Playing catch-up again, as I have quite a lot this year.
Thursday: The first day of the weather actually feeling as warm as it looked, and I decided to give the Galaxy the shakedown ride I've been putting off due to the poor weather through most of May. Having had intermittent gear shifting problems on this bike for some time I've replaced the outer chainring and the front derailleur needed resetting after all the previous tinkering.
I didn't have time for anything too long so set out to do the reverse of the theroute from the previous morning (Condover, Cross Houses, Cound, Harnage, Acton Burnell). At the start of the ride it was just warm enough to be out in shorts and a t-shirt and warmed up as I went round. Not much in the way of wind so wasn't going to have to battle into it at any point.
The roads weren't too busy and the ride was mostly uneventful which is good. Even the flag at Cound was unchanged from the previous day. There were a handful of other cyclists out and about but not many.
En-route to Longnor there is a small bridge by Frodesley Lane Farm which is weak and the council's solution (temporary I hope) is to put a thick layer of tarmac like an oversized speed hump over it. Approaching this I could hear the vehicle approaching behind me accelerate and I seriously thought the guy was going to go for the overtake across this hump. Fortunately he thought better of it otherwise the result would likely have looked like one of the stunts from the Dukes of Hazzard.
The lane from Longnor to Ryton was unusually busy with traffic so I ended up having to pause a few times, then as a contrast the roads after that were a bit quieter than usual giving a nice clear run.
24 miles at 15.2 mph average. The gears shifted exactly as they should all ride so hopefully that is sorted now and I can enjoy this bike more.
Just a couple of snaps from this ride. This is the weather I've been waiting for all Spring.
Sunday: Another lovely sunny day and despite some aches (I was helping demolish an old patio on Saturday) a ride was called for. I decided to use the Raleigh for this one as that has also not had much use during May and this time headed out towards Melverley.
It was sunny and warm again with a brisk easterley wind which would be helping for the first half of the ride then I'd have to turn back into it later. I headed for Shelton and Montford Bridge to start with then took to the marked cycle route along the lanes to Montford, Shrawardine and Wilcott, enjoying the shunshine and the views.
At Wilcott I decided to head along the lanes that Gav took me on last time I came this way so rode through Kintonand up towards Knockin Heath. Apart from one van in a tearing hurry this was all some pretty relaxed riding and the lanes are dusty rather than muddy as they were last time. Heading into Kinnerley I took the Vicarage Lane turn again but from Argoed headed the more direct way to Melverley via Cross Lanes.
The bridge at Melverley had more cars parked up nearby than I'm used to seeing and this turned out to be people having come down for a bit of boating. At Crew Green I took a right and enjoyed the last bit of tailwind for the time being before climbing up towards Bulthy and dropping down to Wollaston then Halfway House. With Bank Holiday traffic being in full flow it took a little while to cross the Welshpool road on the way to Westbury. Most rides I'd head for Nox from here but didn't think that would be fun into the wind this time, so went to Asterley instead and had a tour of the lanes to Farley then Pontesbury. Another little detour round the side streets of Pontesbury gave a change of scene and avoided the main road for a bit, then I headed for Plealey, Exford's Green and Hunger Hill. I thought that if the A49 was really busy I'd head through Little Lyth but I managed to catch a gap in the traffic so decided to add a bit of mileage and go through Condover. This was unexpectedly busy but on the plus side, I picked up a tailwind for the last couple of miles or so and got along quite nicely, overtaking another rider on the way.
A fraction over 40 miles at 13.9 mph average. A great ride in some properly nice weather. It did surprise me that there weren't more cyclists out - I only saw about as many as I'd see on an ordinary weekday. Perhaps everyone was at the coast?
Plenty of holiday weekend traffic moving about as I cross the A5 at Montford Bridge. The scream of motorbikes has been the soundtrack of the weekend for those of us living near this road.
A pause at Montford.
Shrawardine Castle.
View to the Breidden from near Kinton.
One of the old ammunition bunkers near Kinnerley
Crossing the River Severn at Melverley.
Not much more than a mile from the previous photo I'm plodding up the steep climb into the hills.
The windmill near Asterley.
the ride down was brill.at the bottom as i had lots of battery left and plenty of time i decided to turn left and head up to Tan Hill... had coffee and toasted teacake at Thwaite. then headed of for the last climb of the day ,
