Riding back from Bridgnorth

After a good night stay at the Bull's Head in Chelmarsh I loaded up the bike again, with the panniers somehow feeling even heavier than they did the previous day. Thankfully the tyres were still full or air, the rough surfaces of some of the tracks yesterday having caused no punctures. The morning was bright and sunny, and a little bit chilly as I set off for Bridgnorth. After half a mile my computer told me to take a left onto the single track road I had ridden yesterday, but I was in no mood for that again so continued straight into a fast downhill on the main road. I reached over 30mph on that stretch, one of the advantages of the heavy panniers was that it was faster going downhill! 

The road soon levelled out and shortly I heard the unmistakeable clatter of rolling stock on my left. I glanced across to see Eardington station on the Severn Valley Railway, with a few people waiting for the next train. Just after the road bore round to the left up and over the railway line on a lovely stone bridge, and after half a mile I came into the village of Eardington itself. In another mile I turned right to head into Bridgnorth, where I stopped to take a photo of the high bridge that I'd crossed (twice) the previous evening. Must admit I hadn't appreciated quite how high up I was then.

After having entered Bridgnorth through the High Town yesterday, today I turned right and headed through the Low Town to cross the River Severn on the lovely Bridgnorth Bridge, crossed the A482 and started the day's only registered climb. This was just over half a mile with gradients approaching 10%, and I began the laborious task of getting to the top. It was only just five miles into my ride, and my legs hadn't had the opportunity to get going again, and so I stopped for a breather mid way before plugging on again to crest the top. After this there was a bit of a relaxing downhill before I turned left at the roundabout off the busy Wolverhampton road and headed out into lush arable farmland. The road ran for a mile and a half at  gentle downhill to reach the A442 where I headed right, and shortly after right again on a road marked unsuitable for HGVs. 

It was one of those farm tracks where grass grew up the middle, and this climbed for a short while before reaching a crossroads, with my route taking me straight on towards Catstree. My mind boggled at the thought of cats growing in a tree! I passed several pheasants among the verges and hedges, one of which nearly flew into me in an effort to get out of my way. At the next crossroads I turned right, along more lanes with high hedges either side, and then left down a narrow lane where I was confronted by a rather large tractor and trailer heading towards me. I chose the safer option of pulling into a field entrance to let it pass, and as I did I noticed the state of the corn that was growing in there, it looked as if it was well past it's best. At the end of the lane a right turn took me to Stableford, where I turned left on the busy B4176. The road kicked up here for a short while, and I rode past a car boot sale and signs for Apley Farm Shop, Food Hall and Kitchen, which on another day I may have checked out.

At the next roundabout with the A442 I took the third exit on the quieter B4379, which joined the A4169 heading into Shifnal. Although an A road it wasn't busy. and I could enjoy the scenery of dark ploughed fields and harvested corn fields. I headed through Shifnal and out on Newport Road, underneath the M54. At Watling Street, the A5, I crossed over hoping to see a village sign for Crackleybank, but sadly it never materialised. What I did see though was a sign for Gorsey Bank, where Sandra used to work, so I stopped for a photo to send to her. I continued on through Sheriffhales, then turned left down Lilyhurst Road, where I saw a large club run from orange clad Stourbridge Cycling Club members coming in the opposite direction, and then right through Lilleshall Golf Club. After the golf club I came across the Lilleshall Hall National Sports Centre, where a number of junior football matches were being played.

The (very) long drive to the entrance of the Centre had several speed bumps, and these caused one of my panniers to become dislodged. After stopping for a quick fix I continued on through Chetwynd Aston and crossed the A518 into Newport. Newport was busy with shoppers, and there were a couple of decent looking coffee stop options but with nowhere to park the bike I ignored these and rode on. Leaving Newport along Chester Road I passed Chetwynd Deer Park, and the impressive St Michael and All Angels church at Chetwynd.

I was back on the route that I'd followed the previous day now, and crossed the A41 to head for Cheswardine. As I cycled on I was passed by a few other cyclists and had a brief chat as they came by. I'd thought of stopping at Cheswardine and sitting on the bench by the church that I'd seen yesterday, but I hadn't realised that my planned route actually skirted the village. As I rode on I noticed the fields either side of the road looked to be planted with bamboo, with a narrow strip of rape at the field edges, and coming round a corner I spotted a nice looking large house in the distance with bamboo and rape in the foreground, and stopped to take a photo.

The roads continued for a couple more miles with bamboo and fields either side, and I soon crossed the Shropshire Union Canal underneath the Berrisford Canal Aqueduct and entered Market Drayton. Here I followed National Cycle Network route 552 through a little ginnel and then through side roads to exit the town and head towards Norton In Hales. I crossed the canal again, and found that the flood on the approach that I'd ridden through yesterday had now disappeared. It was a very pleasant couple of miles ride to Norton, where a sign at the entrance to the village indicated that it was a National Winner in the RHS Britain In Bloom Champion of Champions. At Norton, by St Chad's Church,  I followed signs for NCN 552 which indicated 5 miles to Audlem, and I knew I was on the last stretches to home.

The first stretch away from Norton took me to the highest point remaining on the route, and I found I was managing the hills fairly comfortably now. I was still wary though of the final ramp of Old Park Road after Weston though, which I knew well from many previous rides. That was way ahead of me though, and I planned on stopping in Audlem for a coffee somewhere to prepare for the final fifteen miles or so of the ride. I soon found it wasn't going to happen though, when I rode past a turn off for Audlem, and realised my planned route was going to take me past the village. I crossed the A525 and rode along Longhill Lane and down Bunsley Bank past Audlem Cricket Club, rejoining Longhill Lane to come into Hankelow, a mile or so north of Audlem. 

From Hankelow I followed the A529, turning right at Hatherton and continuing on to the crossroads with the A51 at Walgherton. I stopped here to take a couple of gels in readiness for Old Park Road, and crossed straight over and into Wybunbury, where I turned right into Wrinehill Road then left onto Cobbs Lane for another little ramp before a downhill that set me up for the ride through to Hough. I crossed Newcastle Road and headed on in and out of Weston, crossing above the A500 to reach Weston Road where a right turn took me to the start of Old Park Road. There was at least a bit of a downhill stretch here to give me some momentum, and I found I had no real difficulty in making it up the short, sharp climb at the end to turn left onto Slaughter Hill. Fortunately it was a downhill stretch from here to Haslington and I chose the long way into the village via Crewe Green, as opposed to another climb up the continuation of Slaughter Hill.

Here the wind, which had been in the main very helpful on the way home, became a blustery headwind for a while, until I turned north in the village to take a left into the charmingly named The Dingle. Shortly after crossing above the A534 I turned right into Clay Lane, following it left past Lakemore Farm Park and the Sandbach Flashes to the junction with Hall Lane. From here it was a short stretch to the canal bridge and traffic lights at the railway bridge, then a right turn in Elton Road for the final leg to home. It had been a much better day than yesterday, and was a very enjoyable ride home. All that was needed now was a good cuppa and a hot bath to recover!