Day 2, Monday 17 June

Newtown to Wrockwardine

Leaving Yesterdays Guesthouse

The Yesterdays Guest House has an interesting History, as explained by the wonderful landlady. Several hundred years old when they bought it, it was in need of serious restoration that they started, only for disaster to strike in the form of an earthquake: in Mid Wales? That virtually destroyed it; instead of a heavy restoration job they had to set about rebuilding. So, although from the outside it looks like a fairly modern structure inside it’s a bit of a rabbit warren.

We had a splendid breakfast before leaving Newtown alongside the River Severn on Sustrans Route 81. Initially this runs along the Montgomery Canal that had been begun in 1794, completed in 1821, closed in 1936 and partial restoration work commenced in 1987. It runs for 33 miles from Newtown to the Llangollen Canal and thence to the Shropshire Union Canal. It was built to transport lime for land fertilisation in the upper Severn valley. It was successful until the coming of the railways.

Cycling along its towpath was tricky, with the canal just a couple of feet to the left obscured by thick undergrowth, and a high hedge on the right full of brambles and nettles that played havoc with my already sunburnt right arm. It was blissfully quiet. We left the canal at Welshpool, crossed the River Severn again and headed uphill out of the Severn valley, crossing Offa's Dyke Path and struggled over Long Mountain that we could have avoided had we not been sticking to Route 81. Over the top at last and steeply down, almost as hard as going up hanging onto the brake levers for grim death and over the border into England, but no welcome sign.

We had sandwiches with Ceri for lunch before following the Old Shrewsbury Canal Path along the River Severn through Shrewsbury and on to Wrockwardine along delightful country lanes. After we'd cleaned up Ceri drove us to a pub for our evening meal about five miles away.