Day 10, 72 miles from Monmouth to Huntspill

September 10, 2006. We left early and arrived at Tintern Abbey around 10 as the morning haze on the River Wey was still still lingering. We pedalled the 2 miles over the Severn Bridge and, after a hilly ride thorough the west of Bristol, crossed River Avon on the Clifton Suspension Bridge, built by Josiah Brunel in the 1830s. We had to remind ourselves that this River Avon is one of four in England and two in Scotlan and is 50 miles SW of where a different River Avon joins River Severn at Tewksbury after flowing by Stratford-upon-Avon. Along the way we provided airpump service for an athletic John from Bristol (jonaird@tiscali.co.uk) who had a puncture and inner tube but no pump. He thanked us at the time and again a half hour later when he passed us at twice our velocity. We went through back roads and cycle trails to Chew Valley Lake resort for lunch about 3 pm. This was followed by a 750-foot climb to the top of the Cheddar Gorge - in temperatures as high as 30 Celsius - and an equally long coast downthrough the gorge, with occasional stops to wonder at the sanity of the rock climberd scrambling vertically above us. The proprietor of Laburnam Lodge House where we stayed in West Huntspill has a daughter who is a world champion triathalonist so he had some sympathy with the rigours of a 76 mile day in the saddle.