Right, me again.
I bought a camera in the week so this time you get pics. For anyone who wants to know
its a Panasonic Lumix FS10 Digital Camera - Black. 12MP 5xZoom £108.00 from Amazon.
Lesson from last time was to be more prepared take a map etc. So I took a map, a sports bottle, a map of Bath and Keynsham and set off on my travels.
I started off into Bristol City Centre towards the Bristol to Bath Railway Path. My journey took me through Cabot Circus which was busy, people crossing the road without looking. There was a sea of shoppers I closed my eyes and was gonna just go for it but then after a couple if seconds I decided against my 29 years of experience of my mum saying "it will all end in tears" got the better of me.
I arrived at the cycle path with great intentions to go for a quick ride to Bath, go to a Jamie Oliver endorsed supermarket for lunch then back to the house to get ready for a friend's party. Then I get six miles in, see a sign post and decide to veer off towards Yate. I then get close to Yate and see sign posts for Pucklechurch, which I thought was made up (my friend is a teacher there and I didn't believe it was a real place).
This meant I now stumbled upon a Sustrans Cycle Route number 17 so at least I had some extra sign posts to follow(or not). I went through Dyrham Park some beautiful views and stumbled across villages North Wraxall, West Kington, Nettleton and saw sign posts for Castle Coombe. I knew there was skid panning there so thought I would come off Route 17 and see what it was like.
Castle Coombe is a really great place for walking, loads of great hills, the village itself has shops that looks like houses and a sign post saying 'slow free range children'. A couple of nice looking pubs so I thought I would jumped off my bike and get a drink. It was at this point I realised I didn't know where I was, so I opened my bag and realised the map of Bath and Keynsham was now defunk, I didn't have my mobile and only £11 in my wallet. So I decided not to stop and followed signs for the Skid Pan circuit.
On arrival there were two signs one for competitors and one for spectators. After not being allowed to compete on my bicycle because it was deemed too dangerous because of all the speedy cars I settled for a view from the spectator area. When I heard someone turn to their mate and say 'um look at that guy with the bum-bag' I took a few snaps for your pleasure of the cars, sadly not any of my bum-bag. After fives mins of cars whizzing around and no crashes I got bored so decided to make my way back.
By this stage I was cursing the fact I didn't pay more attention in Geography at school or have a relevant map. Then I had a light bulb moment in the Daily Mail they were giving away a Road Atlas 2010. All I needed to do now would be to find a town or village and buy a copy. The next place I came to was Yatton Keynell with a shop, result! Gutted, they sold out apart from Mrs Cunningham's copy I was close to taking the supplement out of the paper only to work out that was probably stealing. I asked them the way to Bristol and they said the A420 was close by. The good news I was close to the road, saved myself a £1 and hadn't inflated the Mail's circulation figures. Although the Cider on a shelf looked very appealing especially as I had no drink for the party I was going to later. My only worry was I had no phone, so if my bike broke I would probably need all the cash I could muster and Cider wasn't a priority (although it played on my mind all the way home) I thought I might stumble across a Cider farm on route.
Now the A420 is quite a busy road for Bristol to Chippenham but I didn't want to get lost. I had previously cycled on this road 3 years when training for my Oxfam challenge so was comfortable but after about 30 minutes I got pissed off with traffic whizzing past me and came off at West Littleton. Just before this I saw a Lorry with a work colleague's name on had a chuckle and took a picture.
I then saw a National Trust signpost for Dyrham Park and thought brilliant I must be close to where I was 3 hours earlier. I then saw the two bridges to Wales so I tried to work out where I was from them. I thought I would never be so excited about a number of George crosses on a house I had seen this 3.5 hours before. I then cycled the same route back.
When returning to Broadmead there was a cycling event which had just finished sponsored by a bike cleaner brand, gutted, if I had only cycled a bit quicker or not got lost I may have been able to get it cleaned for free. Instead I cycled home feeling extremely tired and thirsty because I had managed to let my 500ml of Ribena last me 4.5 hours.
Had a Bubble bath, dinner and off to my party.
That was my Saturday
Louis
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