After another restless nights sleep and a breakfast baguette, the postman arrived with my tool and I cycled into Stourport in the hope a bike shop could help me. Ironically, I think the shop I found (Stourport Specialist Cycles) would have had the right tool anyway and they very kindly tightened it up for me free of charge.
It was here that I met Richard and Andy, my uncle and aunty who would be joining me for the next 2 days, Richard on 2 wheels and Andy as our support crew, feeding us sandwiches and energy drinks for the next 220 miles.
We headed out of Stourport to Bewdley. From here, we faced some tough climbs north and into Shropshire. After Bridgnorth we joined the A458 then skirted east of Shrewsbury, through a street carnival in Wem and on to Whitchurch. Here, we were faced with a road closure but we carried on in the hope that we would be able to push or carry our bikes past whatever obstruction was ahead. The other option was a lengthy detour, extra miles that we didn’t want to add to an already long day. From here, we enjoyed about 4 miles of the A49 without seeing a single car and safely negotiated the roadworks.
On to Cheshire! The A49 continued to provide us with a good surface and tailwind up to Warrington where we met Andy for our final pit stop of the day. After a chocolate bar and can of cola, we continued north, through Wigan where the weather finally broke and gave us a good soaking for the last hour of our journey. We arrived at Gleadhill B&B tired and wet having cycled 117 miles and travelling through 4 different counties.
After a lovely bath and hot chocolate, we walked up to the local pub and enjoyed a plate of steak, Cajun chicken and chips, followed by a chocolate sundae!
117.1 miles, 7 hours 3 minutes, average 16.59 mph, 5262ft of ascent
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