We were awake by 5.30 am, but breakfast was not until 8 am 🙈😳 The bikes were packed and ready to go and at 8 am we presented ourselves.

Whilst waiting for our order, a couple from Chicago turned up. We had spoken with them the previous day. They are walking the Thames Path to London and were starting today.

The lady busily chopped raw onion, added sliced pancetta, and sliced a 1 kg block of cheese, making bread rolls for the day. I did wonder how long the left over cheese and pancetta would last in her backpack en route to London.

We were on the road by 8.35 and the first 12 km or so was on the very busy Bath Road. I was certainly pleased to reach Tetbury.

Tetbury is the village location of King Charles III private residence, Highgrove House, although legally, I think it is actually now owned by the new Prince of Wales via the Duchy of Cornwall.

The town has a history over 1300 years, since 681, when King Ethelred of Mercia gifted the land to an Abbott.

The Snooty Fox, a pub in town, great name.

Some of the town buildings including the old market square, Cotswold stone buildings and Llamas in Pyjamas 🤣

Leaving Tetbury we were riding along farming lanes connecting villages. The one below is around the rear boundary of Highgrove land.

The stone walls have been incredibly well constructed. They are all dry and works of art.

In the village of Leighterton is St Andrew’s, a thirteenth century parish church. I like the timber clad belfrey with its shingle roof. The church has a slate roof.

More agricultural views. It makes for pleasant riding, despite the continual up and down slopes and infrequent cow pats on the road (one of the reasons our drink bottles have enclosed lids).

Lovely forests and distant views towards Wales. Riding laneways like the one below are great, but you always need to be wary as this is quite narrow and cars pass with difficulty.

It was a hilly ride today, climbing around 900 metres. Here I am near the top of yet another climb. Most of the rural climbs were upwards of 12%, which is more than enough with the extra gear on the bike.

You can see Wales now in the background. Just out of view on the left is the Severn bridge, where we will cross into Wales.

Another interesting town, but we really busted our boilers here. Our mapping took us up the seeming shortest route to the Main Street, with a nasty 15-16% climb up Ludgate Hill.

I was hoping I did not need to give way at the top as I need a metre or so of flat to be safe in removing feet from the cleats to give way ( versus falling over)! Fortunately no cars and I was ok.

A series of super narrow lanes ensued. These are barely one car wide. If a car comes either way you need to either get into the bushes or move forward hoping to find a lane access into a farm.

Chunks of our route today were on the Avon Cycle Way which is an 85 mile circular route around Bristol. We were on parts of the northern section.

This laneway was a bit of a goat track. You can see the Severn bridge to the left with its white tall towers. Behind the crane is the Thornbury parish church.

Thornbury is quite pretty. I liked this regal flower display.

Thornbury Castle is a Tudor structure commenced in 1511. The castle was confiscated by King Henry Viii who stayed there for ten days with Anne Boleyn in 1535. The castle fell into disprepair after the English Civil War, but was renovated in 1824 and now serves as a hotel and restaurant.

I was fortunate to have stayed in the Castle in 2007 for two nights so passing by today was to admire the building only, as this was not to be our destination tonight.

The Parish church of Saint Mary started in 1340 with latter major additions. The church is the resting place of the entrails of Jasper Tudor, uncle and mentor to the young Henry Tudor, later Henry VII of England.

We were hungry but we pushed on. The sky was quite dark in patches, and rain was forecast.

As we crossed the Severn river and entered Wales, it started raining. The river is the longest in Great Britain at around 354 km in length. It is tidal here, and quite muddy.

We stopped to put our rain jackets and booties on after exiting a narrow laneway, and sat under a rail tunnel.

Chepstow, is the first major town we entered in Wales, adjacent to the border with Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the tidal River Wye.

We stopped at a small supermarket on the busy road versus heading into the town, as the rain motivated us to keep moving. Lunch was a fresh bread roll with a banana in it.

We passed the Chepstow race course. There were cars everywhere, including a flea market in one car park. Families were heading down with their children.

Wye Valley, is an area of outstanding natural beauty, running along the border between England and Wales here. We followed the valley for the rest of our ride today. Tintern Abbey is a site that encourages you to stop and stare.

Tintern Abbey was built by Walter de Clare, Lord of Chepstow, in 1131. It was the first Cistercian foundation in Wales, and only the second in Britain. It fell into ruin after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536(good old King Henry VIII!), treasures were removed, lead from the roof was sold, and the building decay began.

Over 70,000 visitors year visit the abbey – and this is also my third visit (2007, 2013)

Continuing on we followed the Wye River as it meandered along the picturesque Wye Valley.

Eventually we arrived in Monmouth which is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye. The town was the site of a small Roman fort and became established after Monmouth Castle was constructed in 1067.

This is an interesting statue of Charles Rolls, as in Rolls Royce. Aside from that venture, he was an aviation pioneer and a cyclist, having captained Cambridge University cycling club. Despite a great future he was killed at the age of 32 in his plane during a display. He was the first Briton to be killed in an aeronautics, accident, and the 11th internationally.

Monmouth castle was the birthplace of King Henry V in 1396 is now in ruins. There is a statue of Henry V in town. Sadly not much remains of the former stronghold of Henry IV.

Our accomodation is here tonight. The reception lady has been super helpful and our bikes are stored in their ‘bike shed’ under lock and key.

