Today’s ride was going to be a long one, Clun to Runcorn, a distance of some 81 miles. Because of this we were up early, fuelled up with a good breakfast and on the road by around around 8.45pm.
The first part of the day involved a great deal of climbing and descending which started with a lethal descent down a farm track; a bit of rural nastiness that I’d forgotten. There was no excuse for this as I had come down this bone rattling lane, one could hardly call it a road, twice before. Along with one or two other parts of the route from Land’s End to John O’ Groats that we had previously modified, we should have removed this short cut and gone round the main road out of Clun. Our bikes were definitely not designed for this kind of punishment. It would have been great fun on a mountain bike but was almost lethal on a light weight racing bike.
Later in the day, a rather more pleasant descent took us through the picturesque Hope Valley. The others belted down this descent as if they were on one of the alpine runs of the Tour de France. I went at a more leisurely pace. Anything over 30mph and the chances are I would need to change my cycling shorts at the bottom of the climb. Beside the effect such high speeds might have on my ability to control certain parts of my anatomy, I rather liked to enjoy the beauty of the countryside, not have my eye glued to the road looking for potholes or other obstacles which might flip me off my bike. This downhill section of the day’s ride ended at the village of Minsterley. Two miles after that at the village of Pontesbury we headed off towards Shrewsbury.
A few years previously Julia and I spent a pleasant few days in a hotel just outside Shrewsbury in what had been a school for the blind. Perhaps its most famous ex pupil was the Labour Politician David Blunket. Shrewsbury is a lovely town to spend a few days wandering round but what stands out about this short break was nothing to do with historic buildings and pleasant pubs. We were about to leave to head home and whilst we sat in the car in the car park Julia totted up the bill for our stay. She noticed that the hotel had not charged us for a bottle of wine and the cheese course we had consumed during a meal in the hotel restaurant. Being honest sorts, we trudged back to the reception desk and pointed this error out to the receptionist and said we wanted to pay what we owed. Forty minutes later we were still standing there and rather wishing that we hadn’t bothered and, if you will excuse an awful pun, “turned a blind eye” to the mistake, which was after all in our favour.
Shrewsbury is a very small town and we were soon through it, crossing the river Severn at Welsh Bridge. Just past the bridge there is a huge modern sculpture called Quantum Leap, evoking images of a double helix. This biological reality which lies at the heart of the Evolutionary Process had been created to celebrate Darwin’s bi-centenary.
The rest of the day’s cycling, although long, was comparatively flat and not that inspiring aesthetically. I used the motor on my bike sparingly during the first part of the day but kept it on all the latter part of the day as I had plenty of battery left. This enabled me to keep up with the others, not something I normally accomplished.
It was a lengthy day but due to the relatively flat nature of the route we did it quite quickly averaging around 12mph. Our destination was The Holiday Inn at Runcorn. Not having any rest days on our journey north The Holiday Inn was a concession to pure luxury. A swimming pool, and a jacuzzi to ease our sore legs and a great meal in the hotel restaurant. I had a mixed grill and amazed myself that I managed to eat that much grub at one sitting as my appetite is not what it used to be when I was much younger. And so, to bed, bliss, utter bliss.
Ezekiel's Wheels 