24th August 2017: Ruyton XI Towns (mod)

It was a select group of four Easy Riders who met at the Castle Bistro & Tea Room in Chirk. This was to become even more exclusive when it became clear that Dave M, having ridden from Tattenhall, was merely passing through Chirk on his way to Llangollen, the Old Horseshoe Pass and points Welsh on a recce for an Audax that he was preparing. So Ken, Trevor and I were left to decide where to go. Both Ken and Trevor had a 41 mile route to Ruyton XI Towns on their Garmins, so that became our destination, with Trevor leading and the Talbot Inn as the lunch stop.

We crossed the aqueduct over the Ceiriog valley and followed the tow path alongside the Llangollen Canal. Leaving this at Rhoswiel, we were soon negotiating the busy A5 roundabout and heading off on the B5068 towards St. Martins. Soon off this, we passed some very grand looking holiday lodges  at Henlle Hall after which we were down the quiet Shropshire lanes running through Hindford, Tetchill and Hordley, where the simple but pretty Norman-built St Mary’s church dates back to at least 1160. It’s hard to see where the congregation comes from in this sparsely populated area, but services are held here on the second and fourth Sundays of each month. Pressing on through Lower Hordley and Bagley, we could see rain across the Perry valley. This was in spite of the BBC weather forecast insisting that the day would be fine and dry. Trevor made a great attempt to steer us around the rain, but entering Weston Lullingfields, we got caught by a heavy shower. A complaint to Carol Kirkwood seems to be in order.

By the time we were approaching Baschurch, the rain had stopped and the roads were dry, no rain having fallen here. Before entering Baschurch, we swung right along the B4397 through Brownhill, arriving at Ruyton XI Towns and the Talbot Inn soon after opening time. A man followed us into the pub with two full-sized poodles. He was clearly a regular and he recommended the Scotch Eggs which are home–made at the pub and have a great reputation. When it became clear that these were in short supply (only one was available) there was some good natured banter about who might have it. Being good natured souls, we chose other dishes from the menu, leaving the Scotch Egg to the local.

The food was good - the Talbot is on the list of favoured lunch stops. Over lunch, Ken gave me a short tutorial on the Viewranger app which I have just downloaded on to my phone. It’s clear that I have a lot to learn, but it looks as if I will finally drag myself into the 21st century and start using ‘emaps’.

Photo by Steve T

Much has already been written in previous blog reports about Ruyton XI Towns, so I will not say more here. But there is a board in The Talbot which lists the other ten towns that Ruyton banded together with to fend off invasions in the 12th century by the Welsh, something I had not seen before – the list that is, not the Welsh.

Suitably refreshed, we started for home, leaving up Park Bank in what was now warm sunshine (better late than never!). The lanes through Wykey and Eardiston were quiet and we even managed get back across the A5 without difficulty. Harvest time is in full swing in this part of the world and combine harvesters could be seen in several fields. We passed several large tractors and parcel delivery vans along the narrow lanes during the day and all of them either stopped or gave us plenty of room. We had to dismount at one point to edge past a slurry tanker, but this proved to be no difficulty. Pressing on through the Maesburys and Aston, we approached the ‘Oswestrian suburbs’ (© Trevor). These were navigated with supreme confidence by our leader and we soon emerged on the road past the Old Oswestry Fort which took us on to Hengoed and Weston Rhyn. Then it was just a matter of gliding down Chirk Bank and back along the canal tow path to the aqueduct, where we had to squeeze past a few pedestrians. The sting in the tale was the short but steep climb from the end of the aqueduct on to Castle Road. Ken threatened to deduct points from the ride score for this, but, personally, I think this would have been a bit harsh. After all, we did ride down it at the start of the ride.

So 41 very pleasant miles in good company. Thanks to Trevor for leading and to both Trevor and Ken for their excellent company.

See route map and/or gpx file download

ST