leave the canal for awhile and cycle through Frampton on Severn.  With village greens, ponds full of water lilies and bullrushes and completely marvelous character houses, many with thatched roofs, cycling through here is a real delight.

Back to the canal and on to Gloucester. We find out hotel and we are allowed to store our bikes in our room. The room is an excellent size and well presented and costs only £29.

 A super bargain. McDonald's for tea. We
are both piscaterians. Except for me occasionally when I am doing lots of exercise and feel in the need of a big protein burst.

We have now decided that we are not going to camp on this trip. We don't see any camp sites on route. The riding each day is demanding so going into a tent at night seems too much. So we decide it  is going to be AirBandB and booking.com for the rest of the trip. To get rid of the weight and the bulk of the camping gear (about 8kgs) will be a relief. We pack the redundant gear into  a courier box  to go to Tina , a friend in Luton, tomorrow. We will pick it up on our return to London.

Then I book a hotel in the wrong Newport for 2 nights ahead through booking.com. The problem is - we did want to stay in Newport. But not this Newport. How were we to know there was more than one Newport. It was only when I put the hotel address in Google Maps that I realised my mistake. We are going  to a Newport in the complete opposite direction. No refunds. £38. That hurts. I send a big email to the hotel and booking.com.  I wait to see if I will get anything back.  I don't.  Taught us a lesson.! Lots of different places with the same name in the UK.