We Survived Bristol! – LEJOG Tour Diary – Day 4

Day 4 of our Land’s End to John o’ Groats (LEJOG) UK End-to-End Cycle. Today we’ve made it to Cheltenham, covering a distance of 88 miles from where was it again? North something-or-other, somewhere south of Bridgwater, Somerset.

The tan lines are coming along nicely, and we managed to survive our first-ever city cycle through Bristol, just about!

Come and join the journey, like and subscribe for daily updates on our LEJOG progress!: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnyE1CB1xCWr6XxRD1HJ9PA

LEJOG Playlist:
Day 0 – https://youtu.be/4dHUztVhIbk
Day 1 – https://youtu.be/C0JIW0QtitI
Day 2 – https://youtu.be/NauoaOiWAWU
Day 3 – https://youtu.be/UHbL5xe7ypE
Day 4 – https://youtu.be/XNzKemcJhfA
Day 5 – COMING SOON
Day 6 – COMING SOON
Day 7 – COMING SOON
Day 8 – COMING SOON
Day 9 – COMING SOON
Day 10 – COMING SOON
Day 11 – COMING SOON
Day 12 – COMING SOON
Day 13 – COMING SOON
Day 14 – COMING SOON

#lejog #cycletour #cycling #bristol #westcountry

Day four done. That was exhausting. It was exhausting. Where did we come from? Bridgewater Pathon, which is south of Bridgewater. And yeah, that was hard. Uh 7 and a half hours in the saddle. I’ll throw up the other stats cuz I can’t remember off the top of my head. uh not too hilly and all, funnily enough, the hills were all in Bristol and because Bristol’s so traumatic to cycle through, you don’t even notice the hills. Um you just notice that you’re about to get killed by a lorry or a truck or a car. Yeah, I was moaning yesterday about lorries being pretty brutal. Uh today I came very close to being swiped by an articulated lorry. Um, yeah, with within a foot of it, I think. Yeah. I nearly got crushed in between a truck and a bus. Nice. The cycle lane was in the middle between the two of them and it was a squeeze and they started setting off and it was touch and go as to whether I’d make it, whether you’re going to make it through or not. Yeah. I don’t know how the amount of people that clearly look as though they cycle every day through places like Bristol just, you know, I what they love. Well, I just got so much respect for them to be able to get up the next day and do it again. So, I don’t think I could keep doing that. It’s um yeah, there’s a point where I just go, “No thanks. I’ll uh do something else entirely.” Um but yeah, so this morning started off really nicely. Nice flat landscape very long. very quintessential England. Lots of hills in the distance, which is how you want them to be when you’re cycling. It It does look very idyllic. It was It was a really nice start up until we got to Bristol Clifton Suspension Bridge, that was really nice. That was a highlight. That was definitely a highlight. Yeah, wandering across there, even though one side of it closed, so it just get a little bit claustrophobic when you’re when you’re trying to walk over it and people walking in both directions. Um, but yeah, then into Bristol. Bristol was miserable. Riding around Bristol is probably quite nice, but riding through it. I think that the problem is that they’ve got loads of cycle lanes and you’re going along the cycle lane and people park in them. So suddenly you’re blocked and there’s a stream of traffic going past, you got to pull out into it. And that happens a lot. A lot. Yeah. I mean, Chelham, Glouester, they they’re both again really set up well for cycle lanes. Well, so Bridgewater had um cycle lanes, too, but they were properly properly halfass. So, you’d be going on quite happily on this cycle lane and then it would just stop um at a roundabout. And I said, “Well, does this not go all the way around the no round children, they have clearly put in a lot of money and time in doing their stuff right there with green lines. Very nice.” But it’s you kind of need that cuz you are cycling up the A38 which is a pretty miserable place. So it’s not the certainly not the worst of worse a road cycling in the last four days. Mistake but yeah in the last four days we’ve been on worse a find it quite funny cuz the the review that we had and then the routes that we’ve used were very much like oh you do have to do the A38 but it’s only very brief like no it’s not like that it’s good. It’s like a good half good half a day of what it feels like. But the flats the sections that were nice, the country sections today were nice even post Bristol. So you get past Bristol, which does seem to take forever. It is a very sprawling city. It’s pretty big. Yeah. Um but once you’re well past that, goes back to country for quite a while until you hit um Gloucester and then that’s not awful, but it’s um yeah, quite uh quite care. We took all the back raiser and bluster, but that was I don’t think I recorded any of that. Yeah, it’s been a tiring day. My bum hurts, my legs hurt. Uh my my thighs really it’s it’s actually a straight What? We walked to the supermarket to get some food and my thighs are well and truly Yeah. Walking down the steps. Yeah. Yes. So, yeah. Let’s see what tomorrow is. So, tomorrow’s about the same distance again, but we’re heading back towards our home cuz we’re smack in the We’re smack in the a third of the way through the route, which is a convenient place to get back and changed. If nothing broke on my bike today, I don’t think. Not I think I’ve lost a few things, but not The chain came off a couple of times. Chain came off a couple of times off the front this time, not the rear. Yeah. Let’s see what tomorrow brings. Fingers crossed it’ll be good. We certainly working on our tans. Oh my goodness, the lines. I’m moving into a uh a solid teak color now. Um dark oak next and then we’re on a walnut. Maybe some mahogany thrown in there at some point. Anyway, see you tomorrow.