Bath Trip

Another good day with a bit of a westerly blow. This was going to be the first ride fully loaded up. Each pannier weighed a bit over 4.5 kg plus the tent was perched on top. We wobbled off down the road from Georges place but soon got used to the extra weight. The first time I tried standing on the pedals and rocking the bike from side to side was when I really noticed the weight, but I soon changed my motion and smoothed things out.
The route we took to Bath provided a very pleasant ride, and what a lovely city it is. We seemed to ride right through the middle of it and it looked great in the afternoon sunshine. We arrived at the campsite and set about putting the tents up. It was the first time I had set my tent up properly and it did cause some amusement amongst the other campers. No it wouldn't be much use in a howling gale and torrential rain but we'll be in a B&B if we get that kind of weather on our End to End - although I think George has really got into this camping idea after his initial reservations and might want to prove his tent is better than mine in adverse conditions!
After a couple of beers and something to eat in the on site bar it was time to retire. Rain was forecast overnight and it did! It sounded pretty heavy at times as well but I slept fine thanks to the self-inflating matt, and I woke up fresh and raring to go.
We had another good ride on the way back with a strong westerly which was fortunately mainly behind us.
So all in all it was a great success. We had covered 140 miles in two days fully loaded, managed some big hills and survived camping overnight! A few tweaks here and there to what we will need to take with us is all that's needed now and we're ready to go!