Nice early finish today. In at the Beacon and Railway Inn below the Haresfield Beacon (look up Spanish Armada) and the railway at the bottom of the beer garden and carpark. Not a bad place. Early Victorian I would say. Hosts very accommodating regarding the bikes which are in the skittles alley behind the bar.

Started the day carefully carrying the bikes down the stairs and riding of to the old, northern-most, (built 1968, 18,600km of 3/16″ wire in the main cables) Severn Estuary bridge. Coffee in Wales at the other end. A fellow cyclist let us jump the queue for coffee which was very understanding. Turns out we had ridden past his house in Bishops Lydeard three days earlier. John and he swapped Strava identities so Gary could track our progress.

Rest of the day almost dead flat, excellent tailwind, little traffic, cool, thunderstorms ahead, behind and beside us at various times but we stayed dry. Had a home made lunch on pub garden tables in Berkley just north of Ham. I thought it should be ‘Big Ham’ not Berkley. John had a beer to placate the host and I an orange juice for same. Sunday pub roasts are a big thing here.

Road along the Gloucester Canal for a mile, saw the lock bridge swing open to let a converted canal barge through. Gates operate all year, manually cranked swing gear.

We are settling in to the riding regime. Jane has rejoined us and did well on her first day under load. Don’t want to burst her boiler again.

Went past two nuclear power plants, both MAGNOX type and being decommissioned now.