The showers though while clearing the ground did nothing for the very high humidity that has persisted the last 1-2 weeks meaning flys and sweat were the go for the first part of our ride !
Again it was straight into climbing this time working our way to ride along impossibly narrow country lanes. Being the type of leader I am i sent Henley up front using my best high school maths to work out the optimum distance / time required for me to be away from Henleys scream if / when he collected something !
As it was neither of us allowed for a cyclist coming the other way at speed that just about had us both crpping our pants as he flew past before we had time to react.
Like a good Dr I kept the bad news to myself. Figuring on a days ride of 70 kms I saw a road sign early on indicating that our destination Chester was still 56 miles away even after after we had done 20 kms - I elected not to panic H just saying that we were in for a big one !
Some good cycling took us to the Welsh shoreline where an ice cream was mandatory. Swinging inland slightly we followed a river up to the beautiful Conwy castle with the nearby smallest house in the UK well captured by Photographer extraordinaire KH.
More climbs and a good descent took us this time to the magnificent coastline from Penryn to Colwyn bay and Rhyll an amazing 30 kms section of shorefront populated by every type of English Imagery possible !
There were those playing in the brown mud called sand, some sun baking on the hot rock pebbles, amusement arcades straight out of the 60's, English men keen on walking around topless to show bleached white torsos and beer guts that a darts player would be proud of. We even spied some orthodox Jews frolicking in the water up to their bloomers (both men and women).
The oldies and the youngies alike were out taking advantage of the seaside breeze and warm conditions and ice cream vendors and tea cafes were doing a roaring business !
It was marvelous on a bike to just sit back for such an extended period and take it in with the two of us looking as out of place with our bike gear and helmet mounted cameras as two Australians could !
Time though was starting to get away from us and we knew what was in store. Leaving the coast we tackled some huge climbs that took us further and further inland eventually for views past the coastal estuaries to Liverpool and beyond - this was real hard work !
Our final descent was equally as hard for me as with only 1 working brake I was incredibly cautious on the 15-20% ERS that took us back down to sea level.
Kev was doing a pretty good go up front not getting lost although one wrong move had me a little amused when he took a direction that saw him cycle straight into a private property - when i queried this with him he indicated that the bike route should have right of way and he planned on telling the owners such as he cycled through their bedroom !
H though did undo his copybook when he entered a busy roundabout not much later slowing down to to read the direction of the cycle route sign ( me following) before stopping in the roundabout covering one of the exits causing the following 4-5 cards to bank up until in true British fashion they just attempted to run us over !
With only 15 kms to go black clouds or earth ending propertions were gathering making us think we would have to swim into Chester.
Luckily the last section was a fast path alongside a canal. H using up life no. 35 on the trip pulled over to take a photo of a barge carrying a wing section of an Airbus 380 on the canal just about the same time as a group of would be / could be Tour de France riders flew past leaving Henley spinning like he'd been through a revolving door !
We just beat the rain into Chester and with our working GPs made it to our beaut hotel accommodation (10 mins from the centre) about 8.00 p..m. after a pretty lengthy and tiring day in the saddle .
It was time for a couple of bees and a lovely 3 course dinner and now all we have to do is work out how the hell to get out of here !
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