Thursday, 1 July 1943
Log of a Cycle Tour to North Wales, by Roy Spurgeon, with Leslie Lee. 30 June 2 July
After a good night's sleep for those of us unaffected by the nocturnal perambulations of the local vermin, we started to cook our own breakfast, some of us, at 0745 hours. After corn flakes, fried bacon, eggs and bread, we left the hostel at 1115 hours (2045.2). We arrived at Ledbury once again and stopped there for a cup of tea.
Pushing on, we left the town by the southern end and passed Donnington Hall with its prison camp and into Gloucestershire once more. We lunched shortly afterwards by the side of the road on our packed lunches, prepared by our commisariat department before leaving Rushall. Then, passing through the village of Staunton, we turned North East into Worcestershire and arrived in Tewkesbury at 1500 hours, crossing the Seven into Gloucestershire again before entering the town.
Unfortunately, there were no shops open as it was early closing day but we were successful in finding a teashop, where we had a very cheap and quite good tea. After this, at 1615 hours (2071.5), we separated, Grif and I setting off on a round tour, taking in Gloucester and Cheltenham, before heading for the hostel at Cleeve Hill, while the others retraced their steps slightly with a view to having a swim. Having had their swim and sunbathed for some time and partaken of some more tea, this party managed to lose themselves in the 9½ miles between Tewkesbury and the hostel. They finally arrived at Cleeve Hill by a most hilly and circuitous route after phoning the hostel to say they would be over an hour late for supper.
In the meantime, Grif and I, with a following wind, covered the ten miles to Gloucester in 40 minutes, reaching it at 1650 hours. Here again, all the shops were shut so we did not stay long and after a brief look round, set course back towards Cheltenham. This was not such a good ride; the wind was strong and dead in front of us. However, after passing a large aerodrome and a huge U.S. camp, we reached Cheltenham Spa at 1800 hours (2093.1). Here we paused to read "The Citizen", the local evening newspaper (purchased previously in Gloucester) which gave us our first glimpse of the world's news since we left London, before setting off for the hostel, four miles out of the town. Cheltenham is a very clean and spacious town with many modern shops and buildings. The streets are wide and well laid out, with many trees and squares among them. It owes its fame as a health resort to the accidental discovery of its mineral springs in 1716.
The trip to the hostel from Cheltenham involved a steep climb up the escarpment which marks the beginning of the Cotswold Hills. This took us some time, but we reached it in plenty of time for supper at 1905 hours (2097.1) after pushing our cycles up most of the long hill.
Cleeve Hill Hostel is situated almost on top of a hill known as Cleeve Cloud, 1031 feet high. It was easily the best hostel that we struck during the tour, with its enormous rooms and dormitories and its extremely good food. In addition, the building is magnificently sited, commanding a wonderful view of the surrounding country.
After supper, the party being now reunited, we walked up the hill behind the hostel and on reaching the top, were afforded an even better view. We could make out the towns of Cheltenham, Gloucester with its balloon barrage glistening in the setting sun, and Tewkesbury. A heat mist restricted out view of the more distant landmarks, such as the Sugar Loaf, 46 miles away, which is clearly visible on a suitable day. As it was, we could only see as far as the Malvern Hills, about 16 miles away. And so to bed in our enormous dormitory at 2300 hours.
Total cycling distance for the day 51.9 miles.
Next day: 2 July