16 October 2025 (cloudy and mild) 83km

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 section. Took a detour and picked up the path again and then jumped off, headed to Wellesbourne.

We passed lots of enticing looking driveways.

Really enjoyed our riding on National Cycle Route 5 as it was well signposted and we didn't have to stop and check directions too often. We passed through Loxley and into Wellesbourne, where we shopped at Sainsbury's.

Right next door to the store, was the Aston Martin Lagonda factory. Massive building. With lunch on board we carried on, keeping an eye out for a nice place to stop and eat it.

At one stage we passed through Walton and thought of Georgina's boyfriend Josh, (last name Walton). The Walton's are obviously a big deal round here as we were cycling on Walton Road and passed Walton Manor and its estate.

Then to Pillerton Hersey, where we didn't think of anyone..!

However, we stopped for lunch here in the church grounds of St.Mary the Virgin. I'm still hoping one day to dine out in the church grounds of St.Mary the raging Nympho, just to spice things up a bit.

This is a quince and they had a basket of them inside the church for free, so we decided to try one. Looks and tastes like a cross between a pear and an apple but was a bit tart to eat on it's own. Apparently it should be cooked to release the sweet, aromatic flavour.

On through Pillerton Priors, Oxhill and Middle and Upper Tysoe. This was where we encountered a 14 % hill, just as the sun finally broke through the clouds making us sweat uncomfortably uphill.  As we reached the top, the sun disappeared behind the clouds for the rest of the day.

This was sensational riding with lovely views over the English countryside and pretty villages to cycle through. The cameras were working overtime and we were very appreciative of the fact that we had such a perfect day weather-wise to enjoy all this 

Then we cycled into the beautiful village of Shutford.

The bus stop has been made nice and cosy. Good job there's no homeless people round here.

A cool little local library.

On into Bloxham and Barford St.Michael, then into Deddington, where our quiet country lanes ended. Over to Julia.

The search for a place to stay started for me about 3.30pm as I kept a wary eye out for pubs, hotels, home stays or B and B’s.

When we got to Deddington about 4.45pm, now on a bigger road with rush hour traffic and light fading, I saw an ambiguous sign outside a house saying “Cherry Lets” so went and rang the doorbell.

Strike one, they were letting agents.

At the next intersection we had to turn onto a busier road but hopefully just for a short while as Mapy had suggested a small road about a km along.

This “road” was just a driveway to an open ploughed field. Not even a discernible track. So we were forced to continue on the busy road.

A few kms along was a sign pointing up a lane saying “White Hart Inn”, so after waiting patiently for a gap in the speeding traffic in order to cross over, we cycled up a peaceful lane to the village of Duns Tew.

I went inside to ask if they had accommodation and was thrilled when they said yes. Usually £147 but they'd give it to me for £120. Thanks mate, but still out of our range. Strike two.

Went back outside to join Pete who had struck up a conversation with a local lady called Alli.

She tried phoning a friend of hers with an Air BNB just down the road but she wasn't answering.

She gave us the address and said if we knock on the door, maybe someone else might be home. They weren't. Strike three.

So we headed back towards the main road to try her other suggestion. We were rejoining it slightly south of where we'd left it, but it was now a dual carriageway. This meant two lanes of speeding traffic going in each direction with a fenced off median strip in between.

Somehow we were supposed to get to the other side of this. We quickly realized that would be very stupid to even attempt, so turned around to cycle the back roads to Middle Barton where there was a pub.

Unfortunately they didn't offer accommodation, but the kindly Indian owner invited us in and let us use his WiFi to track down other options. He suggested the Holt Hotel 2km down the road and after checking the online price, we sped along with our lights on in the fading light.

We arrived about 6.30pm and thankfully they had a room. The receptionist said she could do one for £82. Told her I'd seen it for £69 online and got it down to £72.

Unfortunately she didn't have any change at reception so we agreed on £93 with two full breakfasts in the morning. Not too bad as the reality of our situation meant we would have had to stay there, regardless of the price.

Got to our room and it was stifling hot with no way to turn off the radiator. So we flung open the windows and did some washing and hung that on the heater. It was dry less than two hours later after showering and dinner.

Dinner was nice but not as many GF options as last night. Plus if you had any food allergies, there would be a discretionary surcharge of 10% added. So I chose the Thai Green Curry (which would be gf anyway), without mentioning I was GF. It was nice, but not as nice as the night before and they automatically added 10 percent to the bill as a service charge.  What?? Since when did England become American?? When we queried it, apparently that was optional, although it didn't say that on the bill.

Needless to say they didn't get a tip from us that night. It feels like the Balkans again, everyone trying to rip you off at every turn.

That really peeves me off, all these sneaky added extras. I was probably still annoyed about that and the fact we couldn't turn off the heating perhaps combined to stop me getting a good sleep.

It had been a frustrating end to one of the best day's cycling we've had.