Up early for a ride, on one of the hardest days of the year for me. Chilly morning, mostly cloudy, but a bit of sun about. Wind has dropped a bit, but it was one of those days where it appeared to be a headwind in every direction 🤷♂️!
I set out along the cycle paths, to Heathgates and along Whitchurch Rd, then through Sundorne estate, via a slightly different route to normal. Quite a few police vans out and about, no doubt looking for those who will be visiting where they shouldn’t be today......
Quite a few people out walking along the old canal path, which made it slow going, then got onto the roads at Uffington, climbing up to Upton Magna and then East Haughmond. Climbing the steepest part of the hill, I came up behind a tanker that was cleaning the drains out.
He was blocking the road for the cars that had come up behind me, but I could get past and so left them to sort it out between themselves.
I took the nice descending road past Hunkington Farm, for the first time in a while, then turned back towards Upton Magna and properly into the headwind, which made it slow going for the remainder of the trip.
The Pelham Rd was busy with cyclists today, plus a lot of traffic, as people had woken up by now. At Atcham, I stopped on the old bridge, for a snack and the river was just out of its banks again, following the heavy rain this week. Doesn’t take much to bring it back up again, with the water table so high.
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Final section of the trip was to Cross Houses, Berrington, King St and Betton Abbots.
19.68 miles at 11.4mph avg