Day 51 - Bath to Cirencester - ride total 3,723 k, 23,578 m

St Christopher's Inn offered a five pound breakfast and as we weren't meeting Steve (from Cirencester) until 10:30 we opted to take that option and also we know how hard it is to find anything open before 8:00 here in Bath and with today being a Sunday the one mid week place we found a few days back may well also not be open. 

We got the bikes from the cellar, loaded up and headed off for a random (kind of) ride through and around Bath, first stop was the Circus and then onto the Crescent and gardens before swinging past the Jane Austen Centre (her home in Bath) and then back through the city centre, across the pulteny bridge where we Steve (my friend from the Cotswolds) was waiting to ride with us through the counties of Somerset. Wiltshire and finally Gloustershire - the home of the beautful Cotswolds.

It was great meeting up with Steve as it's been five years since I last saw him and Sarah when they visited NZ and flew out of CHC. There is nothing quite like have a local as your own personal tour guide and Steve was a fountain of local knowledge having grown up in a village not far off our route and now living in Cirencester.

We stopped at a "Chocolate Box" village for a cup of tea and cake - we were by far not the only tourists and the streets had many others walking through the very picturesque village built in the 15 and 1600's and still looking very much like it would have back then barthe foreign nationa tourists and motorcars.

Further along we passed by King Charles's organic farm that looked no different from the road than the many other farms we have passed by with perhaps the exception that the maintainence had been well and truly kept up on the farm buildings. I made the comment as to how good it was to still be able to see it without the need for huge security fences, watch houses, gates etc. I'm sure it is very secure and had we strayed too far in to one of the paddocks we would have been intercepted and whenever he and Camilla pop down with the Grandkids for a long weekend or the like theyup the security markedly.

We continued on through back lanes and other villages to arrive at Cirencester by about 3:30 p.m. which gives us time to shower, clean up, write the blog before heading up to Steve and Sarah's for dinner.

This concludes the riding part of the journey for Stphen and Peter and here's the stats for the ride from Rome to Cirencester;

Total distance = 3,723 km's

Total climbed = 23,578 metres

Total day's riding = 51

Average distance travelled per day = 73 km's

Average height climbed per day = 462 metres

Way back when we initially considered this ride we set an average daily distance of 75 km's so I thought we pretty much nailed that and our time budget to  arrive here in Cirencester in time to have a couple of days with Steve before the Boys' head back to Aus also worked out pretty much spot on.

My thanks to both my riding buddies, Peter and Stephen who I've ridden with and lived with each day since meeting up with Peter on the flight from Melbourne on the 10th June. We've had a great time, covered a lot of ground and learnt quite a bit on our journey across six countries. Our thoughts now begin to turn to our next adventure that you're invited to join with us - A supported (your bag is transported for you) ride from Melbourne to Adelaide in March next year - if this interests you click here on this “Expression of Interest” form.

While this completes the ANZAC's (Australia and New Zealand Aged Cyclists') ride I've still got another couple of weeks to go before I head home. Where I'm heading in a few days time when I leave Cirencester and before I get to London at the end of the month I currently have no idea! So you'll have to watch ths space for the next installment.