Thursday 21st July 2022, 111.32km, 1,106m

Today I had Hywel join for the day. He’d driven to Hereford the previous evening and was going to head back on the train from Shrewsbury. We met for breakfast and he’d already met quite a lot of the riders and all the guys from Pedal Britain.

Getting out of Hereford was the usual mix of traffic, traffic lights and longing for the country lanes that would come.

The morning brew stop was at a very picturesque spot in Pembridge. I am finding a nice cup of tea is a perfect drink after a couple of hours on the bike.

Leaving the brew stop I ran over a pigeon! This was a surreal moment, I expected it to move and it didn’t.

Today was a much cooler day, almost perfect cycling conditions and we made Hywel work for his day out; he sat on the front for long parts of it.

Despite being an ”easier” day we still covered 111km and over 1000m of climbing. Easy is a very relative term when riding LEJOG.

As we got closer to Shrewsbury the group split as most were heading to the local bike shop to get various squeaks fixed or worn out parts replaced. Hywel and I headed to the hotel where Darren was still trying to check us all in despite already having been there for an hour and a half.

A cancelled later train meant Hywel had to dash to get the train but it had been great to see him and have him along for the day.

The route took us over a small bridge that reminded me very much of the one in Pitlochry. It certainly bounced around as much as that one.

Today was the last day that Darren would be with us. He’d stayed while the weather was hot to add an extra pair of hands, and an extra vehicle, making sure we had enough water and could stay hydrated. We said our goodbyes after dinner. It’s the Les and Brian show from now on.

Dinner was at a lovely pizza restaurant called Dough & Oil. Today was the first day without a pre-booked table so the group were free to do their own thing. Myself, James, Ian, Imogen, Vicky & Ryan all chose the pizza place; it was a good choice.