Day 4

Sorry, no internet access yesterday, so this report is delayed.

Today has been a very hectic day. But first things first: Dai Abbott was in Hereford last night, and got to socialise with the boys, but was sadly struck down overnight with a tummy bug. He immediately decided not to go ahead with the tour, which was the right decision. Besides, that would mean no less than five people on the tour called Dai, which if you ask me is several too many.

Today was going to involve 127 long miles, with the wind from the west and heavy showers on the forecast. Leaving at 9am we continued on the road to Leominster at a measured pace, dodging the showers, mostly, but getting wetter in the spray from passing lorries. Good news was we had missed the heaviest shower of the day, bad news was that the wet roads were just as bad.

No primes by order of our esteemed leader. Today it was just about survival, and sticking together, and together it was that we rolled into a Shrewsbury pub called The Two Henries in time for lunch. Food was dispatched with haste, but even so it was 1:45pm before we were rolling again, and with another 72 miles to go. Staying on the A49 we slipped into Cheshire, dotted with impossibly quaint cottages, and full-blooded agriculture in the raw (read stink). It was here that Bill Gannon had a puncture, and whilst repairing it discovered he also had two broken spokes. Sadly that meant that both he and the bike went in the van.

Thus began an epic headlong race against time to fix the bike before all the shops shut. All hail a bike shop in Warrington who opened their door even though they were closing up. The other epic of the day was Lyndon getting lost in Wigan. He managed to get lost very thoroughly (unlike Striker, who successfuly returned to the fold) and was still missing in action long after everyone else had finally arrived at the correct Premier Inn (we passed a quite a few today, which was cruel). Lyndon says he went through one particular junction five times, which was funnily enough right next to The Taste Of Bengal, the evening's curry house. That's of no help or comfort, but oddly ironic.

Special mention also goes to Simon, who said "Wouldn't it be funny if the barriers were up on the Somerfield car park, and the van was locked in. Oh, it is". Fortunately it turns out that barriers can be circumvented easily, so take note all those in need of late night parking in Wigan. We'll tell you how for a small fee. Tomorrow we could all do with a slightly less eventful day.

Primes: None, by order.

Mileage - 127 miles. Time in Saddle - several aeons. Av speed - pass.

Bill's mileage - 92 miles and no certificate!

Lyndon's mileage - 130+