I met up with
@Rickshaw Phil this morning, for a properly hilly ride. I took the bike up to his, on the car rack and we set off with a chilly westerly wind blowing.
We began with a short section on the A49, one pass that was a little close, with a car coming the other way, but that was the only slight annoyance on this ride.
The road to Condover was rather affected by some slurry piles 🤢 and it felt quite a battle into the wind, up to Ryton. We came across so many people running around there, that it was almost the village park run! We followed the lane to Longnor and then to Comley, were we branched off and up, for our next A49 crossing of the day, which as done with ease.
We then joined the road to All Stretton and Church Stretton, very busy along there with cars heading to Cardingmill Valley for a walk in the sunshine, through the town and on to Little Stretton.
We then turned onto the lanes and began the 1st steep climb of the day, to Minton and then Hamperley, before arriving at the forestry track.
It’s a long old pull up the track, but we wound our way up slowly, without stopping, before we reached the track interchange and paused for lunch, out of the wind.
There was a small amount more of climbing, before a descent to the Portway, which we would be following for a good few miles along the ridge of the Longmynd. The views are astounding and it feels so good to have got up there under your own steam.
We bumped our way along the rutted track, passing along the edge of the glider club, where plenty were enjoying the wind conditions. It was nice and sunny up there, but the wind was still keen.
After rejoining the road, we had the wind behind us now and that helped us along and then up the climb to Pole Bank and the summit of the Longmynd at 1693ft. We’d climbed over 1000ft since Minton.
There were quite a few walkers at the trig point, enjoying the views towards Wales and the Shropshire plains, but it was windy and cold there, so we didn’t stop long.
The first part of the descent is quite bumpy and rough, but it then smooths out and with the tailwind, we cruised along the track quite nicely, until rejoining the road at High Park. There is a fast descent from there and I overused the brakes a bit, to ensure I took the junction we wanted, but seemed to cause brake fade, which meant a faster than intended bit of cornering.
The rolling lanes to Picklescott were good fun, followed by Wilderley and then onto the main road to Pulverbatch. We came across road closed signs there, but neither of us fancied back tracking up hills again, so we risked it. The work hadn’t started at all yet and a local at the top asked us how long the closure was and didn’t seem impressed when he found out no work was yet taking place, despite the signs being out.
From Pulverbatch, with the wind behind us, we cruised along at a pretty fast pace through Longden, Annscroft, Hook a Gate and back up the final slog into the wind, before arriving back at Phil’s, with 37.47 miles completed, at 9.9mph avg and heading for 3000ft of climbing. A good day.