Saturday 17th May 2008 ride

No Rev Trev today. Digger Dave wanted to visit an old acquaintance so the remaining 3 Hasbeans headed off towards Ilminster. At Dowlish Ford we stopped and Dave was able to renew friendships with his old friend "Topper", a 27 year old equine (see photo). For those of you who do not recognise Dave, he is the one holding the carrot! After a coffee stop with Topper's owners we set off to climb up the Blackdown Hills south of Taunton. Now that we are fitter these steep climbs are less foreboding. Some of us were cycling over new territory which was very enjoyable. The thought of spending 15 days cycling 1,000 miles of totally new countryside is very exciting and it is now only 6 weeks away. The decent from the Blackdowns towards Taunton was fun. Lunch was taken at a friendly cafe in North Curry after which we headed off over the Somerset Levels. We eventually returned home via Langport.
Miles today = 60 which was done at a very pleasant relaxing pace.
We had a meeting during this last week where we started to sort some of the finer details of the trip. The route has been agreed and our support member, Mike Crouch (any ideas of a team name for Mike?), is starting to think out the positions of human refuelling stops between campsites.