day two

on the second day, sunday 23rd, we set off westward from Marston Meysey through the Cotswold Water Park.

we had set off fairly late, around midday, as the efforts of the previous day had wiped us out. the roads were very level around the water park, which helped enormously!

the weather was lovely, if a little hot. we couldn't see much of the lakes, since the road was lined by tall hedges and trees.

soon we were in Minety (i wonder where its name comes from - if there was a mine here it could be called 'Minety mine') and continued westward along the b4040 to Malmesbury. we were booked into a campsite near Malmesbury for the return journey, so it was good to get to know the area a little.

we got to see almost all of Malmesbury! i took a wrong turning in the middle of town and we ended up going back to the first roundabout we'd got to in the town. i took us around the north of the town and we finally found the correct road out. on our return a week later, Clementine remembered some of the town from our first visit!

after finding the right way out, we stopped on a nice green patch near some allotments to eat the previous night's sandwiches and some cereal bars. while lunching, a local mechanic passed by and chatted to us. we never did find out his name, but he introduced us to an elderly cyclist called Oliver. Oliver was unfazed by our first day's 70 mile trek; apparently he'd once been for a 30 mile ride and was telling the local pub, when someone next to him turned out to have cycled between Lands End and John O' Groats.

when we continued on, Oliver kept pace with us for the next dozen miles or so. he's 76 and is very fit for his age! we carried on down the fosse way - its a minor road there; not the busy road it becomes further north. after the m4 we turned westward again through West Kington, and discovered that the land around there is hilly indeed!

we walked the bikes for a while near West Kington. the roads were nicely shaded, so it wasn't too bad. we then continued to cut across hills going west and south.

crossing the a46, we re-filled our water bottles at the Tollgate Teashop; the waitress was a little surly at clementine for taking water without buying anything, but ne'er mind, we needed the water!

we then continued down a very busy road, past a picnic site with presumably very good views and then southwest towards Keynsham.

there was a golf course near Beach where we saw a couple on a quad bike circumnavigating one of the fairways.

carrying on, we cycled down to the a431, and by a circuitous route through Keynsham came round to the campsite. we were exhausted by the end of the trip. cycling south, the b3116 seemed to go slightly uphill and it began to feel as if it would never end!

we did finally reach the campsite, though, Bury View Farm, and it was nice and small. we met another cycling camper, called Bill, and there was also a french family camping there.

Bill, it turned out, has been cycling and camping on his holidays for fifty years, and had come down from Stow-in-the-Wold, which we had passed on our first day. He reckoned to do about 30 miles a day, arriving at each campsite for lunch, which is clearly a system that has worked well for him! He was on a three-week trip down to Cornwall and back, and had worked out his entire route across 10 OS maps before starting. He left early the next morning, before we'd properly got up.

that evening we ate in the local pub, the Wheatsheaf, and they kindly stretched the time to give us a very welcome meal. Richard, the landlord, gave me a glass of whisky as we were leaving, to help me sleep, not that i needed much help!

it was on the walk to the pub and back that i lost my cyclocomputer. i didn't see it again for about a week!