Leg 10 Ebreywood to Prees Green

I'm going off Shropshire - Fast!!   The lack of cottage style tea rooms and cosy country pubs just doesn't agree with me,  you know I'm not just doing this for the cycling, theres got to be something to look forward to after doing 15 miles up and down and in the cold.  Of course we could have made our own 'latte' at any time if we'd only got a portable gas burner, saucepan and some instant coffee with us, as there was an abundance of milk on last weeks journey - dairy farms - one after another, after another, after another . . . . . And the smell was with us all day too!  Infact one village we went through was called 'Fauls', appropriate, I thought!

With all good intentions of setting out earlier than usual, again it was 10.45am before we were in the saddle and on the road.  

The first few miles were great - FLAT !!   But sonehow,  I just knew we were heading for that woodland hill, its autumn colours of which I'd been admiring for the last 5 miles.   Our journey took us through Shawbury (RAF) and Moreton Corbet where we came upon the ruins of Moreton Corbet Castle, built around 1200.

The castle is an English Heritage property and a grade 1 listed building.  The ruins are from 2 different eras, a medieval stronghold and an Elizabethan era manor house.  Definately worth a photo stop and next door is the lovely saxon church.



It was'nt long before we were going up, passing by the West Midlands Shooting ground at Hodnet, which I might add sounded very active, so we increased our speed just in case!   We continued on through Hawkstone, another publess/tearoomless pretty little hamlet with lots of lovely cottages but no latte!

After 2 hours of cycling and not a clue as to where we were (we dont take maps with us as we feel its more fun just following the signs, something we may reconsider) and not even a whiff of coffee we decided to detour a little and head for the main road (A49) , thinking we're bound to find a little chef at least.   The question was " how long do we go before we give up on our latte quest".

The only place we had passed was 'Micks Mill', a veg and animal feed store!  ah well bananas all round!

As luck would have it, Mick, who's real name is Belinda (dont ask) and her colleagues were taking a tea break and when we told them our story and how long we had been travelling (they were impressed) they took pity upon us and we were invited to join their tea break!  Within a couple of minutes we were both enjoying a piping hot mug of tea and free!  Infact Mick offered us use of her car park next week for the start of our next leg, great stuff.

We clocked up 30 miles round trip today and apart from the hill over Hawkstone the going was fairly easy and the sign posts were excellent,  but on our return journey it did start raining, the first so far. 

I have calculated we are now only 40 miles from Chester so it is our aim to get this part of the route finished in 2 more trips out, assuming we can get an early start tomorrow!!

Leg 9 - Little Wenlock to Ebreywood, Shropshire. "All around the Wrekin".

I now know where the expression  ' all around the Wrekin ' comes from.  Despite cycling 35 miles yesterday all we did was go from south east to north west of the Wrekin and back again, hence the saying 'all around the Wrekin', not to mention up and down too!  A gruelling ride which most definately deserved the 3 glasses of red I consumed last night!

We have now decided to try and complete the northern stretch of the route 45 up to Chester and we are giving ourselves 6 more legs in which to do it and hopfully will have it finished by christmas.

Our starting points are now well over an hours drive away, but still we seem to be struggling in getting a good early start and yesterday,  by the time we got into the saddle and started pedalling it was 11.15am, simply not good enough, we had to cut short our lunch and latte!

It was a chilly misty morning and for the first 2 miles it was all downhill, which is not good in cold weather and by the time we got to the bottom our fingers were numb!  We did stop after about a mile as the above shot  caught my eye. The Wrekin in the back ground.  When we came back up here four and a half hours later the cows had gone and in their place in the far corner of the field were a couple of deer. 

We continued on, up and down and up and down and for the first time enjoying the 'ups' more so than the 'downs' , as they enabled us to get a sweat on and get warm!   About 4 miles later we came to the lovely little Shropshire village of Eyton On Severn, although we did'nt see the Severn we did admire and get a shot of the church.



By the time we left Eyton the sun had started burning through the mist and we were beginning to thaw out, well at least I was, Sally needs it to be in excess of 30 c before her hands get luke warm! 

Next stop were the ruins of the roman city of Wroxter, apparently the forth largest in the uk! 



We had a photo break here and also took  off a layer as, by now, it had turned into a glorious day.  The sky was deep blue and the sun bright and shining down, lighting up all those autumn colours. It was a glow all around of reds, golds, yellows and greens, absolutely stunning.  They are the days i call ' feel good to be alive' days.

Just after Wroxeter route 45 goes along a mile stretch of the B4380 a very busy road and with no pavement west bound, however there is a pavement on the opposite side, so on our return journey we used it. We crossed over the road and took a left turn just before the River Severn at Atcham and cycled along the walled grounds of Attingham Park (national trust) and headed up to Upton Magna, a very picturesque Shropshire hamlet with beautiful cottages.

