Day 37 – Worcester to Gloucester
Actual distance 59.71Km or 37.1miles
Total Ascent 471m
Staying at Deer Park Girlguiding Campsite
This morning over breakfast we had a chat about our route for today. Originally we had planned to cycle the Severn Way from Worcester to Tewksbury – a seemingly very manageable 28km. However, a quick online search before bed last night stated the path is ‘very uncyclable’! Jennie had therefore created a new route using the National Cycle Route 45, and it looked like we could potentially continue all the way to Gloucester which would give us a bonus unplanned rest day.
We were unsure how the kids would take the idea of a 60km cycle, but they were fully onboard. We’ve done a few 60km days, and clearly it doesn’t appear to phase them anymore! The 8th Worcester HQ was our starting point, so we had the benefit of not having to load bikes, drive and unload before we headed off too.
The route 45 through Worcester was lovely. A beautifully tarmacked, smooth surface that was generally flat following the canal, then curved through the city on a mixture of quiet roads and off road paths. We headed south through the beautiful villages of Worcestershire until the path turned up a very muddy, slippery and impossible to cycle alley – a typical countryside footpath. Our bikes, shoes and Christian’s feet were utterly caked in mud (Christian lives in sandals!). Luckily the muddy track was fairly short, but we did need to remove large amounts of vegetation and chunks of mud from the bikes and squirt brake pads with water in order to safely continue.
We reached Tewksbury in time for lunch and were met there by Jan and Neil (Bethan’s Grandparents) who are our current support team. They had a big bag of lunch ready for us (including last nights left over pizza)! The kids even had time to do a spot of book shopping in a local charity shop before we hopped back on the bikes to continue on towards Gloucester.
Our afternoon cycle was really pleasant. Lovely country lanes through more stunning little hamlets and villages filled with the types of houses we could only dream of living in! Near the end of our planned route we detoured off the route 45 on to the Severn Way for a mile in order to avoid a hill climb. The Severn Way passed through 2 fields that were luckily OK to cycle through, then headed on to a farm track then straight up a short sharp hill. Hattie was not impressed that Jennie had failed to avoid all inclines with this detour – a sign that after 55km she was ready to finish for today. Luckily the remainder of the route into Gloucester was all along a lovely, flat, well constructed off-road track alongside the A road and then through a nature reserve.
Jan and Neil met us just inside Gloucester and kindly drove Jennie and Phil back to Worcester to collect our vehicles whilst the rest of the team went to get a drink in Gloucester Quays. Each time we have needed to drive back to the days starting point once we’ve finished for the day it really drums home just how far we’ve travelled.
This evening we are being hosted at Deer Park GirlGuiding Activity Centre. We have been amazingly looked after. A delicious dinner was ready when we arrived, we had tea and hot chocolates and the kids were given hot water bottles to help them warm up. We even had jelly, ice cream and fruit salad for pudding! An absolute treat!
