Relax, it's all downhill from here!

After being up a couple of times during the night, I finally woke at 6.20am. Julia was still sleeping. These past three weeks she has done amazingly well to keep going, with a cold and scratchy throat bothering her since we arrived here. Although she says she feels fine, it is her continually positive attitude that has helped get her to this point.  With the temperature taking a dive, I know it really affected me, with a runny nose since we arrived. But this part of the tour has also been one of the highlights. The cycling here has been fantastic and had it not been so cold, we would have loved to have camped. Waking up and going to sleep in our little portable home is still one of our favourite aspects of touring. Future tours will have to include more freecamping, as the cost for accommodation has become prohibitive, especially for tours of three or four months.  So now, we will make our way into London Heathrow, check into the hotel and pack the bikes. Steve Blakelock, our ...

Ju here. Sometimes I just can't sleep and last night was one of those nights. After finishing dinner last night, we came up to our room and while I edited and posted the blog from the previous two days, Pete wrote the day's blog. By the time we'd done that it was 11pm but I still didn't feel tired for some weird reason.  I lay there trying to sleep and last checked the time at midnight. I was awake again at 3.50am and sleep has eluded me ever since. It's now 5.20am and I've given up. Sometimes you see so much in a day, it's hard for my brain to process it all. Yesterday was a very beautiful and mostly peaceful day's riding. However, the last hour was frantic and fraught with worry about where we were going to sleep and how much it was going to cost us. And whether we were going to be able to stop before dark as the previous night was decidedly dodgy. Then I'm thinking about how we can make sure we don't end up in the same situation tonight with ...

Woke at 6.30am after a great sleep. Turned tele on for news, but it was the same old garbage. Checked on a few messages before we headed down to the bar, where they serve breakfast. Both ordered the big breakfast, which went down well and then back to our room where we gave Brody a call. Spoke to Brody and Aimee briefly as we had to get underway. Handed in the key and off. Mindful of not making the same mistakes as yesterday, we found our route and enjoyed a fantastic day's riding. The scenery was spectacular with all the Autumn colours and it was a bit brighter today too. The smells of the countryside were everywhere today and included freshly cut grass, silage, fertiliser, farmyard smells and just that vibrant country smell. Just before Stratford - Upon - Avon we joined the canal track which gave us some beautiful shots with the tree colours and reflections from the water. Rode that virtually into Stratford, but due to the path falling into the canal, we were unable to ride one s...