I couldn't decide where to go today so started off on one of my regular routes before deciding to vary it halfway through by adding in a section I haven't ridden before and which upped the mileage a bit.
I headed out over Lyth Hill, dropped down to Hunger Hill then across to Exford's Green, Plealey, Minsterley, Westbury and Halfway House. Most of this was against the wind so it wasn't very quick but I got on okay and didn't have any incidents worth mentioning.
After Halfway House I headed for Wollaston and the quieter (and a bit hilly) route to Crew Green but while working my way up the climb decided to do something different so took a left at what would usually be the summit and carried on climbing to Bulthy and along the nice little valley sandwiched between the Middletown and Breidden hills. I reckon the place would look good in the spring and summer so will have to make a point of coming back.
The descent from the valley is quite steep down to the flood plain of the Severn where I headed for Criggion, passing the huge quarrying scar on the north-western side of the hill and the strange squat buildings that made up the former military radio station here (now long since closed - the huge aerials are gone and the buildings are being converted into homes).
Criggion is quite a tiny place so you soon pass through it, although the Admiral Rodney pub looks like it could be nice to try at some point. On the way through Crew Green the speed warning sign flashed up that I was doing 43 through the 30 limit. (Yeah, right.
) My speedo said a much more realistic 17 with a following wind.
That tailwind had strengthened a bit so I got on at a good pace through Melverley to Pentre and onwards to Shrawardine and Montford Bridge where things slowed a bit having to climb over the hump to Bicton. As I was getting on well I stuck to the road as far as Meole Brace rather than using the rather bumpy cycle path.
I'd started off the ride with the bike all nice and clean. Don't know why I bothered as I had wet/muddy roads the whole way round and it's now worse than before I cleaned it.
42.1 miles at 12.9 mph average (thought I was going to do better than that with the wind-assisted end to the ride).
Winding my way up the climb past Bulthy Farm.
View back down the valley near Belle Eisle Farm.
On the way down the other side but still quite high up.
A couple of views down to the Severn flood plain.
The quarry on the Criggion side of the Breidden.
- wind had got up noticeably so decided on ebike test ride 2 and a clockwise version of Sundays 12 mile test ride 1.
