Day 61 (July 1st)

Distance 62.5 miles

I woke up with the sun, loaded the bike and as I got on it I noticed something…a flat tyre! Turns out that piece of wood last night did hit the tube haha.

It’s my first flat on the road so I’m actually happy I got it. It’s like a right of passage and I’m sure I would have felt like I missed out on the experience if it didn’t happen. I unloaded the weight off the bike and took the wheel off.

The culprit was the longest thorn I’ve ever seen and it pierced straight through the Kevlar lining in the tyre.

I got the new tube in and started pumping it up, BANG! My new inner tube exploded and it wasn’t even close to the recommended pressure. I was sitting in the sun and once that happened I got real hot so had to walk off into the shade for 5 minutes. Now I had to return and repair the original tube which I did and everything was back to perfect.

It was now 10am and getting hot so I headed for the open road with my two fully inflated tyres.

Btw I’m friends on Instagram with the hostel I’m staying at tonight and they saw my whole puncture saga unfold on my insta profile, so they messaged me to say they would sort me a new inner tube ready for my arrival, how nice is that!?

I spent 3 hours climbing 25 miles today, about 20 minutes from the top a van pulled alongside me. I looked up from my handlebars and the bloke driving said “are you Dan?”. Gasping for air I said “yeah?” In a puzzled way, who is this person and how do they know my name?

Turns out this bloke is Pat who runs the hostel! He wanted to see if I was getting on okay and whether I wanted a lift. That is the first time someone has done that and I was amazed by such a warm welcome to a town. I declined the lift as I only pay the iron price on these hills don’t I.

He told me how to find the hostel then said “See you soon Dan, you’re almost there!”.

Once I made it to the hostel I wheeled my bike in and looked at my bunk, the sign on it said “Dan, The British Man”, I love this place already!

Yours in cycling,

Dan