Day 9 - Glouster to Droitwich Spa

Day 9 – Glouster to Droitwich

Now we have reached the West Midlands of England. Today we will go through Worcester to Droitwich Spa. We are trying to push the distances up a bit. The overall aim is  28 stages in 24 days. However it is a delicate balancing act - making up time but not getting too exhausted.

We leave Gloucester and our  great bargain of a hotel. 

Down town in Glouster

Glouster Cathedral
We drop off about 8 kg of camping gear in a tapped up box at the post office to send to Tina in Luton in the south. Cost about £25. Absolutely worth it.

We do a last ride right around the cathedral then spend a frustrating 30 minutes trying to find our way out of town and back on to the correct cycle route. Normally routes in and out of towns are very geared to cars and trucks here. Which closes down the options for bikes and can make things very difficult.  

We are now heading across the Severn flood plain.  In a way this country is less interesting compared to Cornwall and Devon although a lot easier biking at the moment with only minor ups and downs. And we certainly see many pretty houses and villages along the way.

The weather is generally overcast with the occasional spot of rain. Perfect bike conditions really with moderate tailwind and a temperature of about 16 degrees.  

We wonder if we have left our ride to too late in the Autumn, weather and temperature-wise – but are told many people ride at this time because of more settled weather and reasonable temperatures. However the days are quite quickly getting shorter.

Occasionally we emerge from our peaceful riding bubble to cross a motorway. It always comes as a shock - like we have ridden into a different universe for a couple of minutes. It reminds us that the quality of time when we are cycle touring is very different to that when travelling in a car on fast motorways.

We arrive in Worcester, a very manageable city, and for once easy to get in and out of.

Winchester Cathedral
 We do another easy 15 km on to Droitwich Spa.  Our BandB is in the middle of town. We walk the half mile to the pub for dinner and get a taxi home for £4.

We have a longer day tomorrow.  I'd like to try longer days but must be careful not to exhaust us or make it too hard.  It is better that we don't finish this trip and keep enjoying ourselves than finish in exhausted misery.

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