A day off for me on New Years Eve and I’d arranged a ride out with Paul. He’d wanted to do a longer ride for a while, but we’d struggled to find a day we were both free together, so today it was. He’d given me the challenge of a route via Shawbury and so I duly delivered, with some new territory to explore as well.
I rode over to his, with it being extraordinarily mild and soon wished I’d worn shorts. Removed jacket though and it was down to a t-shirt, quite remarkable for December.
We meandered our way out of Shrewsbury, to Montford Bridge and then on to Mytton, with my first bit of new territory, before joining the slightly busier roads to Leaton, complete with a set of traffic lights stuck on red, which we waited at until chap coming through in a car said he’d worked out they were stuck, so through we went.
It was then back onto new territory to Bomere Heath, through a couple of residential streets and onto the Preston Gubbals road, before branching off to Pimhill and along Plex Road to Hadnall. We’d briefly discussed stopping at the Salopian Brewery there, but the bar was shut. We had a long wait to cross the A49, before continuing on to Astley, an easier crossing of the A53, then Bings Heath and onto Shawbury.
We joined the A53 for a short while, before more new territory along the Telford road to Great Wytheford. I knew we needed a right turn, so we turned first right and then shortly arrived back at the main road……I’d turned us off 1 junction too early! Not to worry, it was a short section to the junction we actually wanted and then splashed our way through a fairly deep flood and onto Poynton Green. It was back to familiar lanes from there, to Roden and Rodington Heath, where I said to Paul that we’d try the lane to Upton Magna, but warned him of a potential flood that is often there after heavy rain…….Sure enough, we rounded the bend and it was deeply flooded as far as the eye could see, so we did an about turn and used the lane to Withington instead.
The lane from there to Upton Magna was busier than we’d have liked, then arriving in the village we’d thought of stopping at the cafe, but found it shut. So, we decided to head to Uffington and stop at the Corbet Arms pub for a pint instead. It was so mild that we sat outside on the terrace, must be a first for New Years Eve and enjoyed a nice Shropshire Gold.
From there we joined the old canal path to Pimley and then decided to stay on the rougher section to the ring road. That was a mistake, with it being covered in thick mud and water, so the bikes were made even filthier and Paul, mud guard less, had a nice muddy stripe all up his back! Won’t be using that track again until next Summer.
We took the cycle paths back to Meole and parted ways having thoroughly enjoyed the longer ride and a good chat when the roads allowed.
38.2 miles to finish the year with 2137 miles, which is my highest annual total so far, beating last year by 125. 95 rides this year, 4 fewer than last.
😭
