Day 3 Lejog Mortonhampstead to Street

Today we rode from Mortonhampstead to Street - 70 miles with 4,000 feet of climbing - much easier than yesterday. We were riding more North so we enjoyed a bit of a tail wind all day and no rain.

The route took us through quiet roads with high hedgerows with gentler, rolling hills. 

Ryan and Tracey heading into lunch at Broadhembury

Bikes at lunch

The first three lunches had all been inferior to what I remembered from four years ago. As their prices had been set a year ago, inflation was ravaging their profits. It made sense that they would have to cut costs somewhere so I didn't resent them spending less on the lunches. After lunch the riding was pretty much the same as before.

Speaking to our guides, Mike, Mark, and Wendy, they told me a lot of the B&Bs they used to use had gone out of business during the Covid shutdown so they were being forced to use hotels, which costs more. They hoped the B&Bs would come back because the riders and the organizers prefer them.

 After lunch the route was still lovely

Michele, the tandem, and the Australians

About eight miles from the end I tried to avoid a cluster of manhole and drain covers but a car was trying to pass me so at the last moment I tried to avoid them by going left but didn't see the curb and ended up close to it with my weight over it. I crashed hard and took a lot of skin of my calf, dug a big hole below my knee and also injured my left shoulder, right ankle, and right calf. It was ugly. Even worse, I tore my socks and arm warmers, and broke my GoPro mount. Amazingly the GoPro and Wahoo were OK.

Ouch!

I rode the last eight miles to the hotel in Street and Mark (the guide) made me go to the Minor Injury unit (like urgent care but restricted to injuries). I didn't want to go, but he was right to make me. They numbed my knee and pulled quite a lot of road out from under my skin. It hurt like hell. They put some stuff on the wound, then some dressings, bandages, and a surgical stocking. They gave me extra dressing and stuff and told me to redress it in two days. Can I ride? Sure, they said.

I was at the hospital an hour and they didn't charge me anything! Who says the NHS is no good?

While I was getting that dealt with, Michele was heroically doing our laundry. Thanks.