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Weather: bright, sunny, increasingly humid
Stats: 41.9 miles; Ave speed moving: 9.6mph
Counties: Worcestershire, Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin
GPS track map: Link here
This was a relatively low mileage day, and so should have been quite relaxing. It was, however dominated from my perspective by mechanical problems. Over the last few days I have noticed that as I ride along, my back wheel feels as though it is hitting the brakes on each revolution. However when I got off and spun the wheel whilst not under load it seems fine. It felt as though it was really slowing me down. Cutting a long story short I called in at a bike shop just off the route in Bridgnorth - Clee Cycles. There the very helpful mechanic diagnosed it as loose cone nuts. These are the nuts which hold the wheel tight on the axle, but they had evidently worked loose so that there was lateral play in the wheel, which would explain the symptoms. He tightened said nuts and the problem was solved (touch wood). What a relief.
Rather than return to the route for the day, which went through Much Wenlock, I decided to shortcut direct to Ironbridge via the B4373, arriving over the Iron Bridge itself at about 4pm and checking in to our hotel, the Best Western.
In the early evening, I went for a stroll through this fascinating little town, which rightly claims the sobriquet "birthplace of the Industrial Revolution". Unfortunately, the heavens opened in a massive thunderstorm and I got a drenching hurrying to join the group for dinner in the Malthouse restaurant, only for that part of town to suffer a total power cut.
Next day
Weather: bright, sunny, increasingly humid
Stats: 41.9 miles; Ave speed moving: 9.6mph
Counties: Worcestershire, Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin
GPS track map: Link here
This was a relatively low mileage day, and so should have been quite relaxing. It was, however dominated from my perspective by mechanical problems. Over the last few days I have noticed that as I ride along, my back wheel feels as though it is hitting the brakes on each revolution. However when I got off and spun the wheel whilst not under load it seems fine. It felt as though it was really slowing me down. Cutting a long story short I called in at a bike shop just off the route in Bridgnorth - Clee Cycles. There the very helpful mechanic diagnosed it as loose cone nuts. These are the nuts which hold the wheel tight on the axle, but they had evidently worked loose so that there was lateral play in the wheel, which would explain the symptoms. He tightened said nuts and the problem was solved (touch wood). What a relief.
Rather than return to the route for the day, which went through Much Wenlock, I decided to shortcut direct to Ironbridge via the B4373, arriving over the Iron Bridge itself at about 4pm and checking in to our hotel, the Best Western.
In the early evening, I went for a stroll through this fascinating little town, which rightly claims the sobriquet "birthplace of the Industrial Revolution". Unfortunately, the heavens opened in a massive thunderstorm and I got a drenching hurrying to join the group for dinner in the Malthouse restaurant, only for that part of town to suffer a total power cut.
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| Severn, shortly after leaving Fernhill |
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| River frontage at Bewdley |
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| Olde street in Bridgnorth |
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| Arrival in Ironbridge, via the Iron Bridge |
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