Warmish but cloudy, with a stiff breeze coming from the west and a threat of showers. Today’s idea was to do a fondo down the rural channel between the urban sprawl of Birmingham and Coventry, to a place called Meriden – more or less an extension of the Dad’s Army route.
The first 35km of the route is familiar enough to me by now but the remainder isn’t. I took a wrong turn after Piccadilly Way and later missed the turn for Shustoke. The first error was no biggie, I found my way back to the intended route easily enough. But the second took me right through Coleshill and cost me a few km which was unfortunate as I was very tight on time – had to be back by 1755 and I’d got up later than I intended.
So I didn’t get to Meriden. I turned back at a place called Forest of Arden Country Club. Then I took another wrong turn, after Maxstoke and had to re-orient myself back onto the correct route with the assistance of the RideWithGPS app. I’d stored the route to my account from the browser app on my desktop PC.
Nonetheless, I did get back on time, on 103.41 km. Will definitely do that one again, but I’ll put the route on the eTrex. Should have done that this time, but I thought I’d get by on pulling out the phone app every now and then.
One good thing about that route is the variety. Lots of quiet villages, lots of scenery. Plenty of shops. I stopped at a Co-op at Wood End for an onion bhaji sandwich and a Bounty.
On the downside it’s quite climby, and of course it means tangling with the A5.
Listened to more of Luke James’ captivating memoir of the early days of Fashi0n, Stairway to Nowhere.
I’ve just read that the ribbon of countryside between Birmingham and Coventry has a name: the “Meriden Gap”.