Publicity shots

For the only time so far, we've managed to get all six of us in the same place at the same time!  So we took the opportunity to grab some publicity shots.  These are the best!

Thanks to Sarah for taking the pics!

Timings

Been working out some timings now that we have experienced everywhere between Bath and Reading - although in stages.

If we have no injuries and no punctures, push where the surface is good, take our time on the Devizes-Hungerford stretch (35 miles of the worst surface), and we leave Bath at 7:45am, we'll probably be at Devizes by 10:15 and make our lunch stop at Honeystreet around 12 noon.  After a lunch break we should reach Crofton Pumping Station around 3, Hungerford at 4 and Newbury around 5 - hopefully before the pasty shop shuts!  We should get to Lock 100 at Sulhampstead by 6:45, and reach our destination - the junction with the Thames - an hour later at 7:45.

So you can start laying bets now at how late we'll be!

Training run

Another training run this morning.  Paul, Paul, Alan and Adrian all got the train to Hungerford where Neil met them at 0720 (despite the fact that they all tried to get off at Kintbury!)  We all then set off for Pewsey.

Quite an uneventful ride there - a welcome break for a doughnut just after the Bruce Tunnel (although Al had tried to fill himself up on insects), and we arrived at Pewsey Wharf bang on 0900, just as we'd planned.  Paul R had spotted a bakery in Pewsey proper, so we decamped down the hill for coffee, bacon rolls, breakfast pasties, Wiltshire pasties etc.

Back up the hill to the canal - a little too fast for Al, whose knee then complained for the rest of the journey.  We seem to be having a spate of knee problems on this event!  We got back to Hungerford about two hours after leaving Pewsey, with a couple of pit stops en route, so that was a good pace.

Again, the towpath is pretty poor for this section.  Suspension on the bikes helps - but only four of the five of us had this!

It's now just under four weeks to the big ride.  It is certainly going to be difficult, as the towpath between Devizes and Newbury is unremittingly poor.

Please sponsor us!  http://www.justgiving.com/100locks

At lock 61 opposite Crofton Pumping Station.  The towpath is pretty much like this between Devizes and Newbury. 

Alan (front), Paul, Paul and Neil just below the Bruce Tunnel, which will be the highest point on our ride and more-or-less halfway along the route.

At Great Bedwyn there's a welcome bit of smooth surface!

Now We Are Six

Disaster!  After a physio session today Sarah's found out that her knee is in too poor a condition to risk the run.  Only six of us now!

Bath to Bedwyn

Saturday saw three of us (Paul R, Neil and Rachel) gather at Bath Spa railway station for a training and timing run to Bedwyn.  The weather was cold and damp, with a NE wind.

We set off only five minutes late, at 08:30, and promptly got on the wrong side of the canal two or three times in Bath!  The towpath swaps sides frequently through Bath Locks.  Still, we made good time to reach Bradford-on-Avon at 09:50.  The towpath along this section is wide and smooth; we took it at a leisurely pace to help Rach break her new bike in.

The towpath continues to be good quality, though not as wide, to the Caen Hill Locks below Devizes.  We reached the bottom of the flight at 11:00, bang on time - at which point Rach slipped on gravel and hurt her knee.  First aid applied, we reached the top of the flight half an hour later, where a handy cafe supplied us with more plasters.

Past Devizes the towpath and National Cycle Route 4 diverge, to rejoin much later just west of Newbury.  The difference is notable.  The towpath becomes much rougher - lumps and bumps where muddy paths have taken footprints which have been baked in the sun - and is often covered with grass, which slows the bike down and obscures the bumps.  We had had to slow down for Rach in any case, but it's doubtful that we'd have gone much quicker.  We reached the Barge Inn at Honeystreet for lunch an hour late, at 13:30, but mine genial host promptly supplied us with chilli and antiseptic wipes!

We left our lunch stop at 14:45, but the going continued to be difficult.  Only as we approached Pewsey Wharf 45 minutes laterdid we get some respite from the tiring surface.  We decided between us that Rach could go no further, so diverted to Pewsey itself and the train station.  The next train wasn't for an hour and a half.  Paul volunteered to wait with Rach to make sure she got her bike on the train ok, while Neil continued on to Bedwyn and thence Hungerford.

After Pewsey the towpath isn't much better than before, and the wind had turned into a strong easterly which Neil was riding directly into.  Fortunately the Bruce Tunnel and the summit of the canal is only 25 minutes or so east of Pewsey, and after that it's downhill.  Neil pushed hard to make up some of the lost time, and was back home in Hungerford at 17:30 - nine hours and fifty miles after starting.

In just four and a half weeks we will need to do twice the distance in an estimated thirteen hours.  Some planning is still required.  We could probably speed up on the section to Bradford-on-Avon so that we don't have to push so hard on the poor towpath sections.  We know that it takes four hours to reach Reading from Hungerford on fresh legs, but Neil's legs weren't going to get much further on Saturday!

Training

With only five and a half weeks to go until we embark on our mammoth ride, we've been starting to step up our training and scout out the route and refreshment stops.

Everyone now has a bike, which is a good start!  (Although Rachel may not have been able to get hers home from the bike shop yet).

We know that it takes four and a half hours to cycle from Great Bedwyn to Reading in ideal conditions; meanwhile Neil has ridden west as far as Honeystreet which might be a good stop for lunch.  This coming Saturday some of us (Paul R, Sarah, Neil and Alan) will be catching the early train to Bath to ride back as far as Bedwyn or Hungerford.

Who are we?

We are a team of friends from BBC Monitoring in Caversham. In October 2009 we raised over £2000 for Help for Heroes by cycling along the Thames from BBC Monitoring to the MOD Main Building on Whitehall - see http://bbcm2modcycle.blogspot.com for the full story.

This year we are setting ourselves a greater challenge. On June 11th we will be cycling the 100 miles from Bristol to Reading along the 100 locks of the Kennet and Avon Canal, in just a single day.

The team has changed; we have three novice cyclists riding with us this year. The canal towpath is narrower, rougher and generally more difficult than the Thames path, and we have the obstacle of the Caen Hill locks outside Devizes to negotiate before lunch!

We want to double the amount that we raised last year.  Please donate at our JustGiving page.