Woke at 6am this morning and straight into writing up the
blog and answering any messages that needed doing. Having stayed an extra night
at Tahlia and Duncan’s, we wanted to get on the road reasonably early. The pair of them had been such incredibly
welcoming hosts to us two oldies and we really enjoyed our time with them. We were looking at trying to rattle off 70kms
today, our first stop being Ludlow, for a look around and have a glance at the
castle.
Said goodbye to Tahlia and Duncan and within two minutes we were once
again on a deserted country lane – the only down side being there was no
down…..only up, up and up some more as the road wound it’s way round the famous
hill in these parts called the Wrekin.
For about 10km we slogged up hill and occasionally down dale but we only
saw one car the entire time. So to us,
it was totally worth the effort.
It started to drizzle ever so lightly but not enough for
rainjackets.
As we flew down the hill
and crossed the bridge into the village of Cressage, it stopped raining. On an A road for all of thirty seconds and
then turned off into a quiet torture – clusters of flies that just wouldn’t
leave us alone. When we were going
downhill, we lost them, but unfortunately there seemed to be far more uphill
than down, and just to add to the torture of sweating uphill, we had these
persistent flies in our faces. And
anyone who’s thinking that flies only hover around cows backsides, take the
comparison right out of your head! Pete
was not a happy camper and the fact that his bike had developed a squeak didn’t
help things.
Decided we needed a blackberry break and as we were
indulging, a sole cyclist stopped and introduced himself. His name was Olly and he was cycling from
Land’s End to John O’Groats in ten days – 160km per day. Mind you he was on a racing bike and only
carrying 4kgs of gear as he was eating at cafes and staying at bed and
breakfasts.
As delightful as the country lanes were, we chose to take a
moderately busy B road for awhile because we needed some food and we weren’t
going through any villages up in the hills of Shropshire. It wasn’t long before we came upon a garage
and bought some soft buns, ham and an almond cake to share. There was a table and chairs set up outside so
we brewed up a coffee and tucked into lunch.
It started to drizzle again as we left and we departed the B road for
lanes again and it was lovely.
As we cycled down our chosen road, a sign said “Road Closed”
but we kept going, hoping our bikes would be able to get through. We had 10km to go along this road until we
reached Ludlow. After 5km, no sign of
anything to cause the road to be closed and we’re thinking the farmers have
erected the sign to keep through traffic off their lane. Then there’s another sign and a km later,
another one. We’re beginning to worry a
bridge might be out and we’ll have to retrace our steps, but eventually we come
upon some road works (think they may have been installing fibre), and manage to
sneak our way past – phew!
The squeak on my front wheel seemed a little better and we
flew down one final hill into Ludlow. This is a beautiful old town. The last
time we were here, we ate the most delicious fish and chips. Cycled to take
some shots of the castle from various vantage points and then made our way up
one of the paths surrounding the castle walls. At this point my squeak was
working overtime.
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| Just room for a couple of bikes to squeak through |
After a few more shots, we found a seat outside the walls.
Julia went and picked up a couple of ice creams, whilst I unloaded my bike and
tampered with the front wheel axle and the brakes. Still nothing, so I
suggested to Ju that it needed to be looked at. Wandered through town taking even more shots and found a café, where
we enjoyed a nice cup of coffee and Julia spoke to a guy on the phone about
looking at my bike.
After finishing our drinks, we cycled to the other end of
town and found Epic cycles. A guy called Tom very kindly took some time (nice,
considering they are booked up until the end of September) and began checking
out the problem. He is a cyclist and told us that some of the hills we’d cycled
today, were used in the British Hill Climb, so we did pretty well and enjoyed
our riding today, albeit hard at times. He wasn’t familiar with the front axle
set up I’ve got, but had a go at repairing it. He thought he needed a very
small pin head screwdriver, smaller than he’s got, so checked the bearings,
which were all good. He then applied some oil to a particular part, which is
hidden when the wheel is on and put it back together again. As we sit in our
camp, 7 kms out of Ludlow, it’s now 7.30pm and the ride out was okay….so here’s
hoping, otherwise I’ve got a long way to go on a squeaky bike.
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| Cottages of Ludlow - a quaint little town |
Pulled into a caravan park Westbrook Park at 5pm, hoping
that they took tents, which they did and found a lovely site surrounded by
hedges, with fantastic facilities, for a good price. Perfect. Tent up in no
time and although it looked as though it may rain, as of yet it hasn’t. Showered, ate, blogged, chatted to some
fellow campers, had a cup of tea and hit the hay.
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| Ludlow Castle |
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