Day 6 - Friday 3rd August - Bath to Upton on Severn

Weather - Showers in the morning sunny later

Distance - 66.0 miles

Camp Site - Upton upon Severn Sports Club, The Pavilion, Collinghurst Meadow, Upton upon Severn.

We left the site soon after 8.30 am. and retraced our steps from the day before yesterday along the river bank and back on to the cycle track out of Bath to avoid the busy traffic but this time stayed on the cycle track until we reached the junction with the new Avon ring road. The route then took us through Pucklechurch, Westerleigh etc and on towards Leyhill. We were just past Leyhill riding along a tree lined road when three deer emerged from the woods on the left hand side of the road and very daintily walked across the road in front of us and disappeared into the trees on the right hand side of the road. They would have been frightened by the sound of an approaching car so we appreciated the silence of being on a bicycle. All this time it was showery but still quite warm and we made good progress.

At one point just before Dursley we passed a field where they appeared to be slaughtering animals due to the foot and mouth epidemic. We cycled across disinfectant barriers and passed a number of large lorries parked and waiting to remove the carcasses. Thankfully we soon passed this unpleasant area and made our way on towards Gloucester.

We were making good time today and passed the suggested lunch stop, the George at Frocester at exactly 11.00 am. which was far too early for lunch! We carried on towards Gloucester joining the main road near Quedgley and on to the main road into Gloucester, the B4008. This road was very busy and although it had a cycle track along the side of the road it was not very helpful. This cycle track seemed to be much narrower than most and also ran alongside street car parking for some of its length. Because it was narrow vehicles in the queue of traffic seemed to encroach from the right and where there was parking, cars badly parked were encroaching from the left so we were threatened from both sides.

By the time we came in to the centre of Gloucester were feeling really hassled by the traffic and decided that we would not stay in the town for lunch but would look for a suitable pub as soon as we got outside the city area.

The route followed the A40 and then the A417 towards Ledbury crossing the River Severn on the way at 51 miles from the start. As the traffic lessened we came to the quiet village of Maisemore and we were very pleased to see a very attractive looking pub with two of our group sitting at a table outside so we joined them for lunch which by now was very welcome.

For some reason though, the ride after lunch from Maisemore at about 54 miles to Upton upon Severn at 66 seemed to be much longer than 12 miles. The road was not too hilly, rather more rolling gentle slopes but I was very relieved when we came to the final down hill into Upton upon Severn. And there on the left hand side was a sports ground with a large blue van parked behind the club house which was nicely set back from the main road!

My average speed today was 13.7 miles per hour which was the quickest so far and which reflected the fairly flat road compared with the many hills of Devon and Cornwall where the average had been 10 or 11 miles per hour. I was pleased that the road skirted the Cotswolds so avoiding the hills and the valleys which cut into the area around Stroud. The only real hills today had been around the edge of Dursley but we soon came back to the flat Severn Valley as we approached Gloucester.

Later in the evening after dinner there was an impressive sunset which we hoped was an indication of good weather to come in the next few days!