This is a day to look forward to as we are meeting up with family. We will be on "home ground" when we get to Pill tonight, as our son George and his wife Marianne, our 2 year old grandson Arlie and 3 week old granddaughter Belle live there. Elaine, our daugther and her husband Jake will pick us up from our hotel near Pill and we'll all get together for a takeaway at Marianne & George's.
Not only that, Reg's brother Geoff and his wife Rose are going to meet us in Axbridge at lunchtime and cycle long the Strawberry line with us - a distance of about 8 miles - and picnic with us along the way.
We have breakfast Nigel, the Canadian end-to-ender who cycled the last part of the journey to Bridgwater with us yesterday. He's the same age as us but much fitter and looks about 50. He's off to Chepstow today, which makes it about right, as we're doing about 40 miles & he's doing 60.
It's mostly flattish terrain today, with 1 or 2 manageable hills. Early on in our journey we meet the young couple who are also end-to-enders whom we met in the pub yesterday. They have a friendly word then press on, as they like Nigel are averaging 60 miles a day. They are off to Monmouth today.
Oh dear, Reggie! There is nowhere to stop for coffee this morning. There are 2 pubs along the way, but they don't open until noon. My morning coffee stop can make or break my fighting spirit going up those hills! But the compensation for no pubs, cafes or shops is lovely quiet country roads, where barely a car passes by. The odd tractor, yes! I've lost count of the number of tractors (often with heavily laden trailers) that we've seen on this trip so far. Tractors no longer chug along like they did in days gone past. They come towards you at full speed! Best to stop and press yourself and your bike against the hedgerow in those circumstances.
We finally arrive in the small village of Axbridge, and there's Geoff enjoying a coffee at an outside table - but where's Rose? Geoff explains that they've bought a new rack for their tandem, but had great difficulty getting the tandem on to the rack. In the end they were unable to load the tandem, so Geoff had to come on his own. He's driven his car from Frampton Cotterell, where he lives, to Yatton station, and has cycled along the StrawberryLine to Axbridge to meet us.
Reg learnt from the Michael Portillo "Great British Railway Journeys" on TV that this old railway path was called the Strawberry Line because it was used to take the strawberry crop from nearby Cheddar to London for sale.
We enjoy a coffee (my coffee at last!) and a green tea for Reg, and exchange news with Geoff. It's lovely to see him but we were so looking forward to seeing Rose too! After a rest we cycle off down the Strawberry Line, stopping to have our picnic along the way. At Yatton we say our goodbyes and Reg and I thread our way towards the Days Inn at the Gordano services, near Pill.
We are really tired when we finally get there. However we are pleasantly surprised by the lovely spacious airy room, that despite the nearness of the M5, even though we have our windows open, we cannot hear traffic noise. We are also told to take our bikes into our room, which is unusual.
No time for a rest - just a quick shower as Elaine and Jake are picking us up at 6.00 pm to take us to Marianne & George's.
Arlie, our grandson, aged 2 years 4 months, seems excited to see us. Belle, aged 3 weeks, is a little unsettled in the evening, and though I do have lovely cuddles, only her Mum or her Dad would be able to calm her!
Marianne put our washing in and we enjoy a takeaway, in between Belle being unsettled and Arlie understandably finding it difficult to go to sleep!
It's lovely to catch up with everyone's news.
We find the Windows notebook computer is connecting to the Internet at Marianne & George's so I spend some time posting the blog. No time to check it though!
By this time we are really tired and I think everyone else is too. We say our goodbyes, and are soon back in the Day's Inn - and straight to bed.
We finally arrive in the small village of Axbridge, and there's Geoff enjoying a coffee at an outside table - but where's Rose? Geoff explains that they've bought a new rack for their tandem, but had great difficulty getting the tandem on to the rack. In the end they were unable to load the tandem, so Geoff had to come on his own. He's driven his car from Frampton Cotterell, where he lives, to Yatton station, and has cycled along the StrawberryLine to Axbridge to meet us.
Reg learnt from the Michael Portillo "Great British Railway Journeys" on TV that this old railway path was called the Strawberry Line because it was used to take the strawberry crop from nearby Cheddar to London for sale.
We enjoy a coffee (my coffee at last!) and a green tea for Reg, and exchange news with Geoff. It's lovely to see him but we were so looking forward to seeing Rose too! After a rest we cycle off down the Strawberry Line, stopping to have our picnic along the way. At Yatton we say our goodbyes and Reg and I thread our way towards the Days Inn at the Gordano services, near Pill.
We are really tired when we finally get there. However we are pleasantly surprised by the lovely spacious airy room, that despite the nearness of the M5, even though we have our windows open, we cannot hear traffic noise. We are also told to take our bikes into our room, which is unusual.
No time for a rest - just a quick shower as Elaine and Jake are picking us up at 6.00 pm to take us to Marianne & George's.
Arlie, our grandson, aged 2 years 4 months, seems excited to see us. Belle, aged 3 weeks, is a little unsettled in the evening, and though I do have lovely cuddles, only her Mum or her Dad would be able to calm her!
Marianne put our washing in and we enjoy a takeaway, in between Belle being unsettled and Arlie understandably finding it difficult to go to sleep!
It's lovely to catch up with everyone's news.
We find the Windows notebook computer is connecting to the Internet at Marianne & George's so I spend some time posting the blog. No time to check it though!
By this time we are really tired and I think everyone else is too. We say our goodbyes, and are soon back in the Day's Inn - and straight to bed.
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