A Shropshire Lad
/A retro ride from where I was raised, and grazed..
Memories seem to fade somehow. I guess its all part of life, or even if I were to admit it part of getting older too, though of course I’m not doing that just yet (said with a Peter Pan like grin). So you see, for me at least, this ride literally was a trip back down memory lane. The ride I’ve wound together for you this month is a corker of a back road bumble through the finest and most secret of all Shropshire lanes. These are lanes which I once pounded every single day, but with the passing of time and the moving of house have sadly been left behind to decay alone. Though memory grabs still come back pretty quickly when you’re in situ, and the riding is still as great as it ever was.
Things kick off from the tourist hotbed of Ironbridge, nucleus of the Industrial revolution, and home to some great pork pies too! It doesn’t take long to leave the hordes behind though; before we even leave the town limits and we’re climbing away from it all. I have to admit it, this was perhaps a bit cruel to throw this one in so early in the day, but it does get you straight out it all and is quite a kick start to the ride. This is one long and evil climb, which should be treated with care and maybe a dose of fear even. The climb seems to grind on forever, but once you get wound up some it looks a whole lot better, and when you get over the top the curses will turn to grins.
We’re now well and truly in to the wilds, or at lease we are once we turn away from Little Wenlock. A narrow country lane skirts the base of the mighty Wrekin, a long extinct volcano, and the last hill not inhabited by moles for the next county or two northwards. This whole section is fast and dippy, and eventually leads us back down to the Severn Valley at Cressage, where we enter phase two of the ride and cross the mythical border into deepest south Shropshire, a whole other world bounded by the main A457. It’s a steady drag out of Cressage along a lane which has seen more two wheeled battles than Alpe d’Huez over the years, though these particular battles usually end with a round at some local tea shop, and ultimately that’s where this days pilgrimage was also headed.
These back lanes really are some of the best and most traffic free lanes in all of England, and there’s a whole maze of them, so picking your way through can be a bit of pot luck, though not on this occasion, you’re getting into sections of the best kept white road secrets in the area. The scenery changes some too, to the left is the imposing sight of Wenlock Edge, a huge natural fault which dominates the area, while stone cottages and old manor houses pepper the green tree smothered landscape.
Apart from the “Edge” it all looks tame enough, but don’t be fooled! No, this particular roller coaster of a ride is heading for yet another almighty big dipper, the Causeway, a feared and respected local climb. Straight of Acton Burnell and you’re into the thick of things. Then after diving down a grass split lane it rears up like crazy and dangerously steeply two. It’s a real leg bender, but the scenery more than makes up for the sufferance.
Over the top it’s respite for a while as we wind downhill through Cardington and on towards Wenlock Edge it’s self. The double sliced Edge starts to fade out here, and we cross from one split to the other by climbing straight over from Longville towards the ridge top road from Shipton to Much Wenlock. It’s a super dippy road for sure, but the vistas across the “Dales” are superb. After a couple of short climbs along the backbone of the Edge it’s a swift drop down to Much Wenlock (which is actually where the modern Olympics started!) It’s a careful crossing of the main road and a head on through the centre and back out to the greenery again as we head along through Barrow to Broseley, a slightly draggy but not serious section.
The logical way back from here is all down hill, but I’ve added in a little back yard meander along the river, just so as you get to take in some of the areas most famous sites before wrapping the ride up and posting you home. This detour takes us down to Coalport, then retraces the rolling road alongside the Severn back to Ironbridge. This closing section is something like a roll through a virtual museum, which is more or less what it is. There are artefacts and museums all along the way, each showing you snap shots of the areas stature as the birthplace to industrialisation, which will surely give you something extra to talk about when you finally sit down for that well earned cupper and bacon butty!