Day 4 part 1 - crossing borders

We met Martins brother - Peter - who had arrived by train from Stroud, and we departed from the Chepstow Two Rivers hotel at 0915.

We left Wales, as we joined the old Severn bridge cycle way and began crossing over first the Wye and then the swirling waters of the Severn.

The bridge made noises and seemed to gurgle as we cycled along and also oscillated up and down as though you were on a trampoline. It was also a bit surreal seeing the new bridge and the sea to one side and Berkeley nuclear power station and the Severn, on the other.

Having moved into England, just after the bridge, Andy had a mechanical with his gears that took some time (and multiple cooks) to fix. Looking to our right towards Wales, you could see both bridges across the wet lands.

Just after that, we lost our route and meandered through the small lanes and cycle ways, weaving back and forth.

Having got back onto our route, thanks to Julia’s guidance, we went around the back of Avonmouth and two young riders came alongside us and were interested to know what we were doing. They’d ridden from Bristol to its twin city, Bordeaux, last summer (500 miles in 4 days) which made our efforts seem rather pathetic! However they must have been impressed because we noticed later that they’d taken the trouble to find our website and donate!

After going up onto the Downs, a steep rise, we then went down into Lawrence Weston, only to then come back up. Some questions were raised of the route planners sanity and potential life span!

However, we were now all set for our next bridge of the day - Clifton Suspension BridgeRead more