Welcome to Wales

I awake before my alarm, my body now long since adjusted to the rigours of rising before the rest of the world. For a few blissful moments I lie there in silence. Silence. That means it’s not raining, unless of course I have drifted back to sleep and my mind is playing a cruel trick on me.

I pull the curtain back to check, half expecting to see fat droplets of rain sliding down the window. Instead, much to my delight, a divine light cocoons the little patch of forest visible from my lookout. With that realisation I hurry to get out of bed, keen to get on with the day, only to be reminded the moment that my feet touch the floor that I have cycled more than 1,000km in the past five days, and no amount of weather-induced enthusiasm will ease the pain my body is in.

Thus I gingerly get dressed, legs heavy with fatigue, tender to the touch and in desperate need of a day off the bike. There