I set off at 9:30 am heading out of Stamford on Barnack Road, through all the little villages towards the west of Peterborough where I could try to find the National Cycle Network (NCN) Route 63. It was mainly pleasant and uneventful apart from finding one road I wanted to take was closed. At Castor I found the NCN 63 and followed it through Peterborough. The signage is a little patchy but most of the route through Peterborough is off road so quite pleasant. You would hardly know you were cycling through a "big" city. At Whittlesey I lost the route for a while but was lucky enough to stumble across it a little later by heading in the right general direction. More than once today I had to double back on myself to try an alternative route when there were no signs. The off road sections varied in quality from sealed, to gravel track, to completely overgrown. One section just past March was so overgrown with thistles that I had to carefully walk the bike through; the route was so overgrown with rye grass that my rear cassette became clogged with the flowering spikes.

By 30 miles my thighs were complaining and feeling as though they might cramp up. Travelling on your own there is little incentive to stop and relax when you can simply forge ahead. I did stop briefly at a pub for a cup of tea; pubs are generally not good or good value for tea (£1.50 for 1 cup.) I also stopped for lunch at a nature reserve next to Whitemoor Prison near March but didn't feel comfortable enough to stay for too long! The worst place though was Wisbech - what a shit hole, no redeeming features at all that I could see. This was where the NCN 63 joins NCN 1 but the signage was terrible and I spent an hour trying to find my way out. In the end I just had to cycle on the A1101, the main road through Wisbech to escape. Most of the housing I saw was very depressing and the rest was boarded up. Avoid if at all possible. At least my legs felt better; they'd had a bit of a rest as I had spent so long looking around for signs and street names.

[Hot and sunny, some cloud later]

From Wisbech I was following NCN 1 across country towards Kings Lynn. At a place called St Johns Fen End I found the Victoria Lakes campsite and decided to stay since I'd already cycled nearly 60 miles and this was the first campsite I'd seen! I was also looking forward to a shower! (£6/night for a small tent, 1/2 persons. Showers free) The downside of camping by yourself - apart from it being desperately boring - is that if you have to cook, you also have to do the washing up. I've been used to cooking and getting Jill to do the washing up.

In spite of tired legs and a sore arse (saddle sore) I cycled the 1.5 miles to the nearest pub to write some diary and imbibe some muscle relaxant - IPA £2.20. The campsite does have a club but it's closed on Mondays and Tuesdays!

The Longest Day - and it certainly felt like it.

Altitude gain: 1900 feet (579 metres)
Cycling time: 5 hours 37 minutes (9:30 - 16:45)
Average speed: 10.5 mph
Maximum speed: 25.7 mph
Distance: 58.7 miles
Total distance: 58.7 miles (94.5 kilometres)