Today was a tough day.

We got off to an OK start but we were soon cycling through rough fields (hoping that none of the cows we passed would attack us) and along exhausting canals with more stupid gates and barriers.

Only a couple of hours in one of my companions fully fell into some nettles and ended up with thousands of stings all down one side of her body through all her layers of clothes. Hilariously we didn't realise at first we'd lost her into the hedge but a passing canal boat yelled out 'you've lost one' and her shrieks of horror mixed with laughter soon alerted us to where she was.

Canal paths can be beautiful to cycle along when the paths are wide (and not covered in gravel...) and don't have narrow but deep 'ruts' carved into the mud where your cycle wheels sit.
With everything on it my bike weights easily 45kg/ 100lbs and I'm in constant fear of my wheel hitting the side of the rut and me not being able to stop the weight of the bike from going down...and into the canal.
Add in it being a bank-holiday weekend, and delightfully sunny, and the banks and cycle paths are full of wandering people not realising they've strayed into your path.
It's unbelievably nerve-wracking, which causes my muscles to seize up, which makes me more nervous about not being able to react quickly or control the bike, and then my muscles get worse... and so the pattern continues.

It was along a canal path that I had one of many crashes/ falls I'd have today but it was a bad one with me skidding on a canal side where fresh gravel had been laid inches deep and I bashed my bike pretty badly.

Sore, exhausted, shook-up, grumpy and physically struggling we knew we needed a rest & food but took a bad decision to cycle right out of our way to a dodgy looking pub. So demoralising to know you have to turn around and go back miles to even be back where you were.

But onwards we went, I crashed some more (by now I was shook up from my big crash and my muscles were struggling to hold the weight of my bike upright) and soon found somewhere to eat and recover ourselves. We'd only done about 16 miles in more time than it took us yesterday but we stopped for over an hour to fuel up and recuperate.

The afternoon was better but we had to resort to scary A-roads with lorries rushing by to get any mileage done to make sure we got to our bed for the night before we were too tired and it was dark.

By the time we got there we were so worn out that I even managed a little crash at the last metre when I turned the corner into the car-park and saw a slope - was done for the day, last metre or not!

Today took us 6+ hours to do nearly 39 miles to get to Wooton Rivers, which is heavy going, but it was worth it to record views like these.