Shropshire, February 2003
6 of us (Chris with Landy, Jon with Metro, Alex, Adam, Howard and myself)
set out from a pretty snowbound Cambridge last Friday night. Thankfully,
due to all the traffic warnings in force after the M11 chaos, no-one was
on the road and rapid progress could be made! It was a beautiful, clear,
winters night and we were very fortunate (in Northamptonshire of all
places...) to catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights - a fairly rare
occurrence in these latitudes.
Two and a half hours after leaving
Cambridge, we regrouped at the Meol Brace services at Shrewsbury to raid
the local Burger King and to have a quick break before just going 15 miles
down the road to our youth hostel at Bridges. Sorry, did I say just? Oh
dear... The remaining 15 miles took 2 hours as snow rolled in and started
to settle and drift on the hills with amazing rapidity. The tarmac became
compacted ice, verges became 2 foot snowdrifts and the metro became less
able to cope... To cut a long and eventful story short (the consequences
of which had Jon marginally traumatised, wide-eyed and rocking back and
forth slightly after we arrived :o) )the tow rope in the landrover got put
to good use for both towing uphill and lowering downhill... Chris was
having a great time and Jon was trying the tried and tested remedy of
coaxing and talking to his beloved metro whilst trying to drown out
reality with Dance '94! We got there. We missed last orders.
Saturday dawned bright, with barely any snow on the ground whatsoever...
Was the previous night the nightmares of several tortured minds, or was
the English weather, as usual, being a little capricious? After a slap up
breakfast thanks to Sarah at the hostel, we decided to head towards the
Long Mynd, a long and rather famous lump in the ground. We headed over on
the Shropshire way to start with before cutting across to the Portway, a
piece of (slightly muddy and snowladen) double track cutting across
the moorland. We joined this up with the Marches Way before dropping onto
Mott's Road; a superb piece of steep, rocky singletrack that descends into
one of the most scenic parts in the area - Carding Mill Valley. Adam and
Howard, the most recent additions to our trips, were coping very well,
despite a short foray into a river! Slightly damp and exhilerated we then
stopped for a baked potato in Church Stretton whilst Jon found a hardware
shop to knock out a dent in his rim... The climb after lunch soon got us
on our toes again, up a locally famous stretch of road - the Burway. 2.5km
of climbing, the first km of which started at 1:5 and 1:6. A very
efficient way to gain height with some superb views! We then rejoined the
Portway and the Jack Mytton way to gaze at the gliding club based 550m
high, before heading off along an amazing stretch of singletrack at Minton
Batch. Roughly 2km of rolling, swooping, fast and narrow bridleway led us
(somewhat breathless and laughing hysterically!) to a bridleway that went
straight up the side of Priors Holt Hill. Some of us wouldn't give up
(even though walking was considerable less effort and faster!) and managed
to ride it. A short play in the woods followed before heading back towards
home, finishing the day with a superb doubletrack descent, a look at a
ford-that-was and a see-how-far-you-can-freewheel competition...
Once everyone was back, and after a swift pint at the local pub, we had a
supper of tuna and pasta bake with chips and salad. A bikers meal through
and through - thanks again to Sarah. Alex then attempted to teach the five
of us (who weren't feeling all that sharp by this stage) a great card game
which I forget the name of, before we retired to the pub for another swift
pint... ...the pitch black road on the way back provided a great
opportunity to jump out on people... sorry Howard... :o)
Sunday arrived and the clouds had started to roll in. We decided on a
slightly shorter route than we'd planned for and firstly took in a visit
to Stiperstones, a series of rock formations on a particularly bleak,
windswept ridge. The muddy bridleways were a good test of patience,
followed by a very rocky stretch of track with a fierce sidewind. With
perserverence, a few of us managed to ride it all. The views from
Stiperstones were brilliant - over into Wales and back across the Long
Mynd. With the dark clouds scudding over, the freezing wind and immenent
rain/sleet/snow, one could begin to see why this place was surrounded in
local myth and legend. From here we decided to go and check out a downhill
course in nearby Eastridge woods on the advice of Sarah and 2 other local
MTBers. Sadly, Alex was not to make this as his rear skewar
disintegrated which, coupled with severe chain slippage, meant a bit of a
walk home... After many assurances that this was fine with him, we
continued. A fast doubletrack downhill followed before finding the
entrance to the woods near some old mine workings. A load of wooded,
steep, and swooping singletrack followed, by far some of the best I've
ridden. After an hour and a half of playing on this with all its
associated incidents we decided to head for home... At this point the dark
grey/black rainclouds delivered a stinging mixture of rain and hail driven
by a pretty strong wind! After some meandering around, ably helped by two
people we kept bumping into, we found the track out of the woods and
started the road ride home, arriving 45 minutes later a little wetter than
when we started out... The rain didn't last though as it turned to snow as
we loaded up the landrover...!
After we'd all showered and changed, we took one last trip down the Burway
into Church Stretton before sealing the trip with an excellent curry at
the Jaipur Tandoori.
Thanks go to:
=============
Chris for driving, towing, skidding, sliding and ensuring that Jon's metro
arrived! Also for bike lending, maintaining and many other things...
Jon for driving and for demonstrating that slush puppies can give a wicked
sugar high...
Sarah at Bridges YH for cooking, recommending places to play on bikes and
for keeping the hostel open for showers!
Bart Hallmark
|