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@Jimmy_Fingers
Apocalyptic ride for me, but some valuable lessons learnt. Set off for Bristol from Cheltenham again, this time following route 41 of the cycle network, which meant avoiding the dull A38 and instead following the Severn, which was longer but a lot more picturesque. I was looking forward tpo Bristol, some good pub food and some drinks with friends from work, conditions were decent (headbreeze rather than wind, intermittent sun) and the legs felt good.
So to the first lesson; national cycle networks don't always take you down routes suitable for all bike types. I was aware that one bit of it wasn't on a road, but I had visions of a tarmaced cycle path. instead it was the very stoney, rough towpath of the Gloucester to Sharpness canal.
second lesson when you're riding on a surface and are thinking to yourself 'I'm going to get a puncture on crap like this' you get off the bike and push. No exceptions. The inevitable happened around the corner, hit something big in the path, very rapid loss of pressure.
Third lesson: when you say to yourself to swing by the LBS and pock up a spare tube don't fucking forget. i had everything else but the tube was a frickin' pin cushion. I got the help of a friendly lock keeper who supplied me with a cup oif tea and watering bucket to look for punctures. There were so many I ran out of patches, fortunately he has some. I was there for an hour and a half, had to use 10 patches, more in fact as I had to re-patch a couple.
Anyway felt like a fucking prick. Eventually managed to get the tube into good enough state for me to limp to the nearest train station with a slowly deflating rear, stopping to pump it up every few miles.
Never known a tube is such a bad way, ten punctures, most of them two holes side by side. Pinch flats maybe, or maybe I ran over something very sharp. I don't understand how they were in so many different places around the tube.