An absolutely stunning day for a bike ride, before the oppressive heat comes, sunny and very warm but bearable and very little wind.
Something completely new for me also, as I’d arranged to meet some friends in Leominster and with the kids away at Scout Camp and on a sleepover, they brought bikes and we rode together for what must be the first time in about 13 years!
The drive down was fine and I’d just got changed into my cycling shoes, had a quick snack and they arrived. I’d devised a route, following much studying of maps, that was either lanes or “B” roads, but with it all being new territory you never quite know what it will be like or how many hills there would be. Amy had asked for not too many hills!
We set off out of the busy Town Centre and down some quite hilly lanes, before joining the “B” road to Choltrey, Lawton and Eardisland. Traffic was busy until we crossed the A4110 but then quietened down. Eardisland is a beautiful chocolate box village, set on the River Arrow, but the lane we wanted to turn onto (Broom Lane) had road closed signs 🤦♂️ We decided to risk it and see how closed it was, turned out to be fine and to be honest a car could have got down through where the cabling work was happening. How nice it was though to not have to worry about traffic.
We followed the lane through beautiful countryside, alongside the river, onto Staunton on Arrow, before turning towards Stansbatch and the first proper bit of climbing we’d encountered.
We were back onto “B” roads then, with some climbing and then a nice descent into Presteigne and indeed Wales. What had been very noticeable on the ride so far was the dreadful road surfaces. I thought Shropshire was bad enough, but it has nothing on Herefordshire, with multiple potholes and badly worn surfaces.
We skirted the outside of Presteigne and then joined another “B” road, in an Easterly direction, towards Combe and Coombes Moor. This was fabulous cycling country, flat for a good 5 miles, quiet traffic, beautiful countryside and cloudless skies. Andy remarked to me that “this is the life” and indeed it was.
Approaching Shobdon I had plotted a quiet lane to miss some busy junctions out. As we turned onto it, we found some proper hills for a mile or so, quite a pull up there and not helped by me swallowing a fly 🤢 Sounded worse than when I’m trying to do an LFT test, gagging, but some water and a cereal bar sorted me out.
We were now in Uphampton and heading for Easthampton. I almost took us past a left turn that we needed, but had been following the saved route on Strava and quickly realised before we descended the hill too far. The descent to the “B” road was fast and about the only smooth surface we found all day!
We were heading for Mortimers Cross now, a nasty and renowned junction for accidents, dog leg across the A4110, but we got across fairly easily and then had quite a climb up to Lucton and Croft, skirting the edge of the castle grounds. There was plenty of amusement though, at us being passed by “Del Boy and Rodney” (ok it wasn’t really them but a very authentic replica) in their Yellow Robin Reliant, with tannoy blasting out, closely followed by a decorated old Capri and then a gorgeous old convertible Wedding Car with the Bridge and Groom in 😆
At Yarpole we turned back onto pretty lanes again, towards Bicton and Eyton. It was quite lumpy but then a nice descent back to the main road. From there it was a flat run back into Leominster, which was heaving now.
We loaded the bikes back into cars and changed out of our sweaty clothes into something clean, before driving the short distance to the pub we’d chosen, The White Lion. It got a good write up on TripAdvisor and didn’t disappoint. We enjoyed a pint of Butty Bach and excellent home cooked food, including some of the best homemade Chips I’ve ever had, in the Beer Garden.
We parted ways having thoroughly enjoyed the day.
The ride was 29.77 miles at an avg speed of 13.2mph and just short of 1500ft of climbing, so Amy was happy that whilst we climbed a few hills, it wasn’t too hilly.
