Tuesday 26th April 2022. I’m in Shrewsbury. I do like this town, having spent a couple of days here in 2017. I briefly passed through last year on a bike ride from near Stoke, but now I’m here for three days. The lady at the Airbnb I had originally booked was lovely, but she did warn me that she was planning to move house which might be around this time, but I made the booking anyway. I do like to live life on the edge! Of course, she called last week to say that she was moving today, so I could either help with the move, or cancel. I cancelled. I booked alternative accommodation close by, and was allowed to leave my car on the drive for the three days which was great.
I’ve planned three bike rides – NW, SW and SE for odd reasons. Let’s face it, most reasons I have for rides are odd. This time it’s so I can link existing rides together so that I have a continuous red line on the Veloviewer map. (I’m not explaining it all again – check my FB history if you’re interested.). [Or the earlier touring reports below]
Today’s ride was to the SW which linked up with rides starting from near Church Stretton which I did in 2019. When I checked the actual route just now I realised that the lines don’t actually overlap, but they’re close enough for me. I did cycle over the Long Mynd which I did last time so that’ll do. Today I didn’t attempt Asterton Bank – it nearly saw me off last time, so I was glad to find a different route. I did spent some time in Powys, which surprised me. I was following the border for a while, but it seemed that I was just in Wales.
Overall, the ride was really pleasant – very little traffic and good, smooth tarmac, probably due to the absence of traffic. Even the bits which had succumbed to frost were being maintained when I passed through. Overall, Shropshire appears to take much greater care of its roads than, say Cheshire. I’m looking at you, Poynton! (I can feel the waves of incredulity coming through the ether when I talk enthusiastically about road surfaces. You have to fork out for a 75-inch high definition TV with surround sound to get the same levels of excitement that I can achieve through looking at a strip of tarmac!)
I’m quite close to town in my digs, so food options are numerous. My 1st choice was so popular, however, that they couldn’t fit me in until 8:30pm, so I opted for the Boathouse, which is a large pub overlooking the Port Hill suspension bridge over the Severn.
Tomorrow, I’m planning to cycle the South East option, which will link up with a ride I haven’t done yet. (That’s just me, you see, always planning ahead). That will leave the NW ride for Thursday. This NW ride was initially planned to link with a previous trip to Llangollen and included the scary Llangollen canal aqueduct. As fate would have it, just last week, I was invited to go on a ride from Llangollen so I managed to ride (actually, walk – I was too scared to ride) over the aqueduct. Consequently, I modified the NW ride to include a climb from Simon Warren’s Welsh volume. It’s up the same hill I climbed last week but this time from the South rather than the North.
I’m now replete after food and beer so ready for the 1.5 mile stroll home and a comfy bed. The latter is an assumption at this stage.
Wednesday 27th April 2022. I headed South East to the old industrial heritage centres of Coalbrookdale and Ironbridge today. This is a very interesting area that I really should visit again. One good feature that I appreciated is that there are plenty of visitor centres selling coffee and cake where I can keep an eye on the bike. (I opted not to haul a lock around with me). I enjoyed a coffee outside in an establishment called The Furnace Kitchen. It was aptly named since I sat beneath an outdoor heater so hot it that could have smelted iron.
The Ironbridge gorge was busy, but not stupidly so. I was very happy to be able to cycle over the iron bridge, which was quite a surprise. I don’t remember crossing it the last time I was here in about 1996.
Lunch was taken at a lovely tea room (no idea where – I just chanced upon it and it didn’t seem to be in a village or anything). The service was exceptional, and unsurprisingly, it was very busy. My panini was consumed to the sound of a peacock crowing very close by. (Do peacocks crow? If not, what do they do? Whatever it’s called, it was very loud)
My route directed me right through the centre Bridgnorth and I approached it with trepidation, not really liking the heavy traffic in town centres. I needn’t have. It’s a lovely town, very much in the style of Ludlow or Leominster, and although tricky to navigate (it’s hilly with lots of narrow streets, many of them one-way), I’m glad that I have seen it. I’m not sure that I’ve ever been there before but it brought back no specific memories, apart from in a general ‘pretty market town’ sense.
