My plan was to leave by 7am. By the time I was satisfied I hadn't forgotten anything and that everything was packed in a suitably efficient way, it was about twenty past.

Anyway, a fine morning awaited me and I trundled towards London. It was completely uneventful really. It did get a bit irritating once I hit central London as it was so stop start. I eventually arrived at Paddington with a little time to spare, so I grabbed an extortionately priced sandwich and got on the train.

My bike had to go in one of the dreaded bike cupboards. I took all the bags off and wrestled it in. I'd love to meet whoever designed these useless things, just to ask them if they thought they'd done a good job!

Anyway, the train was pretty quiet and we got underway. It was fairly quick and as soon as we'd pulled out of Swindon (the last stop before Bristol Parkway) I retrieved my bike from the cupboard and put all the bags back on. This meant I could just roll straight off. Which I did!

I then followed my route out to the bridge. It went around the houses a bit, but it wasn't far. I was temporarily thwarted by a closed bridge, but found another nearby, so was back on track in no time.

I soon arrived at the bridge and made my way up. Nothing's changed since I last rode over it, which isn't surprising really. It was warmer though, but equally windy!

Once on the other side, I didn't have that far to go. It wasn't all plain sailing though as there was the small matter of a massive hill to get over!

My Garmin seemed to take great delight in announcing the climb and displaying the elevation profile in all its glory.

It wasn't too bad and I was soon hooning down the other side.

My next issue was food. A quick check of Google Maps indicated zero shops between where I was and the campsite. So a quick (actually, not very quick at all!) detour into Monmouth was required.

I found a Budgens and got some supplies. There wasn't much choice, but I wasn't fussy.

After a few more hills, I arrived at the campsite. And very nice it is too. I am the only person staying here tonight!

I had a shower and cooked up my tin of beef and veg broth. I had a load of bread to pad it out and finished off with some "Big jam coconut holes". I feel a bit sick now as a whole pack was probably a bit much!

I've washed up and am pretty much ready to settle down for the night.

I'm not sure what tomorrow brings, but I'll find out in the morning....