Unfortunately we didn’t get much sleep at the Beaufort Hotel. A shop on the High Street below was licensed to sell liquor until 1am and people were using tables and chairs that were available on the precinct to drink and socialise. It was really very noisy indeed until after 1am.
Anyway, we got up early, packed our things into the car, and went to enjoy the Hotel breakfast. I had a full English!
We set off from Chepstow with a climb right from the start. Past the Chepstow Racecourse and before long we saw the ruins of Tintern Abbey.
After not very much longer, we were leaving the Monmouthshire district of Wales and the bilingual road signs reverted to just English as we crossed the river Wye into Gloucestershire, then Worcestershire.
Our first stop was at Coffee #1 in Ross-on-Wye. We met a group of cyclists from a cycling club who encouraged us about our trip!
Not long out of Ross-on-Wye and we reached a Road Closed sign. Often it is possible to get by on a bike especially if you get off and walk. This time a security officer ushered us to the side and explained that there was a car rally about to take place and we couldn’t pass. With some persuasion it was agreed that we could proceed at our own risk with the proviso that whenever we heard a car that we would dismount and get off the road.
We whizzed along the road with no trouble, stopping to let cars pass. Spectators watching from gardens along the way warned us the we shouldn’t be there!
Reaching the next stage of the rally, the marshals were less than friendly. They were not happy that we had been let through and would not allow us to continue. They wanted us to go back, which didn’t really make sense as more cars were coming. One marshal threatened to call the police as we had disobeyed the road closure!
Eventually we persuaded them to allow us to go up a track into the forest. this involved getting our bikes over a tall locked gate which another marshal kindly assisted with.
We trekked along the path which was quite muddy in places and hilly. Very difficult with bike shoes on. We decided to try and deviate towards a parallel road to get right away from the route of the rally. To reach the road we needed to negotiate about 6 more gates, untying, retying, bikes over, bikes under. We walked past some large brown cows who were more nervous of us! We had to use the bike multi-tool to remove the mud from our cleats.
Eventually we were able to proceed and re-join our route. All this caused a considerable delay and we were quite late and tired reaching our AirBnB at Ludlow. This was a very nice and comfortable house.
Showered, eaten, cleaned bike, oiled chain, edited video and write blog.
Hopefully we will sleep well tonight ready for the new slightly easier riding day tomorrow!
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