Monday was one of the hottest days ever so didn't do much during the day except get my hair cut. In the evening I met up with some of the old Anite crowd in Wokingham. Lynda C and Peter (who got married in April), Lynda S, Ibly, Vlad and Kevin. At one point we all had user names made up of the first letter of our first name and the first 3 of our surname. So Irene Blyth was ibly and I was roun. It was good to catch up but I probably had too many pints. Tuesday was due to be even hotter, 40 degrees in some places, but it was also the first stage of the planned cycle trip to Manchester, Reading to Banbury. Only me Kelvin and Graham were doing this bit. We set off at 8pm to combat the heat. Had breakfast at the cafe in Stoke Row. The next stop was the Kings Head and Bell in Abingdon. I was starting to feel weak and knew I needed to fuel up but didn't feel hungry. Had a pint of orange and soda and a pint of coke, tried to eat a leftover bacon roll from breakfast but couldn't. Eventually manged to get down a melted chocolate energy bar and perked up. Don't think I've ever sweated so much.After lunch Graham had a bizarre accident which resulted in a really nasty deep cut on his ankle so I went back into Abingdon for medical supplies. We fixed him up and carried on. I was still feeling weak and with that and Graham's cut we decided to get a train from Oxford to Banbury so stopped off at the Head Of The River for more coke in my case. Spotted this graffiti on the way in.We got to the station and bought tickets but between doing that and getting to the barrier they cancelled the train. We assessed our options and decided to cycle on anyway so fueled up a bit. I was OK to start with but then had the same problem again. Feeling weak but unable to eat. I struggled with another energy bar and then an apple and that seemed to do the trick. We limped into the BnB at about 8 45 just before the 9pm deadline. Had a couple of pints in the Old Auctioneer. Graham went to AnE first thing on Wednesday then we met up with Stuart and Andy and headed off to Birmingham. We had more or less followed route 5 to Banbury but were now navigating via Stuart's Garmin. He had programmed in a route suggested by Graham based on this which gave Kelvin the idea in the first place. Stopped off for lunch at Cox's Yard in Stratford but they only did main meals so just had a pint and bought fuel at MnS which we consumed by the canal.
There was a fair bit of canal including this flight of locks and a nice run in to our lodgings in Northfield, south Birmingham.The "hotel" Madeira was interesting as it doubled up as the Fencing And Construction Training centre. Had a mediocre meal and a couple of pints at the Great Stone Inn and watched England beat Spain in the women's Euros. It had been another long day in the saddle. These journeys were all taking longer than expected, initially due to heat and then just due to the slowness of navigating cities, so we set of at 9pm on Thursday. It was drizzling a bit and took a while to navigate through Brum initally via parks and then canals again including the Coseley tunnel.
.We stopped off in Wolverhampton for falafel wraps. Graham decided to get the train from there to Stoke as his ankle dressing had been getting wet. As the rest of us set off I noticed I had a flat. Put a new tube in but that wouldn't pump up so tried another and same thing. Stuart thought it was because the tubes weren't inflated enough when put in so were getting trapped somehow and he managed to get it in inflated eventually but it took about a hour of faffing. A lot more canal paths to Stoke including a stop off at the Star in Sone for a pint and a bite to eat. We didn't get to our destination, the Southerland Arms until 9 30. Just in time for a pint and a whisky. Nice place and very friendly. The landlady suggested we should try the oatcakes from the shop across the road for breakfast, a local delicacy, so we got some cheese filled ones for a snack along the way. Very tasty, a bit like a savoury crepe.
Unfortunately it was raining and quite cool, a sharp contrast to Tuesday. We followed a canal out of Stoke and quiet roads and cycle paths leading to the Biddulph Valley Way. All very good cycling. Stopped for lunch at the Frozen Mop near Mobberley. From there if was about 15 miles to Manchester Piccadilly. It had stopped raining after lunch but still quite cool. The route took us round the perimeter of the airport which was quite interesting but once we got on the outskirts of the city the navigation became a bit of a nightmare and it took a while to get to the station. It doesn't seem like a very bike friendly city from that experience. Got to the station about 5 and had very expensive beers while waiting for our various next journeys. Me and Andy were booked on the 18 27 and Stuart and Graham on hour later as you can only book 2 bikes on a train. Kelvin was staying in a hotel and then cycling on the Hawes. Hassle free journey back. Great trip. A quiet day on Saturday, had a call with Madeline, sorted out my stuff, watched TdF, cooked and watched TV in the evening. Chilled out again on Sunday. Played guitar, watched the last stage of TdF, cooked a curry and watched TV. M got a nasty bee sting in her foot watering the garden bearfoot.
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