I awoke to glorious sunshine for my final day. After saying good bye to my hosts, I headed off. It was very hot even first thing in the morning. It was going to be a long day. But a kind of easy day as all I had to do was get home. Time was not an issue.

Most of my route home I'd ridden before at one point or another, but I threw in a few bits that took in villages I'd not passed through before. I ended up stopping fairly regularly as keeping hydrated was going to be important on such a warm day. Fortunately, although I only really passed through small places, there were plenty of shops to stop at for snacks, cold drinks, ice creams and water.

There really isn't much to say about the day. The only thing of note was as I passed over the M11 I saw it was completely at a standstill. I believe a lorry overturned. Hopefully everybody is OK. I did notice traffic in the lanes was a bit heavier than expected. that could have just been the normal rush hour traffic, but quite likely people trying to find an alternative to the very closed M11.

As I got closer to home it was nice to be on roads I've ridden so many times before. Although I reckon I was slower than I've ever been on all of them! I was very tired by this point due to the hot weather, the cumulative mileage in my legs and a general lack of sleep over the past couple of weeks.

But eventually I made it. I've unpacked my stuff and put a load of washing on. I shall give all my gear a good clean tomorrow - although much of it I now realise I need to replace.