Today’s ride by the three Lone Rangers aka Nick, Steve Hu and myself, was a very fast 61 mls at 16.2 mph. Steve T had asked me to review the two specials rides I had crafted for our first group ride to the Hartley Arms in Wheaton Aston back in April 2019. There were 5 Mods and only 3 Brisk riders on that day. So I set about tweaking the routes to provide additional interest to those riders who would be riding in both the 2019 and 2024 rides. This amounted to Nick (brisk) followed by Dave H, Trevor and Andy B and myself (now on the brisk ride) on the Mod ride. The total number today was 12 riders; 3 Brisk and 9 Mods.
The brisk ride took us out via Norton in Hales then clockwise down to Wheaton Aston, whilst the Mods rode in an anti-clockwise direction. Soon after setting off, Nick needed to stop to take a call whilst Steve wanted to ride on. So I asked him to stop at the church turn in Norton. Nick and I arrive and no Steve in sight. A brief call elicits the response that as the first 7 miles were all uphill, then Steve wanted to carry on and we would eventually catch him up. Well Nick pushed hard and I managed to keep on his tail as we ascended to slide around Loggerheads with no Steve to be found. We pushed on and then at Eccleshall we finally catch up with Steve. It took us 14 miles to do so!
Together again, we head in a broadly southerly direction through village after village always into the strengthening SW wind. We arrive at the pub just a few minutes after the Mods with 31 miles ridden to their 22. The pub reacted fairly promptly to our arrival with the delivery of our pre-ordered food choices yet strangely the cutlery was delivered after everyone had their food and now had sticky fingers .
We are soon off again down to the A5 at Ivetsy Bank for a short run westwards to slide off in a north westerly direction towards the edge of Telford. We pass by Lilleshall National Sports centre hidden behind a golf course and the old abbey and all swathed in trees. It was a lovely fast downhill run before circling MOD Donnington - a barracks and fulfilment centre.
Finally our route is turning northwards and we get a helping hand from the south westerly wind at last. Stopping in the middle of nowhere, there are two big fields of poppies. Poppies have been grown in the UK for conversion into morphine analogues and it seems there is still a commercial interest in doing so as today. Anyway - quite a lovely sight to see.
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| Not often seen as a cash crop! |
See route map and/or gpx file download
CA
Photo SHu
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