Sunny and warm, applied sunscreen before leaving lest I forgot for too long. On the road around 7am and again had a few issues finding the route out of town.
Feeling good and soon zipping along rolling country roads.
Green green pastures
Pressed on for about 38 miles to Worcester, a couple of extra miles along the way to go around a road closure. I was so hungry I started in on my breakfast before remembering the photo.
Fry-up in Worcester
Worcester is quite pretty with a number of old buildings along the pedestrian streets. Built at the turn of the 20th century, the Hop Market isn’t so old but, as a brewer, caught my eye. Apparently, it did function as a hop market for some time.
Hop Market building in Worcester
Back out into the countryside again and quite a few areas with large amounts of oilseed rape. The colour is loud and the oil is good, but I find the pungent smell turns my stomach a bit.
Fields of oilseed rape in flower
I can attest to a delightful section of good-for-cycling canal paths around Kidderminster. There were some awkwardly narrow bike gates however.
Narrow bike gates, my shoulders want to be just about where the narrowest part is
Narrow and deep lock at Kidderminster
Somewhere around 95 miles, things started to go downhill for me. I thought I was just getting tired and needed sugar, but an attempt to drink a lemonade triggered considerable gastrointestinal discomfort. I’ll spare you details but in the last 30 miles I made many stops, gave up trying to drink because that triggered more, and so arrived in Nantwich feeling weak, ill, and surely very dehydrated.
The staff at the Crown Hotel sorted me out with a room and a place to store my bike. I quickly climbed into bed for a while which alleviated my chills. Eventually, I managed to shower and to slowly drink about a pint of water and salts before turning in for the night. Can’t imagine cycling tomorrow.
Long day, the last portion of which I did rather slowly with many stops. 125 miles, 5,300 feet elevation gain, and almost 9 hours in the saddle. Was very pleased that the last few miles were downhill.
