After visiting Wells on May 7th, I headed towards Cheddar. I was planning to camp in Mendips National Landscape after visiting Cheddar and Cheddar Gorge. It was great weather for cycling and camping.

On the way to Cheddar, I stopped at a fruit market on the side of the road and bought some much needed fruit and a carrot to much on. The strawberries smelled delicious but I didn’t think they would stand being thrown around in my handlebar bag.

When I arrived in Cheddar, I had a coffee to prepare myself for the climb that ended up being much easier than I had expected. I also visited the Cheddar Cheese shop and bought some ‘real’ aged cheddar cheese.

Cheddar Gorge

Cheddar Gorge is a limestone gorge in the Mendip Hills. The gorge is the site of the Cheddar show caves, where Britain’s oldest complete human skeleton, Cheddar Man, estimated to be 9,000 years old, was found in 1903 (Wikipedia).

I was anticipating a long and grueling climb but in fact, the gradient was not bad apart from one short section. I was happy it was a Tuesday and not a holiday weekend because there was relatively little traffic and I had been warned that the traffic could be horrendous. I enjoyed the climb and the views.

The ride through the Mendips was beautiful. I descended steeply into Compton Martin and found my camping spot at Gosswood Park Campsite complete with resident alpacas🦙

I had stopped in Cheddar to buy food because I was sick of pub food and craving something green. I ate a bag of arugula (rocket in the UK) with Spanish omelette and olives.

It was quite chilly when the sun went down and again I went to bed wearing most of my clothes.