65 miles-from Cullompton to Bristol

The photos say it all-despite there being a positive and happy feeling in camp, today has not been without its issues. One might say it has been a right challenge in fact. I will try to report all events but there have been sooooo many so may not remember them all.

1. Today there have been 5 punctures, 2 bust inner tubes and one cracked tyre making the grand puncture total-9 in three days, as demonstrated by a remarkably cheerful Mike in this photo, who is laughing about the stressful situation.

2. A crazy lady who Michael later shouted at reversed into Joe who was doing 20 miles an hour. He survived without harm but did brush the car.

3. A dog leapt out from a bush and tried to bite Michael. Luckily the situation was avoided and instead the dog jumped out in front of Joe who was doing 35 miles per hour down a hill and nearly fell off his bike. This caused him to shout obscenities, for which I think we'll all agree will be forgiven.

4. We stopped for lunch in Burnham on Sea and on hearing of our challenge; the nice Brummie chef offered the two boys free Danish pastries and mars bars, which were gratefully received. Go team midlands!

5. After fighting with the tent after the boys had started their cycle, the roof rack decided to jam open. I worked out that this was due to the fact that it was quite full and I was too weak to put enough pressure on it. As I was alone the only sensible thing to do was to stretch my leg over the top of the roof rack and push it closed. It appeared that many of my camping neighbours seemed to find much amusement in my plight as I lay half sprawled across the car-which was unharmed in the incident

Relationship between Joe and his bike: Strenuous

Relationship between Martha and the tent: Dangerously unbalanced.

Best bit of the ride: 4 mile decent from camp

Worst bit of the ride: The A38

Quote of the day (when looking at the impending hill on the ma) Michael: ooocha Beastie!

All is well, time for bed, we head for Ludlow in the morning

Martha, Joe and Mike the bike

p-s A belated thanks and a big shout out to Nessa, Phil and Robbie for their support yesterday :)