Background Information
Tuesday 12thAugust 2008
Hinckley to Kington
The forecast for the start of the ride was not favourable. We had had the obligatory photo shoot outside St Mary’s Church with the Mayor Jeff Bannister and the Vicar Canon Brian Davis, a couple of weeks ago. The news paper report suggested we bade them farewell today! The first five miles to the far side of Nuneaton was dry and then I donned my cape for a while to keep off the worst of the rain. We made our way across to Meriden – the centre of England – for our first stop at a café in the town. From here the route took us south of Birmingham through
Hampton in Arden, Dorridge and, accidentally taking a wrong turn, we ended up in Henley in Arden. Back on track again we turned westward through Studley (stopping for lunch) and Feckenham where we paused for a while to visit the church. We had planned to meet up with Malcolm here but somehow the plan went awry.
With views of the Malvern Hills in the distance we now aimed for Worcester where we partook of a late afternoon cup of tea and tea cakes. We still had not been able to make contact with Malcolm on the mobile to arrange a pickup and the miles were beginning to add up. Eventually we got through to him and arranged to meet at Martley – a distance of 70 miles from Hinckley and enough riding for the day. I had been suffering with my right knee for most of the day and was really glad to load the bikes onto the back of the car for the last 35 miles to the Youth Hostel at Kington.
In the evening we returned the few miles to Eardisland to eat, and here we met up with members of the local history group who also have strong links with France – they are twinned with the town of La Vieille Lyre and the church of St Mary had to pay taxes to the Abbey at Lyre in the 12th century.
The mileage at the end of the day was 67.5 miles.