A few years ago I rode to Worcestershire (the historic version) and back. I refer to this ride sometimes as my “Dad’s Army route”, because I spent most of the ride listening to old recordings of the BBC Radio version of the famous sitcom about the fictional Walmington-on-Sea division of the Home Guard.
I’ve often thought of doing it again. The main deterrent has been the necessity to do about three miles of the A5 west of Atherstone. It’s a fast dual carriageway, and not the sort of thing you really want to be negotiating on a bicycle. I did try to do it spontaneously a couple of months ago, but hadn’t planned the route and I messed it up.
I thought I’d have a go at it today. I didn’t upload the route to my eTrex, but I did memorise the turns carefully with the help of Google Street View.
Roughly the first half of the ride to the destination is part of my usual Twycross route. Then the A5, then south-west toward Kingsbury, then down to Coleshill.
So – I did that. I didn’t go right down to the border with Historic Worcestershire, because it’s depressingly urban after Coleshill. You’re pretty much in the outskirts of Birmingham after that.
I stopped at a garden centre on the way down to look for a caff. Didn’t find one, but they did have a butcher’s shop situated in a sort of prefab hut, so I bought a chicken samosa there. Very nice. Also stopped at a friendly village shop at Kingsbury on the way back for a sandwich and a Magnum ice cream.
Came back the same way as far as Grendon Road. Then I came home through Sheepy, Congerstone, Shackerstone, Heather. So the whole ride was in essence a Twycross Bypasser with an excursion south-westward at the bottom.
Actually the worst part of this ride is having to negotiate the big roundabout on the A5 near Hockley on the way back. It’s a lot scarier going round it clockwise than coming off at the first exit on the outward leg.
Despite that, nice to do it again. I didn’t listen to Dad’s Army this time, I listened to 5 Live – and I got another 4.5 hours out of the Duracell Plus AAs in my DAB, for a total of roughly 36.5 hours. Amazing.
I have to say though I didn’t quite remember it as the same ride I did in 2022 .. I seem to remember a few views and scenes that somehow weren’t present today. I’ve checked, and I definitely did the same route. Must be my memory playing tricks.
Nice run out though. Pleasantly warm and sunny in the afternoon. Back on 53.67 miles. I’ve done 122 already this month; I guess that’s the retirement distance dividend.