Oh, and equally beautiful and well preserved sign posts!                                                                                

We carried on for about a further 4 miles reaching Ebreywood when we did a time check and realised we had been cycling for almost 2 hours and Sally was getting latte withdrawel symptoms and with no coffee shop or pub in sight we decided it was time to turn round.  The only pub we had passed was one at Atcham  so thats where we headed.  However when we reached the junction Sally suggested we should try Attingham Park, in search of a traditional national trust style tea rooms, but we were initially disappointed when we were told we would have to pay the entrance fee of £9.50 each to get in, even just to use the tea rooms! 
So I decided to use pleading tactics and asked them to take pity on 2 cyclists who had just cycled about 25 miles and by now had got very sore arses, were walking oddly and  were desperate for a caffeine fix!  Instantly we were let in  - free!   But I must confess, their decision was nothing to do with my superb pleading tactics, but simply that cyclists were free, apparently some old historic rule.  Anyway a few minutes later Sally was enjoying her latte and me my earl grey and we were both tucking into a yummy sandwich.

                                                         Attingham Park

An hour later I regreted eating that huge cheese, pickle and tomato sandwich as I struggled getting back up that 2 mile hill!! And as usual without fail along came the damn refuse collector!!

We made it up the hill and, I hasten to add, without getting out of the saddle!!!!!

Todays ride, for me, was undoubtably the best.  The weather was perfect, the views stunning and the autumnal colours spectacular.  We both could have cycled until we lost light.





Martine and Sally do Route 45: Cycle Route 45 Chester to Salisbury - Tewksbury to...

Martine and Sally do Route 45: Cycle Route 45 Chester to Salisbury - Tewksbury to...: "Route 45 is a national cycle route which runs from Chester to Salisbury and is approximately 200 miles long. Sally and I have made it our m..."

Leg 8 Tewksbury to Gloucester

So we set out yesterday from a place called Lower Lode (not sure if I've spelled that right) , near Forthampton and south west of Tewksbury and west of the river Severn en route to Gloucester.
  We arrived there by car at 11am.  Now I have told sally that we really must try and set out earlier in future as our start times, for some reason, are getting later and with the autumn and winter getting ever closer we need to make use of the daylight if we are to get this mission completed.
Unfortunately when arriving at Lower Lode there was not a 'route 45' sign post in sight and equipped with only an A3 copy of the navigator map, which was far too big to cycle with, I began making a note of all local villages between Lower Lode and Gloucester and with that we set off and took our chance! 
After about a mile and a half we realised we should not have panicked as we spotted our first route 45 sign post at chaceley.  
The route took us through Tirley, Hasfield, Ashleworth and Maisemore before picking up a designated cycle path and old railway on into gloucester docks. 
The terrain was fairly easy, but although seemed flat there was an amount of resistance for the first 6 miles. There was one steep incline somewhere between Ashleworth and Maisemore and as ever when it comes to these steep inclines we end up with traffic behind us
How come we can cycle for miles without seeing a vehicle, but then its bloody sods law whenever we start going up something that resembles mount everest, out the blue traffic appears.
Mr and Mrs Pensioner in their little polo give us a bit of space and overtake us, but white van man or more recently the refuse collectors insist on sitting behind us.  Now I ask myself, is that because they are considering our health and safety or is it because they are nothing but outright perverts as they want to gloat at our struggles and in paticular our arses, as, at this point, we are out of the saddle  wriggling from side to side puffing and panting!
Anyway 13 and a half miles later we made Gloucester docks.
We decided to head straight for the information center in the town to seek out information for our next leg.
They were very useful at Gloucester Information Center and provided us with OS Tour 8 The Cotswolds and Gloucestershire, which we really should have had before we set out, ah well never mind.
We then decided to cycle back down to the docks for a bite to eat and drink and somewhere to peruse over our new map, but was extremely disappointed when we were asked to leave the dock area, which has been developed into a retail outlet shopping area with restaurants and bars, because our bikes were not welcome!   The medium sized man, in both height and width, was most unpleasant and unsavoury and as I walked away, most upset, couldnt help but mumble the word 'tosser' underneath my breathe!
We eventually had toasted sandwiches and latte coffee back in town and the man there was very kind to us indeed, even giving us, free of charge, a sachet of tomato ketchup each!
Before saying goodbye to Gloucester and heading back we did check out the start of next weeks ride which will take us down the Gloucester and Sharpness canal to Saul junction following route 41 to Brisol before heading east toward Stroud.

Important notes on todays ride were

1  We missed a sign just north of Maismore as it was hidden by an overgrown tree, so must remember to take pruners with us in future

Highlighs of todys ride

Sally going through yet another red light and then in true kamikaze style she cycled right in fromt of a moving bus!!!!!!! 
Hey, what the heck. its all good fun.

Martine and Sally do Route 45: Cycle Route 45 Chester to Salisbury - Tewksbury to...

