The room was very warm, as was the duvet so I barely slept. Unfortunately this was a running theme over the week. Yesterday I’d decided at the last minute to start in longs rather than shorts so grabbed them from my clothing bag but forgot to replace them with shorts. So today when it started warm and sunny, I realised my mistake. Christine soon made a potentially worse one, she jammed her chain by changing into bottom gear without realising that her front chainring was in top gear.
I’d have thought that resistance would have made her realise but she said it changed normally then jammed with everything taut. The only way of freeing it was to split the chain which then sprang into the long grass when the tension was released. Luckily the connector pin stayed in place so we were able to join it back and continue on our way.
It was very slow going with some steep climbs against a headwind. We soon lost the sun and my legs didn’t feel at all warm in the cool grey conditions. The run down to Llyn Efyrnwy and flatter run alongside the reservoir enabled us to clock up some mileage. We reached the sleepy former county town of Montgomery at 16:00 and finally Bishops Castle at 17:45 after a few more hills. We checked into the friendly Poppy House B&B and dined at the Castle Hotel.
77 km, 1319 m of ascent