Ride report

Waking up to torrential rain beating against the bedroom window is not the most welcome sound on the morning of a day ride. But tourist cyclists often have to ride all day in heavy rain and anyway the forecast looked much better by coffee time. Getting lost en route sometimes happens during a ride, but it was unusual that 3 riders managed to get lost looking for the start! Especially in National Map Reading Week, with a 6 digit grid reference to hand. Lots of steep hills. There were so many, that a climb of a mere 10% came as a relief. The finale, just 1km from the end, was Kop Hill, King of the Mountains stage in the 2014 tour. And this came on tired legs, after the only double arrow climb in the Cycleway – up to Dunsmore from the west and well over 20%.