Speeding southwards through rural Midlands

Day 7:

Tutbury to Tewkesbury – 85 miles

Planned mileage: 85 miles

Actual mileage: 88.43 miles (hmm... took a couple of miles out with a more direct route south of Tamworth, but detoured to the craft centre for lunch and then took a wrong turning and a very inefficient route through Redditch)

Cycling time: 5hrs 48mins

Average speed: 15.2mph

Maximum speed: 35mph (whizzing down out of Pershore)

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/en/cycling/route_1389186.html

Accomodation: Staying with Aunt & Uncle Anne & Michael

What a difference a rest day makes! Despite this being just about our longest day we maintained our highest average speed and finished the day feeling actually pretty fresh with legs still feeling fine. Five more consecutive cycling days before the next rest day, so hoping that the fresh feeling continues. Watch this space!

Everyone was up early today as we wanted to (and did indeed manage to) get underway by 9am – by far our earliest start. Stocked up on delicious scrambled egg on toast and provisioned up with a very substantial packed lunch before sadly saying our goodbyes (we don't get to see my parents nearly as often as any of us would like) and pedalling off up the hill.

Lots of lovely countryside to ride through today, with particularly pleasant, gently undulating roads this morning to and through Walton on Trent and on to Tamworth. Lots of activity in evidence around Croxall with huge army vehicles and loads of tankers seemingly filled with mineral water. It turned out there is to be a 24 hour cross country (presumably running) race there this weekend – rather them than me!

Tamworth was very easily navigated, as was (surprisingly, we'd both been a tad nervous about it) Solihull and Shirley. Busy roads, but clear signposting and drivers who were behaving themselves made it perfectly bearable and not at all scary.

Having stopped earlier at Meriden (special bench for cyclists & war memorial devoted to cyclist casualties from WWI & II) we were able to hold off having lunch proper till we'd almost cycled 50 miles, most unusual. So Earlswood craft centre it was – complete with loads of very entertaining hyperactive children and the opportunity to buy a present for Anne & Michael. Not quite so nice sitting outside today as the sun was definitely hiding behind thick cloud, but this was made up for by the excellent coffee and chocolate cake that accompanied our packed lunch.

Having done such a good navigational job in the morning, we managed to blot our copybook by messing up totally on getting ourselves through Redditch. We did nothing like our planned route (although the south-westerly mini B-road ring road was very leafy and pleasant) and were extremely pleased to escape and continue on a more efficient route south and west.

Shortly after this, with around 20miles still to go, Euan had a bit of an incident with a dodgy gate which very nearly turned into a complete disaster... Pausing for lunch part three, he went off in search of a suitable 'de-watering' spot. I knew something was wrong when he called me over in a very calm, controlled voice. Turned out the gate he'd tried to climb over collapsed, taking his ankle sideways in the process! It instantly swelled up nicely around the ankle bone, but he could stand and hobble on it, so after a quick bite to eat we crossed our fingers and continued. Cycling was a lot less sore than walking and it only seemed to result in a bit of a loss of power. It made those last pretty, rural miles a little nerve wracking! However, a quick stop at a petrol station for some ibuprofen calmed things down a little and we swooped and zoomed through the countryside to arrive at Shuthonger a bit before 5:30. We last cycled here two years ago, but felt pretty good in comparison this time around.

Staying with Euan's Aunt and Uncle tonight, so delicious meal and lots more catching up to do. Euan has had his ankle bandaged and is currently sitting with his foot up. We're hoping that it'll be ok tomorrow – fortunately we're cycling not running, so think it should be alright.