Day 5

The Falcon House B&B in How Caple was so friendly and relaxing that we did not want to leave. The breakfast was superb with their own eggs from the chickens that roamed all around the yard and local bacon and sausages.
This brings me to one of the minor challenges of a LEJOG. It is easy to think you can eat as much as you want with impunity, but my waistline right now tells a different story. I may need to switch from Full English to Muesli.
We got away a bit late at 10.15 and soon reached our 300 mile mark and took the usual photos.
Unfortunately it had become clear that Alex's knee problems were not going to clear up, added to which he now had achiles tendon pains. He and Andy decided the best thing was for him to return home to Leicester and see a doctor. If the doctor advises it is safe to continue with pain relief Alex will rejoin the ride and complete the missing sections afterwards. But if the doctor advises that to continue risks serious injury he will have to withdraw.
When we were planning the ride my son Tom was going to be the fourth member of the group but he had to pull out during training due to continuous back pain. It just goes to show what a big ask it is, for a teenager to try something like this. Alex rode on for days with knee pain, but the challenge is not worth risking a permanent injury.
After Alex left we pressed on and had an early pub lunch as we didn't fancy eating standing up putside a supermarket again. But beacuase we ate only 25 miles into the day we had about 45 to go. The terrain was quite easy but we had a continuous headwind which made it a hard grind.
Finally arrived at Wrockwardine aroind 7.30 so we made good time.
I've discovered that saddle sore is worse off the hills. So there is a dilemma - wishing for the hills to stop is wishing for a sore bum, and wishing for a less sore bum is wishing for hills.
Thanks for the nipple advice, I tried microporous tape and it worked a treat. But I had to shave my chest first, or a couple of doughnut shapes at least, not some thing I planned to do this holiday.