Day 3, Tuesday 18 June

Wrockwardine to Moseley

Leaving Church Farm Guest House
Wrockwardine

Another excellent breakfast under our belts and away we went heading for Wellington and Telford under a somewhat overcast sky and indifferent temperature.

We stopped at the Co-op store in Shifnal for coffee and a banana, and thereby hangs a tale. I have to confess that, being the oldest by at least 10 years, I was just a bit slower and struggled most on Sustrans’s really steep bits. I think I walked for several miles in the first two days. While Sustrans likes to keep cyclists away from busy roads, at times its dedication to quiet country lanes and farm tracks takes its routes up and over the steepest of hills, not to say the odd mountain. Anyway, there I was a few hundred yards behind Tom and Vladimir when I saw them turn off to the right. A quick look at my satnav showed that we should have gone straight on but being a loyal team member I too turned off. The road appeared to head into a housing estate that was essentially a cul-de-sac. I pulled into the car park of a Co-op store on the corner and ’phoned Tom. ‘Yes, we”re in the Co-op car park.” The same car park, but the other side of the building.

Cycling on we passed the entrance to RAF Cosford and the aircraft museum, which I had visited some years ago and have a dim recollection of seeing one of the few remaining Concordes. Then onto the Shropshire Union Canal that eventually joins the Birmingham Canal Navigation that should have led us home had it not been for a collapsing factory wall in Wolverhampton that caused the tow path to be shut for safety reasons. We had to leave the Sustrans route and take to the streets.

I had dropped off the back and was not aware that Tom and Vladimir had left the canal under the M5 in Smethwick to join the roads and return to Harborne and then Moseley. When I got to the obstruction it was a question of either following the main roads home or navigating back streets around Wolverhampton railway station to get back onto the canal beyond the collapsing wall. Fortunately I was familiar with the area and resorted to a bit of impromptu map reading to get to Moseley.

We headed for our various homes before reassembling for a lovely evening meal prepared by Liz, to which I turned up late from my adventures on the canal. We were and joined by Flea and Huw, who was to join us for part two.