Woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of rain, our first. Dashed outside as I had washing hanging between two trees and to cover Spikes leather saddle. It rained all night making the campsite a quagmire, but inside my tent I was lovely and dry. Nothing for it but knuckle down and get on with it. Waterproofs on, muddy tent rolled up, muddy bags packed ( all in the dark ) soggy breakfast eaten, soggy lunch made and packed and get on the road. At least it wasn't cold. Once on the road I realised Spike's tyres were caked in mud so grabbed a twig and cleared them. My shoes ,too, were covered in straw and mud. Then the sun came up, the road surface was good, the wind was not too strong and it developed into a good day. This was a long day of over 90 miles, I was cooking for 14 people when I arrived so I had to get a move on. I cycled through beautiful, lush valleys with wild flowers in abundance. A carpet of yellows, reds, purples and blues stretching on each side of the road. I also saw a small herd of what looked like antelope. What an impressive sight, my opinion of Texas was changing then a big black dog came hurtling out of no-where. I was in good form today so shouted at it, increased speed and it eventually gave up. As I approached a small town where I planned to stop for lunch I caught up with Dan, just then another two dogs took up the chase. Dan's theory is that if you stop pedalling, nothing is moving, so they don't know what to bite. I kept pedalling furiously, the dogs abandoned me and surrounded him. Lol. With 50 miles done we still had 3 big climbs to come. I have discovered this is where I am most at home and just left the guys behind. Hard, very hot, exceptionally steep twisting roads but oh so preferable to rough, flat roads with a full on headwind. Noticed my arms were covered in small blisters, must be caused by cycling slowly up the hills in the strong sun, no shade. It was after 5.00pm by the time I reached camp but Alan, Alannah, and Lisa who had travelled in the van had put our tents out to dry and started preparing the meal. I had deliberately kept it simple, sliced cold chicken, carrots and parsnips, mashed potatoes and gravy. Fresh fruit salad with yoghurt to follow. It wasn't ready till 6.45pm but everyone was late in anyway. Washed and cleared up, map meeting for tomorrow, tent up, showered and it is now 10.00pm and I am writing this in my pitch dark tent. Felt good about today, back on course, definitely.....still loving it....
Monday, 9 April 2012
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