Day 3 - Taunton to Ross on Wye

 22/5- As we have a big day of approximately 90 miles we decided to get up early and forgo a cooked breakfast-well CFE. The weather looked good so it was suggested we head to the beach! 
We eventually said Ta Ta to Taunton at 8.30 and wend (ed?) our weary way to Woss on Wye.
Today seemed easier to begin as 20 miles had gone without too much effort. A stark change from yesterday when you were ticking each mile off individually. It seemed that the chancellor had rescinded his mileage tax!
It's amazing what goes through your mind when you are turning those wheels. I began singing to the old Scottish Football supporters 1980ish song "We're on the march with Ali's army" but I changed the lyrics to suit my predicent - We're on the march with Eddie's army. We're on our way to John O'Groats. We'll make headlines in the post when we reach the northern coast. We are the oldest cycling team. Simple I know but that's another 25 miles down!
We had a surprise whilst at a set of traffic lights we heard a shout from behind and looking behind we saw a woman's head poking through a sunroof asking if we are collecting donations? After confirming she rushed our of the passenger side of her car and thrust £1 into our hands. Just to explain - CFE had prepared high viz vests for us to wear with our chosen charities stenciled on the back. The route was extremely scenic passing over The Mendip Hills at Cheddar and then through a huge park in Bristol before arriving at The Clifton Suspension Bridge where more donations were received. Next stop Severn Bridge number 2 where we briefly visited Wales before heading north towards Ross on Wye through the Forest of Dean.
Mile after mile GOF enjoyed his own company off the back of the peleton and it was suggested by CFE that GOF would fall behind riding a tandem! I thought the Scottish folk were friends!
Now I have been refered to as the Southern Softie but after casting my eye over my Bravehart friends' bikes I notice that they are both running compact triple gearing whilst my bike has a compact double. To the uninitiated they are running lower gears. I won't make an issue of this until I can. We have some big hills and lots more miles yet!
We made it to Ross on Wye after 10 hours 13 minutes of which 7 hours 17 were on our bikes. we covered 90.8 miles completing 1354 meters of climbing. We all agreed it was far easier than the previous two days until the last few miles.
GOF actually made a new cycling friend chatting side by side for a few miles. Not sure if they exchanged addresses but he seemed a nice boy.