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.