Martine and Sally do Route 45: Cycle Route 45 Chester to Salisbury - Tewksbury to...: "Route 45 is a national cycle route which runs from Chester to Salisbury and is approximately 200 miles long. Sally and I have made it our m..."

Martine and Sally do Route 45: Cycle Route 45 Chester to Salisbury - Tewksbury to...

Martine and Sally do Route 45: Cycle Route 45 Chester to Salisbury - Tewksbury to...: "Route 45 is a national cycle route which runs from Chester to Salisbury and is approximately 200 miles long. Sally and I have made it our m..."

Cycle Route 45 Chester to Salisbury - Tewksbury to Gloucester leg

Route 45 is a national cycle route which runs from Chester to Salisbury and is approximately 200 miles long.  Sally and I have made it our mission to cycle the entire route!  We are doing it in stages putting aside one day a week to cover small sections of it.

Yesterday Sally and I cycled from Lower Lode, which is south west of Tewksbury and lies west of the river Severn to Gloucester.

But before I tell you about our ride yesterday let me tell you how it all began and a summary of the sections we have already covered, because it was only yesterday I thought of the idea of writing a blog about it.

How it began

Well Sally and I became acquainted a couple of years ago through tennis, thats our other interest we share. We usually play tennis together a couple of times a week, but during last winter, when the weather was bad and cold, tennis was mainly abandoned.  In need of exercise we took ourselves off to the gym. It was there where we discovered 'spinning'! We became regulars at the spinning class and soon saw the benefits - thinner thighs and firmer buttocks! But as spring came and the weather improved tennis resumed, however the downside to this was the benefits of spinning were beginning to sag, but it seemed a shame to be back indoors when when the spring was so fine. So I suggested to Sally that we should do the real thing and said, "Lets go cycling".
I've always had a bike and used  to be a regular cyclist about 10 years ago but Sally didnt possess a bike, so for the first couple of  easy trial rides out along the canal towpaths, she borrowed my husbands bike to see if she liked it.  Anyway she took to it like a duck in water and by 3rd time out she was well kitted out and looking very professional on her very own bike, with lord knows how many gears and cogs, reflectors, saddle bag and detatchable front and rear mud guards! (my own bike is very simple - a ladies bike with 6 gears!).
Anyway, as with any new hobby there comes an amount of research and was amazed when I discovered the national cycle route 45 comes straight through the village where I live! (Hartlebury Worcestershire) No wonder there was always an abundance of cyclists taking over the road holding up the traffic in our village!  (obvously my view toward cyclists has changed now that I am one and its me that usually holds up the traffic these days)
So as this was the route that came through my village it made sense for this to be our starting point and thats the reason we are "doing route 45". 

Summary of sections already covered

Leg 1  -   Hartlebury to Droitwich , easy peasy lemon squeezy.  9 miles of easy terrain peaceful and quiet back lanes. Latte and cake in Droitwich then return

Leg 2  -  Hartlebury to Arley, ok not so easy peasy lemon squeezy.  The climb up Bewdley hill was a killer, I now know why its called a push bike!  Also through the Wyre Forest was hard going.  That section is around 13 miles, 26 return, but great riverside tea rooms at Arley and riverside cafe at Bewdley upon our return made it worth the while.

Leg 3  -  Droitwich to Worcester and back to easy peasy.  This time though we took the route 46 into worcester and the route 45 upon our return.  About 25 miles in total which took us into the city via Northwich and the race course and return via the Worcester to Birmingham canal and Hindlip.

Leg 4  -  Arley to Bridgenorth and again back to some challenging hills, but the scenery georgeous as the route follows the river Severn and the Severn Valley railway and up to Chelmarsh resevoir.  Again this was about a 12 mile section.

Leg 5  -  Bridgenorth To Little Wenlock. Another 24 mile there and back trip.  The first part of this section from Bridgenorth was very easy as its on a dis used railway line and runs along side the river Severn, I remember we had rain that day which made it very atmospheric and pleasant, but the climb out of Ironbridge was horrendous and it nearly killed me.  It was good coming back down though!

Leg 6  -  Worcester to Tewksbury.   Good terrain with some steady inclines, however we never made it to Tewksbury that day because the route ended at a small place called Earls Croome just slightly north east of Upton on Severn. Not knowing what to do we heard for Upton to the information center but sadly they knew nothing or had ever heard of the route 45, so after a cup of tea and sandwich we decided to head back on the route 44 and via Pershore. That was day over 30 miles!  Whippeee, We're in danger of becomming proper cyclists now.

Leg 7  -  Worcester to Tewksbury 2nd attempt.  We were determined to do Worcester to Tewksbury so we could tick it off properly so this time we followed the leg 5 of the 100 mile cycle ride around Worcestershires heritage garden, taking us via Whittington, Croome Court, Eckington ( thats where sally went through a red light) Bredon and then Tewksbury. That was exactly 35 miles there and back, the best yet.