Where in the world has David been today? Southwell and Nottingham

Today I'm going to blog a bit earlier than yesterday! This was my last day riding with the CMS Revolution riders, and that was extremely poignant. I have so enjoyed riding with them as companions that a big part of me wishes I was carrying on with them for the whole tour rather than going on with my own crazy long ride. Another part of me wishes I could take one or two of them (oh, go on then, all of them) with me. The whole nature of the enterprise changes tomorrow. There will be no co-riders, no support vehicle, and nobody other than me deciding whether to turn to the left, to the right, or go straight on. Don't underestimate how that feels!!! Bye-bye, CMS team - you are great.

Today was another great ride. The rise out of Sheffield was long and tough, and there were plenty more hills as we ran out through lovely countryside towards the point where we crossed the M1. But what goes up often comes down, so there were compensations too. The landscape continued beautiful as we skirted Bolsover and headed toward the Sherwood Pines Forest park, but there was one killer hill where I just decided there was no point in trying to ride the last hundred yards! A wrong turning added a mile, and there was anxiety about timing which piled on the pressure pace-wise as we were due to meet the new Bishop of Southwell, Paul Butler at a pub called the Dog and Duck in Old Clipstone for him to ride the 13 or so miles onward to Southwell, complete with purple shirt. Paul was, unsurprisingly, completely relaxed about the time we arrived, but more time was lost in having numerous photos taken by the Diocesan Communications Officer.

The ride through the Forest Park was on National Cycle Route 6. Well, if that's a national cycle route, it was a big disappointment. We were on a wide variety of bikes, but it was only really suitable for mountain bikes. There were very muddy sections, very stony sections and numerous barriers - presumably to prevent quad bikes - but they ruined that section for the very people it is meant for. Come on Sustrans! Britain trying to have a semblance of sustainable transport on the cheap, methinks! Another section from there brought us into Southwell all together, led by the Bishop - and lunch at the Minster Refectory, which has to be highly recommended. One of the delights of that section of the ride was to share it with David Tester and Chris Woo, and to do the Tour de France thing of sharing the lead and taking turns to slipstream - as a result we rode a lovely long level section at 21mph, even with a headwind.

And that nearly brings us to the end. In Southwell we met with Steve Silvester, Vicar of St Nic's Nottingham, where the team were having a service tonight, and he and a colleague - both keen cyclists - joined us for the ride and led us through the city to St Nic's. It was good to ride with Steve and get to know him a bit. A short time after arriving, Simon Faulks - ex youth worker of our old church of Sunnyside in Berkhamsted - arrived to pick me up, and I said my sad farewells. On the other hand, I had a lovely evening (and a lovely Chinese meal) to look forward to with Simon, Gill, Zac, Jonah and Charys. Tomorrow will be a new day, and I sense the blog will become much more reflective.