This post recounts the sixth day of my 14 day LEJOG19 adventure, in August 2019. For tips based on my experience, please go to my blogpost How to ride Land’s End to John O’Groats. Read Day 5, Monmouth to Clun

It’s not what you want to see before a day’s cycling. As I drew back the curtains in Clun, the rain was bouncing off the pavement. This is going to take some of the fun away from the day’s ride across one of my favourite counties, Shropshire.

Happily, the rain had passed by the time we set off, although the forecast for this afternoon was clear: we’d get wet later. But for now, I enjoyed the views of the Shropshire hills – the Long Mynd and Stiperstones. This was the setting for some of my favourite childhood books, the Lone Pine stories by Malcolm Saville. I doubt many people under 50 have heard of them.

We loved the exhilarating descent from the hills towards Shrewsbury. I clocked 41mph – probably my fastest ever speed on a bike. We spent a pleasant 10 minutes on the bridge watching the rowers in action and seeing our Cheshire contingent meeting their friends, who were joining them for part of the day’s ride. I reflected on memories of my much-loved Aunty Jean, who came from this lovely town. I smiled as I recalled her answer to my question, “How do you pronounce the name, SHREW-sbury or SHROW-sbury?” Her answer? “A mix of the two: SHREW-OW-sbury!”

Just as we prepared to move on after lunch in Burlton, the rain began. There followed a frustrating session as I couldn’t decide: jacket on, or off? In truth, we only had a few showers, although one was amazingly heavy. We got far wetter from the flooded roads, which were hard to navigate at times.

One of my memories of the equivalent day on my 2002 LEJOG was seeing Beeston and Peckforton castles on either side of a gap in the hills. It was a little disappointing not to get the same view this time, although we did see the gateway to Beeston, above.

Our destination tonight was near Northwich, Cheshire. To get there, we experienced that county’s dreadful roads (even when they weren’t under water) and very impatient drivers. We were staying at the Hollybush Inn, a rather unusual place. The staff were kind enough to find some old newspapers (from 2016!) to dry our shoes overnight. I had arranged a massage to ease the aching limbs. It was a revelation how much this helped over the coming week.

Dinner and breakfast at the Hollybush were enormous, which made up for my smallest room of the trip. Tomorrow’s weather forecast is dreadful. Those shoes are likely to need more newspaper!

Day’s stats

82 miles, 3,800 feet of climbing, 5 hrs 55 minutes cycling, 14 mph average speed

Read Day 7, Northwich to Conder Green