I’d arranged to come for a Bank Holiday ride with Nicole and Tracy today, so rode up to Nic’s house in Hinstock to meet at the agreed time.
Once there I had my obligatory pit stop and we set off. The plan was to feel out a route to the Mainwaring Arms in Whitmore, near Stoke for when her friends come to stay later this month. It’s quite a hilly route too, which should add to the ride.
To get the mileage up to over 50 miles, we first headed down through Sambrook and Gnosall to Church Eaton and then turned northwards towards Eccleshall.
We stopped for a quick pit stop at the Ice Cream Farm at Haughton and then headed off towards Whitmore.
On the way we discovered Garmin had bene playing it’s usual tricks with us and sending us down farm tracks, dead ends, pulic footpaths etc etc. This necessitated a few stops while we all compared maps and worked out how to get to where we wanted to go.
A bit later than planned we arrived at the lunch stop. The sun had come out by now and it was lovely weather to the out riding in.
At the pub we sat outside to eat and even decided to support our sponsors (it was a Joules pub!) by having a beer as well as tea / coffee and something to eat.
Suitably fortified we headed off into the hillier section of the ride just north of the pub. What a fab route as there were bluebells and snowdrops everywhere, with some wild garlic too. A bit further on we even saw a deer in someone’s garden by a pond watching us go past! Wonderful!
The route then headed over towards Woore, where we diverted off the route and went to Norton in Hales and then along the quieter Betton road into Market Drayton.
From there we headed down past the golf course and onwards to Stoke On Tern, Great Bolas and then Bolas Heath. I left the other at at top of our drive so they could carry on back to Nic’s in Hinstock.
A fab day out with great weather, great company and a great route.
Route: click here
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