A common theme over the past few days is canals - the Midlands canal network makes it a pleasure to do long distance cycling. It is said that Birmingham itself has more canal mileage than Venice. Canaletto was never moved to paint them but they are still worth seeing. The baton for the ride to Leicester was handed over by Stephen Woodhouse, General Manager of the Birmingham Malmaison. Today's riders were Mark Davies Garry Griffin from the Malmaison, Mal and Kevin Smith from the Hotel du Vin, and Nikki Marsh from Hotel du Vin Bristol.

First stop of the day was the city's blood donor centre, then it was onto the canals. The team quickly passed under the infamous Spaghetti Junction and then out into open countryside where hawthorn cutting on the towpath resulted in no less than six punctures. Delays caused by the repairs put the team behind schedule so there was no eatin' in Nuneaton (sorry, their pun!)

Distance covered: 50 miles.

If you want to follow Mike and Paul's progress read their blog. If you want to sponsor them go to www.bloodbikes.co.uk