Thursday 26 August

CONGRATULATIONS TO KAREN AND DAVID (and
Tiernan, Abbey and Evan)
Peter and I had dinner in the pub last night and it was Tappas night, so that's what we had - delicious. I can recommend this pub. We went back to our room to a message from Karen. She is expecting her 4th child - our 8th grandchild!
This morning after an excellent breakfast in the pub we left at 10am for Hereford. It was still raining lightly but was now cold. Went through the Forest of Dean and past Symmonds Yat, which is a lovely part of the country, but too misty and wet to enjoy today. The road down past S.Y. was very narrow and a sign at the start of it said 'Ignore GPS, non HGV road'. Crossed into Herefordshire. Lots of hills today. Had to push up part of one of them. I couldn't see going downhill as I had rain on my (polychromatic) glasses (I had ordered these especially for the trip, as I wanted glasses: to protect me from the bugs; act as sunglasses; bi-focals for reading my maps. I was sponsored by the man in the opticians when he heard why I wanted the glasses - thanks). My rainhat came low over my eyes and so it's quite exciting going at speed! Went through a place called Hoarwithy. Fancied a cup of tea. Stopped at the pub which had a sign outside saying 'Open all day'. Were about to go in, but the chef at the door turned us away. He said the electric was off and they had to reboot the tills. That's fair enough, but he was extremely grumpy and abrupt with us. He needs to remember that a) we didn't know about the problem and b) it wasn't our fault. Perhaps he should have brought his sign in (which was misleading anyway as the notice on the door said that it opened at 12 and was closed between 3 and 6pm). After more uphill work we arrived at Hereford, got installed into a B&B and went into town where I have made appointments for a haircut and a massage! We have a day off tomorrow :-)

Total mileage: 28.77

Max. height: 738 ft

Ascent: 2,253 ft

Current height: 177 ft