Saturday 28 August

Donkeys in Upper Ho - rained immediately after this photo.

Went to an old fashioned picturehouse last night to see 'Inception' [that ending, eh Simon!]. Got there just as it started raining. There was an 'all you can eat' buffet at the Chinese next door pm went there for dinner. Why is it that, when given an all-you-can-eat choice, you eat more than you can eat?! Well I do anyway.
Left Hereford at 8.45 and had a gentle start. Then we started on hills, then the hills got steeper. We were peddling up one hill as two women on horses came ambling down. One shouted, 'It's a real leg burner'. 'Yes' I agreed, not wanting to have a discussion about it in the 10 seconds we took to pass each other (it being a 6 on the scale of 1-10 of hills met so far). I had to smile though when she had gone past and commented to her friend, 'She's doing well isn't she? ('for an old dear' was the inference!) Went past quite a few horses today. Most of them seemed a bit nervous going past bikes. I think they're more well bred (therefore more skittish) than our solid Welsh Mountain ponies. Stopped in Leominster and Ludlow for a break. I really like Ludlow, it's an ancient town with a great feel to it. (There's a fantastic B&B here that I'll put the details of on later.) We had some great views today. It felt like a long slog though and Peter didn't help by saying at the top of the hills, 'You're puffing a bit' or 'You're struggling today'. It doesn't help you know. In my defence I must point out that he is working below his maximum capacity as he's cycling behind me, so naturally he has energy to spare! Finally got to Church Stretton only to find the campsite we had picked out didn't cater for tents anymore. We had to backtrack about 1.5 miles to another one. It was a good move though as the lady who runs it, Pam, wouldn't accept the £12 camping fee when she heard what we were doing. So that money has gone in the kitty. We then went to a 'Teas to please' fete in the village in aid of the village church. It was wonderful - sandwiches, cake and tea. We entered a 'Guess the weight of the cake' competition, but I said if we won to pass it on to the next person, as we wouldn't be around when the weight was revealed. Gerry, sitting at our table, said if we won, he'd have the cake and send on whatever the cake was worth to me for the charity. Between us, we decided it was worth £25. The results will be known on Monday.

Mileage: 43.65 miles

Arrival time: 3.15 pm

Height now: 682 ft

Ascent: 2,959 ft

Max height: 866 ft