Hello World!!  My name is Rae and this is my bike Tilly (named after the cat and the hat!!!). We are setting course for some interesting times, looking forward to meeting lots of amazing people and getting involved in whatever we meet!

Tilly and I left Saltford, near Bath, this morning with a view to seeing how the next few days pan out and regularly reassessing my goals in line with my actual capabilities.

So!! It will not surprise many of you to hear that I actually left today!! Yesterday was a strange combination of frantically getting things done and then having wonderful moments that I couldn’t miss with Jay, Amira and Souad.

I got to enjoy the eclipse, Spring sunshine, bike/gear sorting and friendship. What an amazing day!!

Anyway I have left ….. I am under way and am looking forward to a lot of cycling – at least that is what I tell myself as I sit here, aware I have too much ‘stuff’ and an aching back as a result! Devizes flight never looked so daunting before!

Here are the highlights of the day – sent courtesy of wi-fi at The Barge Inn, Honeystreet! After chatting to Adam and Ben I was given camping space, 1/2 a beer and dinner!! As it turns out it was also the Landlady’s birthday with fancy dress and a suitably loud band doing covers of 90s ‘folk’ and Indy songs. Imagine my joy when they burst into a rendition of The Levellers ‘One Way’!!!!  Woo Hoo!! Takes me back …

England

The Summer Lands – All Cannings

The Barge Inn, Honeystreet

The Barge Inn, Honeystreet

Running vital statistics

Puncture – 1 – yes really! Day 1!

1 almost dropped pannier rack – thanks to Pab for assisting! – a miss is as good as a mile and the next few days will be a proper ‘shake down’.

Distance – Aprox 30 miles (yet to fix on the distance daemon)

Things lost – 0- plenty of time for that.

Tent up, kit stowed in 15mins – that will drop!

Smiles from me and others on a sunny day – too many to count!!!!!

….

Love to all

Rae xxx