Day 4: Watchet to Bath (60.04 miles)

We’re in a good mood as we leave Watchet. This is due to be one of our shorter days, we feel like we’re out of the ‘foot’ of Britain, we’re anticipating some easier terrain, we’re due to meet Al’s wife Helen, and his son Thomas, at Bath Youth Hostel, and they’ve promised to take us out for a big dinner.

The road doesn’t disappoint, and we keep a high pace up on the road to Wells, where we stop for lunch. We’re keen to get to Bath.

Seven miles from the youth hostel, just after Norton St. Philip in the hills around Bath, our short easy day suddenly gets longer and harder. A spoke goes in my back wheel, leaving it out of true and unrideable, particularly as we know there will be some steep descents in Bath, so I need my brakes functioning properly. Without the tools or the skill to do this job, it doesn’t take us long to decide we’ll have to call Helen and hope she’s reached Bath already.

Luckily Helen has, and by twenty past four, she and Thomas have found us, put my bike in the back of the car, and we set off to find a bike shop, waving to Al as he pushes on to complete the final seven miles to the youth hostel.

All our accommodation has been booked in advance, so we can’t lose a day on this ride. I need to have my bike ready to ride the following morning, and we have a somewhat anxious search round Bath for a bike shop. By the time we’ve located one with the right spoke, we’re five minutes too late and it’s closed. We manage to speak to someone who works there though, and they promise to look at it first thing the next morning.

By the time we get back to the Youth Hostel, get cleaned up, changed, and back down into Bath to find some dinner, it’s eight o’clock. I’m worried about the problem with my bike, and a day that was supposed to be a bit of a break from the long days, has suddenly become much longer, harder, and stressful. Nevertheless, it’s great to see Helen and Thomas, and once we’ve eaten, things seem much better, and we reflect that we’re lucky that if we were going to have a mechanical problem we couldn’t deal with, today was the best day for it to happen.

I’ve cycled 265.72 miles. Al’s cycled 7 extra miles…