Optimistic early blue sky soon turned to grey today too as I rode South from Monmouth on a road which followed the narrow gorge of the Wye Valley with steep wooded slopes and trees which closed in the road from either side. In many a place high branches intermingled making the tree enclose road complete, like a green tunnel.

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On this road there was an interesting stop at the medieval village of Tintern with ruins of Tintern Abbey, it's chancel roofless and it's tall gables with decorative Gothic windows. Also the remains of the medieval town which was a centre of metal working. I read on the information board that "Here in 1568 Brass was made for the first time by alloying Copper and Zinc." And Tintern remained an important industrial centre up until late Victorian times when the Trans-Atlantic telephone cable was manufactured in Tintern. By then it had become a popular excursion for the Victorian tourist that came at certain times of year for an evening viewing of the full moon rising and filling the circular window of the Abbey ruin.

Seven miles more and I past Cheptow race coarse where I picked up National Cycle Network 4 (NCN) which led me away from the busy road approaching the Severn Bridge and over the fenced off cycle-path of the Bridge over the river Severn; and thereafter along quiet country lanes until passing through a sleepy village around noon, I saw a pub which had free wifi written up on a board outside. It was an excuse to stop for lunch. I didn't have much luck getting connected though, as it may be advertise as free wifi, but there was the registration page with a list of details on yourself to fill-in and get past before I could do anything; details like, home telephone number, mobile number, email address, confirm email and so on. And after all this filling in of details in the boxes provided, I press continue to submit and the same page came up again, (the boxes blank) the same as if I'd never filled it in at all. A big waste of time as I wouldn't have stopped otherwise except for wanting to use the computer.

I enjoyed a pint of bitter but not so much the food, a steak sandwich which was bland and dear at ten pound together with the drink. I was anxious to use the computer to see where Crazy Guy author David Holmes is because he's in the area and I hoped maybe to arrange a rendezvous.

About an hour later Is riding into Bristol along patchy rough city streets. The way to the city centre felt never ending as it began to rain lightly. The traffic was chaotic and urban cyclists wearing reflective vests rode defensively. The road went up and down and I'd to stop at countless traffic lights. The bottom bracket was now worn to the point where the chain would slip as I started off from lights. I had even thought of finding a bike-shop here where I could replace the bottom-bracket but that would mean more riding in this city and it was tiring enough. I thought it better to wait until I get to the smaller city of Bath where I'll have a rest day. I continued between rows of redbrick terrace houses with takeaway fast food places and coffee shops.

I followed behind a student type on a bike who led the way into and through Bristol city centre then out onto the Bristol to Bath cycle-path, built by Sustains (an organization which builds cycle-paths and marks cycle-routes in the UK)along a disused railway. It is a two metre wide smoothly paved path following the valley through a corridor of trees pasting many overgrown station platforms with moss covered stone benches where passengers in bygone days sat waiting for trains.

A steady stream of local cyclists came and past in both directions as I rode along the tree enclosed cycle-way thinking of arriving in Bath. Then at once, standing out from all the other cyclists on the cycle-path, I recognized the familiar wide brim hat and the familiar face as he approached, the bike and panniers seen here on CGOAB. It was David Holmes. We both grinned and David remarked on the superb cycle-path. We exchanged views on the road, David saying Britain is the hilliest country he's ridden in, and spoke general touring talk. It was good to meet David, another Crazy Guy author whose journal I've been following. But I kicked myself later that I never took a photo of him to post here.