Day 3 - Stratford-Upon-Avon to Cambridge - projected distance 106 miles.

We started with the day with the biggest challenge of all, getting Flora out of bed. Not an easy task, and I thought that the rest of the day would pose no problems more difficult. It turns out that I was wrong, as I'll explain.

Down to breakfast, where I worked out why the flagstones were so worn in our old hotel. I decided it wasn't age, it was just the constant footsteps of patrons traipsing across the halway to replenish the world's smallest glasses with more orange juice. Eventually I was reasonably fuelled and ready to go, although my legs felt a little sapped of strength. I wasn't too pleased to see a 16% switchback hill ahead of me, early in my ride. It wasn't sweet sixteen for me, although I did manage to crawl up the hill.

Soon I was riding my white horse (by now, my muddy white horse) into Banbury cross, in the drizzle. Yes, the capricious summer weather had struck again, and this was destined to be another wet day in the saddle. On the way into Banbury I navigated the multiple roundabout systems which looked as though they were designed by the same crew who make crop circles, but it was getting out of Banbury which was more problematic. Unfortunately, Bridge Street, where I was meant to go, was closed. With hindsight I should have scooted past the roadworks on the pavement, but at the time this was obviously a bridge too far for me. I chose another route, but instead of recalculating quickly as it normally does, my GPS stubbornly refused to calculate any route at all.

After 20 minutes of frustration I decided to point my bike in the direction of Milton Keynes and hope for the best, and eventually the GPS did re-set itself. My route took me through some pretty Oxfordshire villages - or at least they would have been pretty if they were not so wet.

On to Buckingham, where I stopped by the old county gaol, built in 1748. Nowadays its neighbours are a pub, a local chippy, and a Subway sandwich bar, and the gaol was surrounded by characters who looked as though they should probably be inside.

The road from Buckingham to Milton Keynes was featureless, then this gave way to miles of dual carriageway either side of Milton Keynes. This had some excellent features, including smooth tarmac, a BP garage for me to restock my water bottles, and a massive John Lewis distribution warehouse as a feast for the eyes. The Milton Keynes area was as lovely as I expected it to be.

Past the M1 junction at Newport Pagnell, where massive roadworks left a lot of grit on the road. I was surrounded by huge lorries, and felt this was no place really for a cyclist. I think the lorry drivers felt the same way. A couple of miles on, I hit the A507 when - 45 miles from Cambridge - a sudden loud bang announced a blowout. The bad news was that not only had my inner tube exploded, but there was a big hole in my tyre as well. I changed the tube, but knew it wasn't likely to last long. It lasted two miles, and then I had puncture number two. Clearly I needed a new tyre, so I put in the call to my support crew - aka Sarah - who was about 12 miles away in the car, visiting our friend Rachel. After half an hour or so they arrived, to my relief, and I was able to replace both the tyre and the tube with new ones. I'm lucky to have Sarah and the family along with me.

Whilst it was a bonus to see Rachel, I could have done without this further delay, and I reckoned now I wouldn't get into Cambridge until about 7.30pm. I needed to dig into my resolve, and I was hoping as well that my body would be digging into its fat reserves.

I knew I had to speed up, so I covered the last 45 miles as quickly as I could, and made it to the hotel in Cambridge at about 7.10pm. The beautiful buildings of Cambridge have rarely looked to lovely to me as they did after these 105 miles.