Before I get on to today's ride I think I should point out what a great place we stayed at last night. I had a room fit for a king with a separate living room as well as a bedroom and bathroom. We all had dinner at the restaurant in the pub which was just superb food. If you ever get a chance go to Weobly the "black and white" houses are just superb and are well maintained despite being hundreds of years old.
This morning after a "hearty" meal of cereal plus the normal poached eggs and bacon ( with tomato) we set off for one of the longer days of the ride. It was described by Rob ( one of the leaders..photo later) as an "easier" ride with only 973 metres to climb.
Once again the weather was cloudy but warmish with temps about 21-22 degrees. The wind was behind us all day which made for pleasant riding.
Most of the riding was again on country lanes with some riding on busier roads which was very easy to cope with. Our ride today was along the Welsh border mostly in neighbouring Shropshire.
Chris and I had a stop at the first village we passed through, Pembridge, and struck up a very informative conversation about the history of the town ( 11th century) the type of farming ( sheep) and the fact that the town was in its earlier days a leading centre in the region. Many of the buldings in the town were old but well maintained.
After about 24kms we came to another small town Brampton Bryan where we had coffee in a farm shed set up as a café and bookshop. The café (Aardvark) was lovely and being a Saturday morning was well populated by locals having morning tea and looking at books to buy. The café also had a delightful jazz band playing which made for a great ambience. My coffee and date flapjacks were very good!
After wresting ourselves from the Aardvark café it was on to the lunch stop at Wentnor. The country we passed through was a mixture of sheep, dairy, cattle and cropping which included wheat. corn and potato's. We passed along the Long Mind ( I think that is how you spell it) . This is a mountain that looks imposing where the locals pursue hang gliding, gliding etc. Bit of luck we did not climb it as it was BIG!
Lunch at the Inn on the Green pub was delightful and most of our group stopped there for some really good food ahead of a longish ( 10km) climb . My lunch was a jacket potato with ham, cheese and onion filling. Very nice for the ride ahead!?!!
After our long climb it was them about 35 kms of good riding on reasonably flat
roads. Unfortunately every now and then we encountered the odd hill just to test our legs again.
It was interesting today we saw many more people walking the roads, hiking and rising horses. Seems that is what you do on Saturdays to get some exercise. We saw the occasional cyclist as well.
We also passed some very big Manor Style houses with grand driveway entrances and big farm sheds and the like....be great to be part of the "landed gentry" here in the UK!
All in all another great day as we passed a third of the KMs travelled on the trip.
Lets hope this continues
Lets hope this continues
Tonight we are staying at the Premier Inn at Harmer Hill which is a Best Western style hotel.
Here are some photos of the day to enjoy....
The sitting room...with dining table...with my computer stuff on it!
At Pembridge in the town shelter. The local we spoke to is in the background
Typical "Black and White" house/pub
Staunton on Arrow
Lovely farm house at Edgton......note brown tones rather than B&W
Morning tea at Brampton Bryan...Aardvark café
Miora and Ian with Chris in foreground...the "girls" on the other table
Great coffee & food
Rob ( leader) at Aardvark café
Looks a bit like Wayne Dyer
Jazz Band playing at Aardvark Café...with some of "locals"
Lovely farm house on big farm.
Well manicured lawns
Lunch at Inn on Green!
Good food!!
Route for Day 7......
Is the Ratio. of great food to hard peddling equels low weight gain to kilometers travelled !?
ReplyDeleteIs the Ratio. of great food to hard peddling equels low weight gain to kilometers travelled !?
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