Day 2

Warminster to Weston-super-Mare, via RSPB Ham Wall.

Ride details
Taken from Ride with GPS - 101km and 900m elevation gain (950m according to Garmin!). Ride with GPS route details are
And
 Ham Wall to Weston-super-Mare . The Mendips appear as the dark green area north of Axbridge. My early-evening heart sank as I approached Axbridge from the south as I assumed the only way was over the imposing ridge line that lay straight ahead! I really didn't care that the route round was lumpy!

The morning
Was spent getting my bike and me back at full power. To fix my bike I found a great bike shop with an identity crisis - Car Mart. They made this replacement arm to secure my front wheel basket to the steering column. I also asked them to sort the rear derailleur indexing because, as the first day wore on, I had increasingly to go down two and up one to change down one gear. The issue turned out to be that the cable had frayed inside the shifter - that's the 3rd cable I've gone through in the last couple of years! I'm just glad I asked them to sort the indexing rather than decide to do it myself. 

As for refuelling - I had a poke bowl, crisps and 2 hash browns at 0630. Then this large breakfast at 9am
followed by this normal sized one at 1115🐷
En route from Warminster to Ham Wall
My first job was to cross back into the easternmost part of Somerset, which I did after passing through Dilton Marsh at 1215 in Wiltshire 
and 15 minutes later I was able to take this photo
According to Google, from here Lands End is 172 miles and 21 hours cycling away. My route is about double that!

A couple of hours later I had to turn round to take a picture of this juxtaposition of a signpost. Surely they've misspelt soul😉

By about 1445 Glastonbury Tor was just coming into view. This is one of those "it doesn't do the view justice" pictures, but it's the best I have to convey the lovely rolling scenery I was cycling through. 

By 4pm I was within a couple of miles of the Tor, when I spotted this farm track offering this arty photo opportunity. 

Ham Wall
Here's me at 530pm on the reserve wearing my "camourflage" red jacket, just outside the Avalon Hide. 
And here's the best two photos. Well, as far as I can tell as my trusty laptop hasn't made the trip. I was really fortunate that I got these photos - I was just about to go down the steps to leave the hide, but decided to have a final look around, which is when I saw this female Marsh Harrier in the distance.
And shortly after this male.

En route from Ham Wall to Weston-super-Mare 
Shortly after leaving Ham Wall I spotted a pub and so I ate there, which meant I only set off for Weston at about 7pm...

Heading towards sunset, I passed Ashton Windmill at 745pm

And at 830pm - so 15 minutes after sunset - I passed over the M5.
So it ended up being another 9pm finish. But a fun day😁

Sunday's plan
Is to get to Lynton, via Brean Down, the northernmost point of Somerset (North Somerset being a separate county, right!?!). 110km and 1200m climbing, including the high point of the whole trip, Porlock Hill at 410m above sea level. What I've just read about the climb up to the summit has made my eyes water - literally😬🤣 Let's just so it'll be cycling shoes off and trainers on time!

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