BURKEYS END 2 END : Day 11: Buzzing Along

Coalport to Gloucester: 68.50 miles

Time Spent Cycling: 6 hours 29 minutes

Average Speed: 10.50 mph

A later start of 9.15am was welcomed by us all after yesterday's long miles. And the planned morning's ride along the River Severn would make for pleasant cycling in, again, extremely hot conditions.

The day started well as far as Ironbridge. What a lovely place that is. The bridge is in the lovely Ironbridge Gorge and is as magnificent a bridge now as it was when it was the first Ironbridge ever built in the world. We crossed the bridge and headed off along the cycle path. The path was in poor condition, flooded or mud-laden. We were forced away from the river as the path seemed to have been discontinued as a viable route. The cycle route NCN44 now took on the course of the Mercian Way. Immediately we were climbing back out of the Severn Valley and had to push up severe inclines. Unbelievably the route then dropped back into the Valley along narrow tracks. Progress was extremely slow in the heat.

We found ourselves outside one of the beautiful train stations of the steam railway company that operates a service in the area. Unfortunately the refreshment kiosk was shut and we had no option to carry on with nigh on empty bottles. Just then, upon our return to the forest tracks, Georgia let out a shriek. She had been stung on her top lip by a wasp and it immediately began to swell. We had no treatment to offer her although we were beginning to climb out of the Severn Valley once again. There, at the top of the climb, was the Severn Valley Visitors' Centre so we piled in for drinks and to see if they could treat wasp stings. They didn't have anything for wasps but our conversation was overheard by a lady customer who, by sheer luck on our part, carried some Piriton Syrup because her daughter had allergies to various things. We were so grateful for her being there and we thanked her accordingly.

We saw that our route then dropped back into the Valley and then again back out up the other side. This of course meant we had to push our bikes back out of the Valley again for a third time. This was turning into a joke route. We were already exhausted and had only done 15 miles at the pitiful average of 8.8mph, the slowest so far of the whole trip. We couldn't carry on on this route and we made the decision to get moving on proper roads. So that's what we did.

When we rolled into Bewdley we came across our first bike shop since we left home. It was a chance to combine lunch with getting Ella's wheel straightened. Mark from Overspoke Bikes was a true gentleman. Not only did he drop everything to fix the back wheel but bizarrely she had a flat front wheel too which must have just happened on the approach to the shop so he fixed that too. The best thing of all was that he refused to take payment for his services insisting instead that we made a donation to our Just Giving page. What a lovely gesture from a great guy. I text-donated £30 in his name.

The A roads were great to ride and our progress was only halted when Ella's front wheel punctured again on the A449 into Worcester. Ella's bike seemed to be beset with misfortune but so far we had been able to get everything fixed and back on the road with not too much hassle.

We cycled through the beautiful town of Tewkesbury which looked splendid despite it being under about 3 feet of water for a few months in the floods of the Winter of 2013-14. It would have been nice to stop for a bit for a look around but we had to make up for time lost earlier in the day. It was a long pull towards Gloucester and our hotel at Twigworth but the train was moving; Mike, Rob, Ella and Georgia riding the roads on a mission. We made the hotel and I was done in. It was hard going but such a relief to get there at gone 7pm. The unfortunate thing was I had a rear puncture just as we got to the hotel. Either fortunate or unfortunate depending on how you look at it I guess. I fixed it, showered and ordered a pint of cider and a can of Red Bull. Neither touched the sides on the way down!