From Marlborough, Wilts to Nunney, Somerset

We have now done some 488 miles and we are perhaps half way through our trip. Rather exciting.

What had promised to be a long day turned out to be a mere 39.69 miles. Estimates made at home in good faith often turn out wrong. Mostly too low but in this case too high. We called at Hastoe schemes at Dilton Marsh and Nunney. At Nunney we were inspecting with interest some redoubtable Land Rovers in a back garden and the lady of the house came out to see what we were up to. As usual, I introduced myself and she remembered getting a letter from Hastoe about us so she didn't

I commandeered a smaller bike while at Pookfield Close, Nunney

set the dog on us. We found that she and her man spend their leisure time testing the capabilities of these awesome machines on Salisbury Plain and keeping the byways open.

According to Gigi, I used 2501 calories today. I have no idea if that's a lot. I have lost no weight nor gained any. Does she allow for the hills, I wonder? Those hills are not such a terrible thing as we had expected but they are not a bit crotch-friendly. Curiously the average speed doesn't seem to fall but crotch-wise one notices the difference. Max speed today was 34.3. With heavy panniers and steep hills it's not difficult to achieve but a little scary sometimes. We were directed up a narrow back street in Dilton Marsh which was steeper than anything we have met so far, probably only 400 yards but... UP, note. Very UP indeed. Using the bottom of all the gears I could just keep going. My wing man even found it a bit testing.

She is still nursing a sore knee and a sore elbow. Today an experimental spell without pain-killers proved premature. While we were in Buckingham the other day, the pharmacist would not sell Voltarol because she admitted to taking some blood pressure pills. She had to visit another chemist who omitted to assk the same question. While all this was going on, I found a charity shop where I was able to buy another shirt to replace the one I had brought with me - which turned out to be short of a button and out at the elbow. Oops. The wing man doesn't appreciate such slip-ups.

Nature report: Rat and badger have now joined the list, both dead on the road. A few more bird specie, including (where we are staying) a red-legged partridge which uncharacteristically came and sat on the roof for some time.