A Day of Endurance and so much more...

Our full day (Saturday) ride started uneventfully and, at one point, we wondered when the action would begin. Then over the horizon came a horse. We pulled over to let it pass and spotted the rider's map - we had come across an endurance ride. Another horse appeared, then another and another (and so on). So Vicky got her horse fix and we, in turn, got supporters as many of the (mainly women over 40) riders cheered us on with comments like "oh MacMillan I for one appreciate you" and "where would I be without them?" etc.

At a junction with a road we came across a 'travellers' camp. Now, ordinarily, we would have cycled on by - without judgement but without feeling the need (or able?) to mix. One of the campers had seen us coming though and jumped out and stopped us. 'Are you cycling for MacMillan?' he asked (we were wearing our green T-shirts) and, on our confirmation, went on to tell us he had been diagnosed with cancer and was determined to raise funds for MacMillan by running. He wanted advice on how to go about doing this and we found ourselves engaged in conversation with him, and his family. This was a poignant moment.  Here were the Belles mixing, on the one side, with well wishing wealthy  women and, on the other, sharing our ideas and experiences with good solid down to earth travelling folk - hey cancer knows no bounds.

After Vicky helped a, frightened of tents, horse past the camp we waved our farewells and peddalled onward. Our progress was so impressive we had to stop and rearrange with our super support team of the day (Roger, Georgina and Rebecca) so that they could meet us further on than originally planned.

At the Wantage Monument we met a fellow cyclist - Kevin - who happily took our photo and passed the time of day with tales of steep hills to come! Kevin lives near Avebury and was impressed at how far we had come so far (sure, yeah he was bearing in mind our average age!!!).

Lunch was delivered by the support team at the Ridgeway car park above Streatley on Thames. Cheese and chutney sandwiches with crisps and a cup of tea were hugely well received. Followed by a pudding stop at the ice cream shop in Goring on Thames. Nice ice cream (Rebecca, aged one, got to try her first) and even nicer people who were keen to find out about our mission and to 'contribute' financially. We left the cafe feeling like super hero's and with additional fund for our cause.

One lady (Marge) and her daughter invited to stop at their home as it was on route (in South Stoke) if we needed anything so we stopped for water bottle top ups. Marge had just lost her best friend to cancer. 

It was here that we were due to leave The Ridgeway and use the Swans Way for a while (this being the Bridlepath). But, despite directions from the locals, we failed to find the Swans Way so returned to The Ridgeway knowing that it would become footpath. Luckily there were no Nether Winchendon landed gentry there to hinder our progress - just a field of cows with a bull (we braved them - yeah) and hundreds (perhaps thousands) of kissing gates. AND we had to lift our bikes over every kissing gate - jeepers blooming creepers that was hard!

The final section was a mix of bridlepath and footpath but all very narrow. We picked our way along, over tree roots and rocks and down steep hills. Oh yes, steep hills - on this section Alex had her first very steep, off road, 'you've GOT TO cycle it' experience. She did really well to pluck up the courage to launch off the top (with lots of encouragement from fellow belles and the crop spray machine driver) and we are NOT going to call the stop part way down a fall. It can be classified as a technical 'off'. The next 2 or 3 similar downs were 'water off a duck's back' for Alex - today she became an off road pro.

3 very tired belles left the Ridgeway just above Nettlebed to find our B&B for the night. I am going to leave it to Vicky to tell you about our experience here - suffice it to say it was a huge contrast to last night and started with a fabulous welcome. Read our next blog to find out more.