At least it wasn't hard to choose today's photograph

We knew at the start of today that it was going to be a day high on mileage but low on club visits. Indeed it is the only day where we have a singleton club visit.

That honour goes to Northampton Town but more of that later.

When you are doing the miles and not many clubs you do begin to scratch your head and think what to include in the blog. However if you let the day unfold potential points of interest come to you or you stumble across things to talk about.

Like hamstrings and backs. Despite my low mileage day yesterday when I woke this morning my left hamstring was so tight you could have played a violin concerto on it and my back had more knots in it that the boy scouts hand book. A very gentle start was called for.

Like Roman Roads. Today we crossed two Roman Roads ( The Fosse Way and Watling Street) Now what I remember from second year junior school (that is Year 4 in new money) is that the romans built roads that were straight and flat not only because that was the quickest way to travel but it stopped the Celts hiding round the corners. Sadly we only crossed said roads as the ones I was on were neither straight nor were they flat.

Like the naughty drivers class. As we arrived at Northampton Town's ground the class for motorists caught speeding was just coming to an end and they all had to file past us as though doing the walk of shame. You expect to see a lot of boy and girl racers but actually there would seem to be more middle aged and elderley racers particularly in Northampton.

Like gender reassignment. We took a break for a sandwich and a drink at the Royal Oak in Blisworth. This is very close to the canals and there are many boat people in and around the area for the canal festival this weekend. We were engaged in a conversation with two very pleasant people one of whom clearly had or was undergoing gender reassignment. It was clear that she had become a she but unfortunately the voice was very deep and a bit of a giveaway. The children asked us some very interesting questions over lunch (like which toilet would be used) and it is fair to say that their experience of life was broadened during the day.

Oh and like Northampton Town FC - I almost forgot to talk about our visit to the Sixfields Stadium.

This is a small modern stadium which holds about 7,500 people. We had no problem getting in and they were happy for us to go wherever we wanted apart from the pitch. Currently languishing in the lowest division of the football league NTFC do hold a quite remarkable record. That is they are the team that had gone from the lowest league to the top league in English Football in the shortest time. Sadly they were not at the top level for long and I suspect there is more chance of many extreme things happening before they will be there again. My only memory of NTFC was when they played Manchester United in the FA Cup and lost 8-2 with the late great George Best scoring six of the eight goals. The fella supposed to be marking Best that day said afterwards that when he shook his hand at the end of the game that was the nearest he got to him all day.

Well done to Chaineys Cycle Shop in Milton Keynes for doing a quick emergency repair on one of my bike pedals after the ride today so that we are all set to go again in the morning.

The miles could be long and hard tomorrow particularly if the weather forecast is to be believed as they will be very wet miles. Surely wet miles are like away goals in Europe and count double!

So we were back up and over the 50 mile mark today with 55.9 miles and a cumulative total of 514.6

A demain