Anyway my trip to Englandshire started on Friday afternoon and involved the Kerry Ridgeway and numerous bridleways and lanes, all linked together on the fly. After a brief visit to Bridges pub for a swift diet coke, I made my way up onto the Long Mynd. Even at 9.30 it was hot and there were quite a few riders about, so I waited until everyone had vanished before setting up my pyra net and getting my head down.
The Ridgeway looked like something from a US gravel race.
Trying hard to perfect the 'I look a tw*t pose' and actually doing rather well.
Don't stray orf the parrrth!
Even though there was no rain during the night I still managed to wake up wet. Sometime around 3.00am the mist arrived and managed to cover everything in moisture ... including me (remember I was sleeping under a net, no bivvy bag or tarp). The scene I woke to was like something from American Werewolf in London, the mist really was that thick.
I packed up and made my way down off the high ground in search of breakfast. Once fed, I had a quick bimble around Church Stretton before heading off to meet everyone else ... and dry my kit out.
That's ^ real dust that is!
The remainder of the day was spent in good company, riding great trails and sweating my bollox off, before once again heading to the pub where we were joined by John Climber and his very orange bicycle. After eating/drinking, our merry band headed for the Striper Stones. The Striper Stones is very rocky, if you're going to take your bike up there please be prepared to push it!
The mist made another appearance in the night so I woke to my own little net covered pool, however I'd slept in my swimming trunks so was fine
There'd been another 4 happy campers when I'd gone to sleep, now there were only 2. John and Yetiman had made a pre-dawn dash home and Ian and flatfishy were all but packed and ready for the off (and no doubt breakfast in Church Stretton). I on the other hand would be riding back to the land of dragons on my own ... we said our goodbyes and they buggered off into the mist while I tried to empty my ultralite paddling pool.After half an hour of riding I realised my second major mistake of the weekend (first one was not taking a bivvy bag). Somehow I'd managed to forget to fill my bottles the previous night while at the pub, no problem thinks I, I'll pick some water up along the way (and food too because I didn't have any of that either) ... 50 miles later I arrived at the Spar in Caersws very thirsty and just a little hungry. I'd not managed to find anything drinkable since I'd set off, it's fair to say I was a little the worse for wear at this point. Luckily Frij milkshakes were on a 2 for 1, as were mini pork pies so the physical damage was easily fixed (but the emotional scars may last a while). The remaining 15 miles were duly ticked off albeit in a fairly steady fashion
Another trip without fatalities ... result
