Day 5 : Glastonbury to Nailsworth (L

Alan - One item on my list of things of things to do on this trip is to do some open water swimming. I had thought that a dip in Ullswater would be my first opportunity, but today we were lucky enough to take a dip just outside Bath. I have to say that I wasn't expecting to do it half way up a hill or while I was still on the bike. It was just like normal open water swimming, couldn't see, very wet, kept swerving around and very tiring. We started the day in the sun and ened in the rain, but we have now passed the 250 mark :-) and by crossing the M4 we have moved out of the south and into the midlands ..... best not talk any more about motorways.

We also took some time out to walk our bikes around Wells, which was cool. An added benifit from pushing our bikes around was that our average mph went up slightly ..... hmmmm, probably not good.

Another top B&B last night in Glastonbury. I have to admit that initially I was a little concerned, since it was at the top of a steep hill and more worryingly they didn't do full English !! In the end it was great, The people were great, the hill meant that we had a 30+ mph downhill start to today and the breakfast was fantastic (fresh fruit and honey and toast - excellent cycling food, better than a fry up ..... never thought I'd say that). If you visit Glastonbury, take your walking boots and stay at the Flying Dragon. Ask about walking routes, although you may want to halve the distance.

Finally, we would like to thank Tim and Naomi for providing much needed support today. With full kit I could not actually lift my bike this morning and was more than a little concerned about what would happen on the Bath hill with a full load. My front wheel doesn't stay on the ground on steep hills normally, and with full load the thought of uni-cycling up hill wasn't pleasant (N.B. If you want to do touring make sure you spread the load a bit.) But at lunchtime they met us in the middle of nowhere and took our overnight stuff and provided Sport. We were/are soooooo grateful.

Matt - Just to add toAlan's comment about the rain. Flipping Heck,I suppose it was going to happen, but two weeks worth in ten minutes? It is interesting trying to cycle against the tide! Note to self buy a dinghy.

The rain aside, the country is giving us more superb views and visits to places that I/we have not seen.

We have also seen signs to Wick, which I thought was in Scotland, and Dunkirk. So much for the Sat Nav watch!

I would also like to add my thanks to Tim and Naomi for rescuing us today, and to Elayne for doing my washing, bless.