I always thought Day 5 would be our hardest day from a mental point of view and so it proved aided by the weather, getting back on the trail 15 miles away and a traumatic exploding tyre. We woke to heavy rain and somehow we managed breakfast in Cedric (our distinguished LTFC coloured camper) in shifts-what a star he has been this week.

With waterproofs and overshoes firmly on we set off into the valleys. The campsite was in an activity park with a long grinding drag to the tents. We hadn’t got out of the park when George’s tyre exploded-despite putting a new inner tube in, a second blow out followed 10 metres further on! It was obvious George needed to visit a bike shop. He set off with Clare while we embarked on a depressing rain drenched ride up and down, up and down, up,up and down the valleys (this was also on busy roads). We had yet another puncture to Brian’s front tyre-we managed to mend it in the rain by the side of the road. Two hours later we  reached Pontypridd for lunch ;cue farce, George was also in town armed with his back wheel while Clare sat  trapped in the van by the rest of George’s bike. Eventually after several calls we were reunited and made our way to the van in torrential rain and hail accompanied by thunderclaps-Clare was at least dry! After what seemed an eternity George put his bike together while we got wetter and colder and we set off again.

An almighty great steep hill soon warmed us up, several more decent size hills followed all to be climbed!  Think of those steep sided Welsh valleys and you will realise how hard it was. A very bedraggled, hungry and tired group of cyclists arrived at Bury Point to a hotel for hot baths (bliss) to demolish in record time their evening meal. Day 6 thank goodness was to be much better, although not incident free!