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| Vintage bike at Chatwell Ponds, both transport and location unaltered by the march of "progress" |
I forgot to say in the last post that I got my road bike, a beautiful 1984 vintage Holdsworth Mistral, out of winter storage and had a 5.1 mile shake down ride on Thursday night before I went to the physio.
On Friday I rode to and from work, a total of 7.5 hilly miles.
Saturday was spent decorating with no real reaction to the physio or the injury - it was nice to have a fairly pain free day leg-wise. I was also pleased not to be so tired or have such a bad back as I usually do when I've been decorating - the training must be building my core strength!
On Sunday I got out on the bike again for a two hour ride round the lanes east of Telford. I headed out up through Muxton and Abbey Lane (a good sustained climb of about 250') to cross the Sheriffhales to Newport Road.
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| Gateway near the Sheriffhales road - you can see Cannock Chase from here! |
Next I headed towards Great Chatwell (the Red Lion used to be good for food, but haven't been there for a while), stopping to take another photo (at the start of this entry) by the ponds on the way down into the village.
From Church Eaton I headed towards Brineton and then picked up the line of the watershed between the Trent and Severn catchments - it's not obvious here, but it's an important dividing line - rain falling to the east ends up in the North Sea at the Humber Estuary, to the west in the Atlantic at the Bristol Channel.
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| Junction on the watershed - not as impressive here as in the Pennines! |
I turned off the watershed after a couple of miles and rode downhill to the Shropshire Union Canal at High Onn Wharf. It's pleasing to see that after about 15 years' work by British Waterways to get moorings at the wharf, finally the landowner has either relented or changed and there are now boats at the wharf by the characteristic small warehouse again.
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| High Onn Wharf - the building is a fairly typical Shropshire Union Canal Co Warehouse |
I rode on down to the Royal Oak pub at Church Eaton. They were doing breakfasts, but I wasn't that hungry, so I started back. On the return journey I used a more direct route, via Moreton and Pave Lane, coming back into Church Aston by Pitchcroft Lane and then climbing through Lilleshall Village to get back. I moved a bit quicker on the way back, with no photo stops - rain was looking fairly imminent.
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| Proof of my (or at least the bike's) arrival at Church Eaton |
I had a good ride at a reasonable pace with no mechanical problems, although I hope the Kool Stop brake pads I've ordered are a bit better than the 1980s era Weinmann cartridges which are on the bike at the moment. It's a pleasure to ride though, very comfortable because of the 531 tubeset and the generous 27 x 1.25" wheels and tyres.
My ride was 24 miles and about 1400' of climbing, in 2:05 (including a few photo and snack stops). When I got home, it was back to the decorating, which we finally finished around 7 o'clock...
Blimey, it's like buses you don't post for a while and then all of a sudden 4 or 5 come along all at once.
ReplyDeleteI'd better get my lazt ass into gear and write a couple of reports.
I like the canal pic, took my dog along there from Wolverhampton Station to Gnosall last year.
It was a fantastic little jaunt that she hated every footstep of, but promised myself I would do it again this year.
Been a bit busy Ross, trying to get fit and nobble some money for Mercia from Sport England...
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