Across the sunny Severn

A bit of a heatwave in the UK meant amazing weather for cycling over the weekend and it was the perfect opportunity for a decent training ride. Gareth's breaking in his first road bike at the moment, he recently bought a Planet X Pro Carbon, and although we did quick whip out to Bath and back a week or two ago it's not really a proper ride. To make the most of the sunshine I took us on a regular ride of mine over the Severn Bridge, which always requires the obligatory bridge photo. It was a bit different compared to a couple of weeks ago when I was getting blown sideways by the crosswinds!

Being ginger getting the sun cream on was a necessity and it was such a nice feeling wearing short sleeves for the first time this year. I'm going to Mallorca in just over a month and apparently it was as hot in the UK as it was there this weekend. Of course, no ride would really be complete without a quick cafe stop and today we decided on the Old Station in Tinern. We flew past Tintern Abbey, which is a stunning 12th Century ruined abbey, and pulled into the Old Station for a drink in the sunshine and a top up of the water bottles before heading onwards.

My favourite part of this ride is the climb up into St Briavels - which I still don't know how to pronounce - and despite telling Gareth the directions he managed to take a wrong turn and I ended up having to cycle back down half the climb to find him before we made the ascent again. It's a really lovely climb up to St Briavels Castle but the hardest part (for me at least) are the sections where you're exposed to the sun out to your right. The views down the valley are stunning but it's definitely a hot climb but the finish it always worth it.

After that there's rolling section followed by a fast descent into Chepstow before crossing back over the Severn Bridge and heading back towards Bristol. It'll be the first of many rides over the year and a bit of a short one really when factored into the long days we'll have to do in September when cycling towards Montpellier, but every pedal stroke helps!