Day 3 - Hereford to Castleton

Monday 24/05/2021

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After a superb night sleeping in a comfy bed, we squeezed all of junk back into Konrad's panniers and we set-off on the short run to Leominster and Dom's Bike stop for breakfast. The weather forecast wasn't looking too positive and sure enough after a few miles it started drizzling. Dom's Bike Stop is a great location - I will certainly camp there at some point in the future (when it's not raining).

From there we split from the main group and did our own ride across to Ironbridge. The roads were fun, but wet. At one point we rode down a road that literally cut through the oval of a horse racing track. As we went down the road, men were putting down mats on the tarmac for the horses to run across the road. I can only assume the road is closed during races?

We got to Ironbridge pretty quickly and the rain stopped for a bit. The bridge here is pretty impressive being the world's oldest cast iron bridge. We couldn't find the rest of the group here so assumed that we were the first to arrive. We didn't hang around too long before riding across to Matlock Bath for lunch. Nice roads, but again it rained for all but 20 minutes of the journey. 

We had a proper lunch and then waited over an hour for the other guys to arrive. Not sure how we had got there so quickly, but I can only assume the others had a long break in Ironbridge (or we somehow took a more direct route).

From there we set off on our own again through the rain to the final destination near Castleton. We're staying in a pretty cool bunkhouse so no need to put up tents in the rain. We ended-up with a room to ourselves with comfy beds and hot water. Relative luxury and a relief to not have to put a tent up in the rain.

After a quick shower we set-out to Castleton itself for a few drinks and food. Stunning setting. Lovely rolling hills with a massive cement factory in the middle. Somehow it doesn't detract from the view though. Had a great meal and more beers (Dizzy Blonde ale was the best) chatting with some good folk.

Tired and expecting more rain tomorrow, but our gear is dry and we have got used to it now. Tomorrow, bring-on the North proper!


Mileage: 722
Beers: 22 + 2 bottles of white
Fines: 0
Bribes: 0
Ass pain: 4/10
Mechanical issues: 0
Accidents: 0
Wetness: 8/10
Coldness: 4/10

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