SLOTHO Day 3: cycling from Wye Valley to Stratford upon Avon

[@lindajesse8250]

Love your stuff brother. Perfectly chosen music also. Makes me drift…😊

[@kippen64]

Great music 🎶.

[@MichaelHenderson1948]

Thank you, that was very enjoyable. Maybe you'll cover the rest at a later date. It did remind me of a trip we took with our 8 year old son across Wales, when the roads were really deserted. That was because most people were watching the royal wedding, July 1981. I remember the YH at Nant-y-Dernol, a really basic one, which I liked. The hostellers travelling by car were amused by me in the morning, mending inner tubes. I enjoyed the travelling more than they did, perhaps.

[@RAsadventures-zr1ge]

I'm glad the video brought back good memories! When you travel by bike the journey may well be more challenging than by car (especially in Wales), but the travelling can be a pleasurable part of the holiday and a source of satisfaction long after it's done. Like you, I liked some of the basic hostels but sadly they often seem to be the ones that have been lost. I'm pleased to say, there are more videos! Some are already posted and I'm slowly editing the others. I hope you will enjoy those as well! Anyway, thanks for the nice comment!

[@corey9289]

Beautiful countryside tour

[@RAsadventures-zr1ge]

I'm glad you liked it. Thank you for commenting!

[@michaelfinn1317]

As a lifelong cyclist I greatly enjoyed your video. Nearly seven hours on the bike is a good shift. Great to support the YHA, I’ve had so many great times in UK hostels. Hopefully you get to finish the trip when the weather clears.

[@RAsadventures-zr1ge]

Thank you! It's so nice to know you enjoyed it! As for finishing the trip... Well (spoiler alert) there's more than one further episode awaiting editing!

[@lindajesse8250]

In the furnace of any explorer/tourer there rages a poet.❤

[@RAsadventures-zr1ge]

Well... I have been called many things over the years, but I rather like the idea of being a raging poet!

[@davidwalsh566]

You've had great success in finding lovely churches for your morning break and St Mary's Upleadon is one of the nicest so far. I agree, a wooden bench certainly feels like a sofa after hours in the saddle. Amazing to think that the oldest part of the church went up only about half a century after William the Conqueror arrived. Was that a locked gate or a kissing gate that turned you back? I've had similar experiences when bikepacking the Fife Coastal Path here in Scotland.

[@RAsadventures-zr1ge]

It was a kissing gate. Actually it was entirely my fault, and in retrospect it was quite sensible to have a closed barrier there. There was a little sign saying I should have taken the smaller track at the fork but I thought the wider track looked less slippery. The larger track goes through an area with a cafe and picnic benches and I guess there might be uncontrolled dogs and children that need to be kept off the road and out of the way of speeding cyclists - so it was my mistake, but frustrating when it was so late and I was trying to save, not waste time. I rode the NCN route 1 through Fife after COVID when I was just getting back into cycle camping. It was very nice.