Date: Friday 26^th June    Distance: 23.91

 

Wet, Wet, Wet! Lovely breakfast and good sleep- a highly recommended Premier Inn.

We followed a wooded cycleway, very near the city centre, to Swansea Bay. It was tarmac, wide and well used by cyclists and joggers. We were twice passed by a transvestite, burly with blonde curly wig and pink lipstick cycling with his dog.

The Mumbles were a disappointment, crumbling edifices and seedy remains of a better yesterday. There was a charge to go on the pier but there was only opportunity to fish, sit on a mock electric chair for a photo or have access to the lifeboat only if you were one of the crew! Did they have to pay too?

 

A teacher with a class of primary children, snatching at things to amuse on their last day, asked if we would mind answering questions about the tandem. Apparently one of their teachers had ridden a tandem around New Zealand. It still feels like we are everyone’s friends and we are constantly waving to people, which is lovely.

 

High tide leaves broken shells on the beach of sticky sand good for sandcastles.        Murky skies mean less photography but the city has few attractions for us except the cycling network and even that loses us towards the docks. Because of this we eat at a bad place as a last resort when the heavens open.

 

We arrive early at the Premier Inn north of Swansea. At 3.30 we had done nearly 24 miles and only gone a short way as the crow flies from our previous hotel. It was mostly flat but the Gower peninsula was very busy and only main road’s that had a lot of bends.

 

Again the tandem came in the room with us but the American style free for all buffet arrangement was a shock for the evening meal. Fish and chips, curry, sweet and sour, pizza, salad, bar-b-que and roast could all be put on the plate in a mish mash. The noise was like a school dining hall and though restraint made for a more palatable selection we would have preferred something more ordinary.

 

Breakfast was very nice though and they provided soya milk and vegetarian sausage which I really like for a change. The sun was shining and we needed to pick up the car by 9.30. We were very impressed with Avis hire car and the tandem soon went in the boot of the Peugot without the staff turning a hair. Four hours later we were home and planning the next stage of the journey. There had been days when we thought we would never manage another but we settled for less miles a day than first anticipated and just enjoyed each day at a time. Phoning and booking everyday took a little while but was more sensible than booking in advance as we weren’t sure what the terrain or weather had to offer. We both had a good suntan. It was a good holiday