A solid day on the bike with a doubling of the climbing to gear us up for more tomorrow. We are weary tonight and looking forward to a good sleep.

Thanks for reading 😳❣️

A tough day riding today in trying conditions (head winds and never ending climbs), plus a spill from the bike. However, the ride was great overall, great route, towns and scenery. 94 km and 1600 metres climbing with a loaded bike is challenging but we did it. Knowing you got through the day is always satisfying but we’re tired now,

Leaving Monmouth we crossed the Morrow river passing under this famous gate tower, The bridge was believed to have been built around 1272 to replace a Norman timber bridge.

It is the only remaining fortified river bridge in Great Britain with its gate tower standing on the bridge.

We rode past two interesting gate cottages. It makes you wonder what the main house is like.

The rural scenery was very pleasant and green.

A memorial water fountain, no longer used, dedicated to a local citizen from the 1800’s.

I particularly liked this vista, across the paddocks, to the nicely shaped church. A jigsaw puzzle picture.

Today was all about climbs. Lots of them. The graph does not show all the individual smaller climbs.

The third major climb at around the 20 km point, my chain dropped as I climbed started to climb a steeper section (when I changed rings) and that meant I had no ability to pedal, nor could I get my feet\ shoes out of the cleats quick enough.

So on a busy road, in slow motion, over I went.

The front bag burst open, stuff went everywhere, I was on my side and picked myself up as quickly as I could. My bum and hip took most of the hit, my knee just a couple of small grazes made to look worse due to the blood thinners I take.

I have stiffened tonight though 😳

I rolled back down the hill to start it again, resting at The Red Heart.

Continuing on, the fields are wide and open, still super green.

The climbs keep appearing.

The first major town today was Abergavenny. Situated at the confluence of the River Usk and a tributary stream, the Gavenny. It is surrounded by mountains and hills, including the Sugar Loaf. It is known as a gateway to the Brecon Beacons National Park.

We stopped outside a bakery for refreshments. As we consumed our goods, we met Vernon and Jill from Derbyshire. They have cycled toured in the last and were curious about our trip.

They shared photos of their grandson Leon Atkinson who currently has four National (UK) age championships to his name in four events. A name to watch out for in the future.

Leaving town, waiting for Tony while he takes this photo.

Blackberries are plentiful and Tony sampled some today, and said they were really nice.

More climbs, more views.

I’m not sure if these are llamas or alpacas, I always get confused. The black one intrigued as as when we talked to him, he stopped chewing. When we stopped he would chew. Maybe he is a she…🤣

All the main towns today were at the bottom of descents, meaning there were tough climbs out of each town.

This view is just above Crickhowell, my favourite town today.

Crickhowell lies on the River Usk, on the edge of the Black Mountains. it is the birth place of Roddy Llewllyn, better known as Sir Roderic Llewellyn, 5th Baronet – aka Princess Margaret’s playboy back in the 70’s.

We stopped for lunch here, a fresh baguette with a fresh banana.

The old castle was initially a motte and bailey castle built from around 1121. It was damaged badly in the 1400’s by the last born Prince of Wales, Owain Glyndwyr.

The town was vibrant, and many buildings had colourful flower displays.

Leaving town we crossed the river, and followed a canal.

There were nice forests and more churches.

Our route took us along the Brecon canal, apparently voted Britains prettiest canal.

It was lovely riding the two miles along here. It was a flat gravel path. It was busy with people walking their dogs.

In the town of Brecon the canal becomes a basin. You can hire a boat here for one hour, 40 pounds.

We did not stop in Brecon. We weaved our way around the town to head back into the hills.

More cute churches and fields.

We were quite tired by now, but climbing was not done with us yet. As we started to climb, there was a warning sign stating the climb was 16%. It was also 2 km in length.

Per our computer data we could see that the super steep section was for maybe 500 metres or so. I walked! I pushed the bike up and it got to 20.4%

As I rounded a bend, Tony was also walking. It is actually hard pushing your bike with gear up such a steep hill. The knee did complain.

At the top, this was the warning sign for cars descending.

Adjacent was a military firing range. The red flags were flying, the sheep oblivious. These sheep are fenced, but there were many others wandering around the roadside.

The vegetation had changed considerably. It was very open and bare. Exposed to the headwinds, making the challenge harder.

After the steeper section, we were able to continue climbing on our bikes. Here I am near the top.

As we rested, we met a local mtb rider John (known to his friends as ‘the pope’). We were at a junction with what seemed to be a farm road and the main road. John had come off the farm road.

Talking to him he imparted his local knowledge and suggested we get off the main road, and head to Builth Wells by this alternative route. It is always great to chat to other cyclists.

He assured us it was all downhill.

Well it was mainly downhill bar the uphill bits 🤣🤣 However, what goes up, must go down, and Builth Wells like every other town today, is at the bottom of a big hill.

These are some views along the alternative route.

We arrived at our accomodation in town, and after showering and laundering headed off to search for dinner and check out the town.

Builth Wells at the confluence of the rivers Wye and Irfon – in the upper part of the Wye Valley.

Tomorrow a storm weather warning has been issued, Storm Antoni, with winds of up to 55 mph, plus lots of rain. We will reassess tomorrow but a train is an option. We are scheduled to climb over 1500 m again and that would be dangerous on a bike in a storm.

Anyway, let’s see what tomorrow brings.