Looking forward to it - got me bike ticket for MK-Crewe, still awaiting for Crewe-Stretton. Wonder how long to ride from Crewe to Stretton in an emergency ;-). Just been out fettling my tarp and had to explain the whole thing to a nice lady walking her dog.

RIP wrote:Looking forward to it - got me bike ticket for MK-Crewe, still awaiting for Crewe-Stretton. Wonder how long to ride from Crewe to Stretton in an emergency ;-). Just been out fettling my tarp and had to explain the whole thing to a nice lady walking her dog.

You may find there's no booking of bikes on that line mate ,there isn't on my ticket ,first come first served so if there's too many of us waiting to get back to Shrewsbury I'll probably just ride back to wolves

"no booking of bikes on that line mate" - got another nice lady on the inside at TfW who's working on it for me ;-).

I'm just going to get an off-peak ticket so that I can wing it on Sunday depending on when we get back. It's only 40 miles from Little Stretton to home (Nearly 50p a mile for the return rail ticket!) if all else fails.
I presume a mountain bike would be a better bet than a gravel bike?

PaulB2 wrote:I'm just going to get an off-peak ticket so that I can wing it on Sunday depending on when we get back. It's only 40 miles from Little Stretton to home (Nearly 50p a mile for the return rail ticket!) if all else fails.
I presume a mountain bike would be a better bet than a gravel bike?

Gravel bike would be ok ,you won't die ,the downs are pretty much grass and gravel ( think lower cliff with out the features but same width track and much longer)no real drops or anything technical ,but the downs can be steep ,a lot of the mynd are forest tracks ,I haven't planned any of the technical downs in the route
Edit , if your riding home there's much better routes over caer caradoc then through wenlock edge than riding the roads,i normally do it once a month and don't really use that many roads till I get to shifnal

I'll play it by ear - it's a trade off between lower gears and wider tyres vs a much lighter bike. If I do need to cycle home, I'm aiming at Newport to be able to pick up NCN 55 all the way back to Stafford so want to be the other wide of telford to Shifnal - the route I looked at would be all country roads and cycle routes with only needing to cross a couple of A roads. Something along these lines:

https://www.plotaroute.com/route/721251

PaulB2 wrote:I'll play it by ear - it's a trade off between lower gears and wider tyres vs a much lighter bike. If I do need to cycle home, I'm aiming at Newport to be able to pick up NCN 55 all the way back to Stafford so want to be the other wide of telford to Shifnal - the route I looked at would be all country roads and cycle routes with only needing to cross a couple of A roads. Something along these lines:

https://www.plotaroute.com/route/721251

Bare in mind mate Salop isn't flat ,it's quite a bit more up than what was on regs wrt route

Duly noted, it'll probably be the bouncy bike then.

If yous all pm me your email address then sometime tomorrow I'll send you a copy of the route I've proposed to reg ,Ben it's not to disimilar to the one you done in the summer with scattamah just a bit shorter
Cheers
Stuart

Stu are there plans to meet us guys on the Welsh version? I had heard that we may all join up at bridges or somewhere?? I personally think the pub in Picklescott is nicer food though ;0)

Haven't got a clue mate ,you know me I just plod along and happy with any changes or meet ups ,would be good if we met up ,got food booked in ragleth but I'm up for pints anywhere along the routes and maybe a little whisky ,but just a little still gotta get back to little stretton for food and then up that little hill to Bivi spot
Just looked at the route mate let us know if it's pickles ford as I'll change direction of the route and go through bridges and over stipperstones instead of going stipperstones to bridges otherwise be in picklesford for about 1430

I've managed to take a chip out of my big toe on an innocuous slow speed wash out in the mud.

The doc says that any cycling in a weeks time will depend on how much it hurts as long as I'm not intending on doing any jumps so I'll probably have make a decision at the end of the week.

Stu are there plans to meet us guys on the Welsh version? I had heard that we may all join up at bridges or somewhere?? I personally think the pub in Picklescott is nicer food though ;0)

Don't think we'll be heading that far east fella. Bishops Castle is likey to be our food stop off point.

Would've been fun that, but never mind - something to bear, I mean Bear, in mind for next year mebbes..

Long range forecast is looking a bit grim, don’t wear your best sandals

Bright side: more time, er, indoors then .

'And in other news': Fan Y Big in the Brecons has just been downgraded from a mountain to a hill which is a bit sad. I've, er, mounted it several times with much pleasure. If you're not sure where it is, happily it's very close to Three Cocks and Lord Hereford's Knob.

Half man half biscuit wrote a song about Lord Herefords knob

https://open.spotify.com/track/3vffryTY ... nyfBiTD0zA

More time indoors, Oh dear.......

I'm glad I didn't get the comma wrong there otherwise it would have been "more time 'er indoors" - who we're presumably trying to do the opposite with for a few hours .

Talking of more time indoors, it's almost time to start thinking about our February Paulerspury Reunion outing .

So what's the rough plan for timings? Do we have a GPX of the route too?

benp1 wrote:So what's the rough plan for timings? Do we have a GPX of the route too?

My fault Ben will get them out to you on Wednesday when I finish my shifts for the week, I'm meeting s of woods in Jemima's (in church stretton )for breakfast about 1030 then meeting at ragleth inn in little stretton for about 12-1230 then straight up the mynd past Bivi spot and on to bridges and stipperstones then back to ragleth over the mynd and down number 9decent food and then back up to Bivi and down Minton batch Sunday or whichever decent takes your fancy ,Google blazing saddles longmynd map and it shows you all the decents by the numbers on the posts along the portway

Great, thanks Stuart. Sounds good. Will most likely meet you in jemimas on sat morning

I'm gonna have to withdraw from this one I'm afraid.
Have a great ride chaps

Good to chat earlier Rich, we'll have one for you.

I have a Winter Bivi Curse it seems. Plan was to get a lift with Ben and was looking forward to this. I'm at home now with a puke bug. 2 out of 3 years sidelined by the rare times (well 1x a year mostly) I get ill.

Have a good ride. Must get up to that area sometime next year, it does look good.

jameso wrote:I have a Winter Bivi Curse it seems. Plan was to get a lift with Ben and was looking forward to this. I'm at home now with a puke bug. 2 out of 3 years sidelined by the rare times (well 1x a year mostly) I get ill.

Have a good ride. Must get up to that area sometime next year, it does look good.

If you don't mind bimbling James I'm down there most months although with Scott repatriating himself this year I did promise myself I'd start exploring over the border