Saturday 24th May 2008 ride

To assess if we are fit enough for the forth coming challenge, we have been advised we must be able to cycle to Bridgwater, then over the Quantocks and then cycle home again. Also we wanted to put our regular rest stops in place during the ride. We therefore set off to Bridgwater via Curry Rivel, Stathe, Burrowbridge and Moorland. We headed out of Bridgwater past Durliegh Reservoir to Enmore. We had a good rest at this village's church (see photo). The phrase often seen on tomb stones, "Rest in Peace" also seems to apply to the living! Rested, we then cycled up onto the Quantocks which was a good test of our fitness. We then took another well deserved rest at Fyne Court. We, and especially Dave, wanted to descend from these hills into Taunton via the site of Dave's accident in February. This time we were all able to negotiate this bit of very dangerous road safely. Another sort of cycling that sometimes gives us concern and can be equally dangerous, is in town traffic. We have decided the safest way to negotiate large busy junctions is to stop, dismount and walk across. We applied this method whilst cycling through Bridgwater and Taunton and we all felt it gave us the confidence to travel through towns safely and with considerable less hassle. Our return trip took us through Trull, Corfe, Staple Fitzpaine, Broadway, Ilton and Shepton Beauchamp. Again we took our rests - see other photo.

Todays miles = 69. If todays trip was a test to see if we are ready for our future challenge, we believe we have passed.