So continuing where I left off in whitchurch..I left the tourist info center and did these 3 self guided tours simultaneously. Reading about the history of the buildings was nice, and learning about the clocks and the family that made them was cool too. all 3 tours led me to the church, so I went inside. It was no st Patricks cathedral but it was nice enough. So then I circled the town a bit. Then after an hour or 2 I went back to lance to do some parts of the Edward German tour that were off of the high st. But before I did those I asked two men who were vendors for the xmas fair if brown moss (mentioned in the Edward German tour) was on the way to shrewsbury. And they said "yes but you're going to bike!? It's 25 miles!" And I'm like "I know, ill be fine". And they were like "are you sure!? In this weather!?" (It was starting to rain) and I said I had waterproofs. So they told me how to get there but I first did the other parts of the trail, then went to the little park on the edge of town, called jubilee park I think. Something related to queen victoria of course! So I had a quick mosey then headed for brown moss and found it fine. It wasn't very big but it was nice for a short bike ride around. It was going to get dark soon so I didn't want to stay long anyway. So after a bit I headed for shrewsbury. The only time I recorded was leaving malpas which was 9:54 am but it was probably around 3 pm when I left brown moss. I had plans to see Hawkstone park (also mentioned on my Edward German brochure) but it was farther than expected. I did however stop off at prees __ heath, a NR of the shropshire wildlife trust, I had checked their site when I was in Chester to see some NRs that were along the route to shrewsbury and that one was on there. I never ended up finding the other two but probably because the rest of my journey was done in darkness! But yeah so I rode thru that reserve. It wasn't very big but the best thing was I saw a ton of rabbits!! There were some sky divers overhead, I didn't actually see them drop, just them soaring thru the sky with their parachutes and landing on a field close by. When I exited the reserve there were 2 men there so we got chatting and I told them I was from ny but I'm riding around and I got my typical responses from both those statements. One in particular couldn't believe I was doing it this time of year. I mean come on now, I think people are overreacting. it doesn't get that cold here, and it doesn't snow, so I don't really see much difference between riding in the winter or the summer. It's not like the summers are bright and sunny!! But anyway after a little while I was on my way. Passed Hawkstone but there was no point in going in when it was almost pitch black. This route was quite annoying cause there wasn't much sidewalk so I had to be on the road with the cars. I was trying to conserve my headlight battery, so I didn't keep it on consistently, but at one point when it was off I ran over a huge pothole and swerved to the right. Good thing no cars were coming. But the rest of the journey was relatively uneventful. Level roads, so always a plus. My feet started to get real cold so I stopped to double up my socks, and I've been wearing 2 pairs ever since. When I arrived just outside shrewsbury I stopped off at lidl to pick up food. There was a good deal for a "choc duo" jar- 750g for like less than £2. So I bought that, and bread and some biscuits. I then realized I bought way too much and couldnt carry it all, so I decided to eat right then and there in the parking lot! For whatever reason there were a bunch of baloons tied to the railing where the shopping carts were (and also where lance was locked up..he even popped one!) So this is where I sat and a teenage girl and boy stole the whole lot. I wonder what they were going to do with them? So after dinner was over, I shoved the biscuits and jar in my bag and the bread up my hoodie. It then dawned on me that I was able to carry the whole load of groceries, cause no matter how much of the choc duo I eat, the jar shape will remain the same. And there was plenty of room up my hoodie for a whole loaf of bread. But anyway, I passed thru the town center and made my way to the b&b (after getting slightly confused trying to find it). I arrived at 6:45 pm, did 31.5 mi, max 21.5, avg 7.5. Even though my name was on the reservation, the guy said it was booked under Michael cause he used his credit card to confirm the booking, but that gave me a bit of a fright at first when he said that i wasn't booked in under my name! But we got it sorted and I checked in. since they didn't have WiFi and I went over my data allowance for that pay period, I was desperate for free WiFi. I literally walked up and down the street until I picked up a few weak signals and used what I could. A residental unit close to my b&b had the most reliable signal so I was out there for like 2 hours. I didn't move from that spot cause the signal was weak as well and any slight movement made me lose it. So it did look a bit odd, a person standing in the middle of the sidewalk, facing the street, in the cold and wet of the night. This one guy asked if I was ok lol I said yes I'm just stealing this buildings WiFi! I was also across from a pub and as it got close to midnight this stupid drunk girl was outside on her phone being really loud. I wanted so badly to punch her for being down right obnoxious in a residental area but I kept my cool :-) my phone died soon after so that resulted in me going inside anyway. I soon went to bed after watching eye watering British tv. Sunday dec 4: there wasn't much open in the town but I did a little tour led by my lonely planet and I had downloaded a Darwin tour the previous night. So I checked out the historic buildings and went to an art exhibit at the bear steps gallery. The churches had services going on so I didn't go inside. So I walked around for a few hours, seeing everything mentioned in my book, then doing the Darwin tour. It was coming up to 11:30 am and one of the stops was a church so I went inside but there was a service going on still! So I closed the door as quietly as I could which of course made the most loudest banging noise! So then I went to the abbey cause that was open at least. The windows were amazing and the whole place was pretty big, and that was only half its original size! I spent a few hours in there, and went to the bathroom. There I saw the best sign - please make sure you lock the door behind you so no one walks in on you. You may not mind but they could be very distressed!! I didn't know monks had a sense of humor. So after the abbey I did more of the Darwin tour, I went along the quarry, which is a park along the severn. There was a man with his chocolate lab and he would kick a soccer ball and the dog would Chase after it and kick it all the way back! What a smart pooch! I was entertained for a bit but then I continued on my way thru the park and went to the dingle, which is a little circular garden in the center. Then I went to st chads church but it was closed. It is in this graveyard that the old Christmas carol was filmed and scrooges grave stone was still there but I didn't see it. It started to rain at this point but I was almost done with the Darwin tour. So I go down a hill and I realize that lance has a flat front tire :-( I pumped it up at first, hoping it was just a slow leak but it became flat again so I had to change it. So there I was on the side of the road, in the rain for a half hour fixing the flat. But lance was up and running again so that was the important thing. He also was a bit squeaky (he had been for the past week) so I decided that night he needed a fixer upper. So then I tried to go to the bell stone (an ancient boulder that inspired Darwin to become a naturalist) but the gate to the morris yard where it was inside was closed, so then I just headed for his house which was over the water in frankwell, but not too far. I went there but it is not open to the public so I didn't get a good view with the trees in the way, but I was at Darwins birthplace nonetheless. Now I had plans on going to earls hill after the house but the tire set me back and it was after 3 pm now but I was stubborn and set out for it, but I got lost so I just turned around and headed back. But I had passed a park on the way to chuckys house so to fulfill my wildlife urge I stopped over there for some time. And this is where my story ends for tonight boys and girls. Tune in tomorrow when I finish Sunday and hopefully complete my journey up till Tuesday at least!
No comments:
Post a Comment