A short day, so a short write-up. Sorry, blog fans!

Our heroic efforts over the previous two days meant we only had 40 miles to do today, leaving us plenty of time to catch up with friends and family -and get some much-needed time off the bikes – back home in Bristol.

After someone had blocked up the toilet in the ensuite (I’m not going to mention any names, other than to say it wasn’t me. Or Bailey), we made a pretty sharp exit from our B&B in Monmouth, heading off down the A466 towards Chepstow. The road wound it’s way down the Wye valley, hugging the river and providing some pretty scenic views of the border country. More importantly, at long last, we finally bumped into some fellow JOGLErs.

Clearly, JOGLErs are like buses; having gone over 800 miles without seeing any since leaving John O’Groats, we saw three separate groups within 500 metres of each other as we passed by the beautiful abbey at Tintern. Clearly this road is a bit of a pinch point, with everyone making for the Severn bridge via the same route. It was fun catching up and swapping stories – one group (admittedly traveling sans panniers as they had a support van, and following a much shorter route) had covered the distance in just seven days, including a mammoth 230km in a single day stint between Altrincham and Hereford. Most impressive, although I think I prefer our more leisurely approach! Another group, much to our delight, had passed through the infamous Trough of Bowland and survived to tell the tale (see yesterday’s blog for an explanation).

Having picked each other’s brains for route ideas, we once more went our separate ways and headed for the bridge. It now really felt like we were back on familiar territory – Geoff and I had cycled this route a couple of times in training – and despite the fact that we were all flagging as the cumulative effect of 12 days cycling really kicked in, the thought of catching up with loved ones was driving us on and we made one last push for home.

It was strange riding down familiar roads again; I think we all felt oddly displaced, having seen so much and covered so much ground over the past fortnight. But it was fantastic to see Ginny and the kids again, and to catch up with all our friends at the Foresters in the evening – all three of us were pretty overwhelmed by the support and encouraging words everyone had for us, as well as by their very generous donations to the Pete & Mary Trust. As much as anything else, I think it did us good to have other people to talk to, if only for a night! Thanks all, for making the effort – much appreciated.

Whether or not the extended stopover at home will do us any good remains to be seen, but it definitely felt great to recharge our batteries. This afternoon/evening will be the longest any of us has gone without cycling for nearly two weeks, so hopefully it will give those achey joints and tired muscles a chance to recover slightly before we head off for the final (and what everyone assures us – with relish, I might add – will be the hardest) leg of the journey so far: the continuous hills of Devon and Cornwall. Wish us luck!

Actually, that didn’t end up being so short, did it? That explains why it’s taken so long then. I’ll try harder tomorrow, I promise. Night all!