Yesterday's ride: I had a free day and the forecast looked nice so set my alarm early and aimed to get out and do my second Lunacy Challenge ride.
This one had been planned at quite short notice so I mostly wasn't very adventurous with the route. The village was strangely quiet as I set out - possibly folk sleeping in a bit after celebrating the football win the previous night? The A49 was about as busy as I'd usually expect for the time of the morning and the traffic well behaved except for the one small white van that came a little close then swerved in front unnecessarily. Thankfully it's only ever a short stretch on this road before turning off towards Condover then Ryton.
After crossing the A49 again and heading through Stapleton I paused in a gateway and found it had already warmed up enough to dispense with the fleece I'd needed at the start. Coming up behind a rider with two horses near the crossroads near Annscroft I thought I might as well hang back until they turned off, which appeared to be appreciated.
The road remained quiet to Plealey and it wasn't too bad riding through Pontesbury this time either. Perhaps I missed the shift changeover for the dairy and the corned beef factory in Minsterley. The road through Horsebridge was nice for once - after about three years of waiting, some proper road patching has been done to smooth out all the worst bits.
Westbury came and went without incident but I had a bit of a wait at Halfway House to cross the A458. After this I took to the climb to Bulthy and the valley that sits between Middletown Hill and the Breidden. This is quite a pull but to me is worth it to ride through the hidden and usually quiet valley. Today it wasn't that quiet though and I needed to pull in for several vehicles. On the steep descent I met a tractor which took up the entire width of the road so that I had to climb back up to the nearest place to pass, then shortly after that met a van whose driver didn't even slow down as I tried to squeeze myself into the bank.
The views restored my good mood after that little incident and I enjoyed dropping down to the plain then riding round the foot of the Breidden. Down here some of the buildings from the old military radio station have been converted into houses. I was quite jealous of the one which had a barn in which I could see a traction engine and a garden big enough to have a locomotive and brake van on a short length of track.
After passing the stone quarry I had the road practically to myself for a bit and made good progress to Crew Green and Melverley. A snack stop was taken on the way to Argoed (remembered the food this time
) then it was onwards to Kinnerley and Pentre. There were a few more cyclists around by now and I passed a couple of groups before the climb at Wilcott which was taken steadily and showed that the earlier climbing had taken more out of me than I'd thought. From Baschurch I took the lane through Fenemere to Myddle then headed for Harmer Hill. I was finding the climbs on this section rather plodding and couldn't seem to get comfortable on the saddle this time so didn't enjoy the section through Hadnall and Astley very much.
I had enough miles in hand to head home the most direct way but opted instead for the flatter route to Poynton Grange, Roden and Rodington Heath. Having been that way before I thought I'd avoid Withington by using Drury Lane, which was quite pleasant, but came across signs warning of an unexpected road closure on the lane I wanted to use next. I was able to get round it but it was a minor annoyance.
The route home was the usual one through Upton Magna, Atcham, Berrington and Kingstreet. The climbs were slow and I decided to cut things short near the end by going through Allfield. I wasn't expecting a headwind for the bit back to the A49.
69.6 miles this time at 13.1 mph moving average. That one was hard going and really shows up the lack of recent miles. The weather was really lovely though which made it great to be out.
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Near Stapleton early in the ride.
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Early in the climb to Bulthy and looking towards the hills where I'm headed.
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Up among the hills somewhere between Belle Eisle Farm (not a typo) and Bryn.
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Starting the descent to the Severn flood plain.
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Part way down the descent there is a great viewpoint. I need to drop down a bit more before passing the white painted farm on the left of shot.
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Looking up at the Breidden. Rodney's Pillar is up at the summit and on the right of shot there is the big chunk taken out of the hill by decades of quarrying.
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Jumping on a bit now; Cottage in a pretty setting near Harmer Hill.
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Taking the flatter option later in the ride.
Hand tightened and predictably exhibited a need for re-tightening when turning right on a right turn lane of an A road and when seeking to pass a pedestrian on the grass. 7.58 less memorable miles with 522ft of elevation.
I'd probably have altered the route otherwise.
