I’m not superstitious but today was the 13^th of June and certainly had plenty of things going wrong. Nothing in the greater scheme of things, but a summary is that I started by following the wrong route out of Gloucester for about 5 miles and had to track back adding 10 miles and 90 minutes to my day before I began.

About 5 miles from my destination at Bewdley, about 6.30pm, I stopped to answer a call of nature and my bike did its falling over thing. When I picked it up I found that the front gear changer had been buckled and none of the tools in my bag would help and the bike was unusable so I called the backup team. The response was instant and me and the bike were soon back at our hotel for the night which was the last disappointment of the day because it was without question the grimmest hotel we have ever stayed in – my choice and my fault, as were all the problems of the day. Is it possible that I can complete the journey without my backup team and will my bike ever be fixed? I should get the answer to the second bit tomorrow.

As for the 66 miles that I covered, I saw a lot of Gloucester – most of which I would have happily done without seeing. The route that I should have done was relatively flat and quite attractive although I continued to take any opportunity for a wrong turning and there are plenty of those as it twists and turns along lanes, river banks and through housing estates and trading estates.

I had a nice lunch in a garden centre near Tewksbury and then an afternoon break in Worcester, which is an attractive town, and I passed through many villages which the book describes as “quintessentially English” and you couldn’t argue with that. Enjoying the day was difficult, however, thanks to the attendant self-imposed difficulties that I experienced.

Off to the bike shop tomorrow.