A later start today as we stayed with Hazel’s sister in USK again last night.  We met up with Rob and Karen Biggin and Phil Lawler in the Fox pub car park at Easter Compton, for Rob and Phil to walk the morning session.  10 miles of countryside, city roads, and the Avon Gorge made it a hugely enjoyable morning.

After a stop at the Ashton pub to meet up with Hazel and Karen I pushed on and did a further 9 miles to just outside the target of Congresbury.  The late start left me 2 miles short but a couple of things didn’t help.  First, it was too hot in the afternoon.  I don’t know the actual temperature but it was energy-sapping.  The second was a self-inflicted tangle with a bank of brambles.  I was following a cycle track set back from the main road.  After a while it was clear the cycle track was drifting further and further away from the road I was following.  Time to cut across a few fields to get back on track.  One fence climb saw me cut my hand on barbed wire, followed by a horrible clamber through the brambles to get back to the road.  Legs and arms all with thorn cuts and scratches.  Ouch.

If the hot weather wasn’t good for my walking it must have been awful for the poor folks competing in the Bristol Triathlon.  I hope they were all ok.

And we couldn’t be near Bristol without a mention of Brunel.