- DAY 10: Wednesday 9th March 2022 – Leakey TX to Camp Wood TX
- Distance: 44km
- Elevation gain: 500m
- Accomodation: Nueces River RV and Cabin Resort
A very scenic and pleasant days ride today in the sunshine. A steep hill out of Leakey and then some easy riding with a long downhill into Camp Wood, crossing the very pretty Nueces River. We met our first other Southern Tier cyclist travelling West to East – He left San Diego 3 weeks or so ago, something that we are planning will take us around 7-8 weeks! After unsuccessfully trying to check into a motel in town, we cycled a further 8km to a campground and got a basic cabin – the temperature is supposed to be below zero tonight, so we didn’t fancy the tent. The guy at check in felt the need to warn us about how we were almost certain to be accosted by illegal Mexican immigrants in the next part of our route and to not stop for anyone – given that we barely go faster than walking pace up hills, it probably won’t make any difference if we stop or not. I suspect he wasn’t far off a rant about how it was all Biden’s fault and Trump would have fixed it, so we escaped as soon as possible. Then, a very pleasant evening on an almost deserted campground – can’t decide if this place is just busy on weekends or if this is just low season.
- DAY 11: Thursday 10th March 2022 – Camp Wood TX to Bracketville TX
- Distance: 72km
- Elevation gain: 360m
- Accomodation: Fort Clark Springs Motel
With a final warning from the campground owner about not stopping for anyone, we did a fast (for us) 25km along TX55 before following a ranch road for the rest of the day. The cycling on this road was great – gently rolling hills, little traffic, sunshine and nice scenery. Our longest day so far brought us to Fort Clark Springs, a sort of gated community and the edge of Brackettville. Our motel used to be the barracks of the US 5h Cavelry. There was also a hot spring that unfortunately we didn’t have time to try out.
- DAY 12: Friday 11th March 2022 – Bracketville TX to Del Rio TX
- Distance: 51km
- Elevation gain: 320m
- Accomodation: Whispering Palms Inn
If yesterday was near perfect cycling, today was the exact opposite. A cold, grey day with a very strong gusty wind, cycling along the shoulder of busy US90 – not one of our favourite cycling days ever! The whole thing was a bit of a slog. Jets taking off low over the road from Laughlin Air Force Base provided an interesting distraction towards the end of the day. Finally we made it into Del Rio and our motel for the night. The motel owner was very friendly, asking us all about our trip and telling us about his time living in the UK. He even offered to lend us his car to drive out to Walmart to pick up any supplies that we needed!
- DAY 12: Saturday 12th March 2022 – Rest day in Del Rio TX
- Distance: 0
- Elevation gain: 0
- Accomodation: Whispering Palms Inn
A rest day at the motel today. We picked up a few cycling spares and supplies ready for the next stage of the trip – the 700km or so to El Paso is pretty empty and chances to resupply will be limited for the next couple of weeks. We met an Irish guy called Mark staying at the motel who is also cycling to San Diego. He left today so is a day ahead of us and gave us some useful tips about places that he is planning to stay, where the laundry was and the website that he uses to find out wind speed and direction in the week ahead – this will hopefully prove very useful in planning our days in the desert where the difference between a headwind and a tailwind is huge.
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Paul and Siona's travels 
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