Nick Rowe had a very cold ride to Kidderminster where he hoped to meet up with Graham but he was elsewhere. Nick took the 04:30 train from Kiddy to Ledbury and had time to be concerned because it’s a Friday and expensive bikes on trains are a always a risk. At 6.45am he headed off to Gloucester via Newent using cycle paths because the only alternative is a choice of very busy main roads. Nick navigated as directly as possible using, quite often, unintentional off road routes with abundant gates, bridges and styles along the way. He was approached by two park rangers who turned out to be not too friendly, admonishing Nick for cycling on public footpaths but Nick realises he is wasting his time explaining the path has no such markers where he started. Perhaps wisely he didn’t tell them he was a little lost anyway.
National route markers disappeared on the way to Cheltenham but the trail is OK in places. He came a cropper as a 4 by 4 came hurtling towards him with the sun in the driver’s eyes but Nick managed to steer into undergrowth just in time. One hour to Cheltenham where he peruses the outdoor shops which prove to be alarmingly and unsurprisingly upmarket.
Nick headed for the 6pm train to Wolverhampton and luckily, finds in his wallet, a valid return ticket while he is in the ticket queue. Nick made it back home around 7pm.
Check you’re your wallets everybody, you might find just the ticket you want!
Comments