Abergavenny (Pandy) to Peckforton

We got up at 6.30, woken up kindly by Oli! Most of our things were prepared for a timely departure the evening before. All we now had to do was to have a quick wash, have breakfast,make sarnies, pack the BBQ, pack our tents, move everything in the car, fiddle with the bikes, last minute faffing around... All this took until about 9am before we finally managed to get ourselves on the road. As we rode out of the campgrounds, the owner kindly asked us for payment which wasn't sorted yet. £25 lighter we set off. Damian didn't camp with us as he had a hotel room booked not far from us, setting off by himself.

Our first couple of miles were done in spectacular countryside going up Gospel Pass, going to Hay-on-Wye. The road a long, windy uphill struggle which took us up into the mountains. The scenery changed from grassland, flowery bushes to rather sparsely scattered shrubs and small mountain flowers. And then there were the sheep, literally everywhere! On that morning we did not take any of the Action Camera, bullet cams - why did we do that? Well, we ran out of batteries (they drain so quickly) and couldn't be bothered to wait for the rechargeables being ready. En route, Jorrin had a puncture and it took him 35!!! minutes to repair it!!! Very well done - a new inner tube would have taken about 5 mins to be replaced?

We arrived on the mountain top half an hour later and stared at downhill pass from heaven! We got our selves ready, zipped up our jackets and sped down!! With top speed reaching 40mph (65km/h). It wasn't just the speed it was the risk we took to go at that speed whilst still being able to control the bike in the bends (sand, sharp turns etc) and always calculating with cars coming up the road. Deuan was absolutely mad!!!! We learned later that his handlebar wasn't even tightened properly. He raced down that hill, me following him with some distance, without any regard for cars coming up - his great wealth of experience, intuition kept him safe - this time.

We arrived in Hay-on-Wye were we met up with Ian, had some nice fruits from a local fruiterer, drank some teas and had the loveliest butterfly cakes at one of Deuans secret cafés. We charged our batteries and continued our ride. We finally got to Wem where we met up with Ian to sort us out with proper rain clothes. It started to rain properly a couple of miles back and we were all soaked and cold. We met Ian at a supermarket parking space, put on new clothes, wiped our glasses, filled up on drinks and carbs (nuts, banana). We still had some 30 miles to go to Peckforton, or final resting place for the day.

By this time we had left the mountains well behind ourselves and were on straight, yet very busy A and B roads. The rain was still heavy so we decided to chaingang (aka roadtrain). This was the first time that we all worked as a team making incredible speeds despite the rain and everyone being cold and absolutely drained. Deuan, with his iron horse stayed at the back and Oli, Jorrin and myself took our turns at the front of the chain. In the far distance I recognised another cyclist and drawing closer we realised that it was Damian struggling by himself through the rain. We slowed down to give him a chance to join the roadtrain - something that does safe energy, allow higher average and top speeds. Its cycling teamwork at its best. Damian couldn't keep up as he still had his panniers. We cycled mile after mile and before we knew it we did 20!!! miles in about 1h despite the odds. We branched off some A road to Peckforton. We so wanted to get there. Peckforton Castle was going to provide all desperately needed things for us: food, shower, bed! Jorring arranged this say at this really fantastic hotel. Great service, extremely friendly staff who helped us with all our requests (washing our clothes, extra this and that). We had a nice 2 course dinner and some drinks. A little later I called Pamela and then went straight to bed. I was knackered, but again, another 110miles done that day bringing the total to 450miles in 4 days (of which I did 350 as I had a rest day.) In the morning we had a nice buffet style breakfast...

NOTE: My iPhone came back to life fully after I dropped it into the great white telephone at St. Just. I was over the moon that this piece of equipment survived full submersion. It took a few days for it to dry and the screen was all blurry at first, then the Apple sign came on, and 2 days later it was fully operational again...

Cyclists Things:

- Lets make a chaingang (road train) - cyclists riding closely behind each other using the draft effect with people switching places at the front, the other can rest and stay warm in the chain.

- Why aren't you drafting? - Dirk (Oli) to Damian.

- Does anyone want some magic? - referring to the on-the-road energy drink (powerful carbohydrates, electrolytes)

- Call the ****** potholes!!! - Oli to Damian (as Oli was going through the potholes which he couldn't see riding at the back of the roadtrain)

- Pothole, car, sheep, bump (up, down) - Damian after having been asked by Oli to call for potholes

- Map (Jorrin) and Garmin (Damian) have finally conspired to bring us ever more detours.

- Is it still very far? How many more miles do we have to go? Are we there yet? - Dirk asking various members of the group

- Damian and Jorrin, together the kings of faffing around, lets join them for a bit (Oli & Dirk)

- Straight, no its a left turn here.... hold on... it is straight... The Great Garmin following crowd

- Is it still very far? How many more miles do we need to go? Are we THERE yet??? (Dirk asking everyone, almost all the time)