Without deliberately meaning to, I found myself cycling down the Severn valley all morning and the ride was so much the better for it. The route back followed NCN 45 (the Mercian Way) for a long way, initially alongside the right bank of the Severn, also following the Severn Valley railway, once part of GWR.
It was chilly today, between 7°C and 8°C until about 2pm when it warmed up a touch as the sun occasionally made an appearance. But I’d decided on shorts last week, so I just had to brave it out. I’m glad I had arm warmers, though. At least the climbing kept me warm, and there was more of that than I expected. I even bagged climb 133 (the Wrekin) from the ‘Another 100 climbs’ book. I didn’t know it was on the route or I’d have tried a bit harder! I even stopped on the hill for a few seconds to let a car past. Even so I’m not sure it warranted being in the book – it was hardly challenging. Once more, the roads were quiet, and even when they weren’t, the drivers were polite, thanking me for waving them on or waiting for them to pass. No one seems to be in a rush here.
Tonight, I ate in The Armoury, a huge freehouse beside the river. I’m amazed that they couldn’t fit me in yesterday at 7pm. There must be space for about 200 people in there. Incidentally, regarding the bed last night, it was supremely comfortable. Or perhaps I was just tired.
Thursday 28th April 2022. I confess I didn’t enjoy the first 20 miles of today’s ride. The roads were flat and rather boring with high hedges preventing me from even seeing if there was a view. The villages I passed lacked merit and on top of that, I was cold. I’d switched to a long sleeved top, but stopped short of wearing gloves because I was promised 12°C later. Since the Met Office comes under the remit of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, perhaps it feels it has to tell lies to keep well in with the ministers, but the mercury today never exceeded 9°C, and was hovering about 5° for the first couple of hours.
I had planned an early coffee stop in Oswestry, but my route through the town took me into an industrial estate, and then missed the centre altogether. Consequently, I passed no cafés and the traffic was such that I didn’t fancy further exploring the town for refreshments.
Everything usually works out for the good, however, since I discovered the wonderful Pavilion Café in Weston Rhyn (no, I’d never heard of it either). The proprietor made a splendid bacon, sausage and egg barm with a large mug of tea (none of your poncy teacup-and-saucer nonsense here) for just four quid. It really reached the spot and by the time I’d finished, my fingers had thawed out.
The route from there was strewn with Road Closed signs, which I generally ignore, but one seemed particularly insistent, giving details of the permit number for the six weeks of closure. Since it was Severn Trent water telling me this, I deduced that they weren’t filling in potholes and perhaps they were replacing a bridge, so I sought an alternative route.
Soon afterwards, I was facing The Hill. This was the only climb on today’s ride, but what a monster! A mile of 20% gradient (25% in parts) with no let up. When I reached the top, I certainly had no need of additional warm clothing. (An oxygen mask, perhaps?) Anyway, it’s done now, and I won’t be going back for another crack at it. Strava showed that it took me over 13 minutes to climb but with only 9 minutes of ‘moving time’. This was because I was going so slowly, my Garmin thought I kept stopping (I didn’t, honest!), so it stopped the timer. I told a fellow cyclist in the café of my planned route and his response when he found I was tackling Church Hill out of Glyn Ceiriog, he just laughed. I now know why.
The road down into Chirk was not as enjoyable as it might’ve been since the roads (that’s being generous) were covered with gravel, infested with potholes and they were steep and bendy. Not a good combination when you’re on a road bike with skinny high-pressure tyres. Once I’d reached Chirk, all the climbing was over and so the ride back to Shrewsbury was fine, assisted by a slight tail wind, so I was in the car heading home by 2.30 after a lovely few days.
