Day 33- Chester to Market Drayton
Actual distance 23.49Km or 14.6miles (or the length of 221,603.8 muller corners)
Total Ascent 87m (or the height of 630.4 bottles of Frijj milkshakes)
Staying with 2nd Market Drayton Scout Group
Wow- it was a hot one today!
We said a sad, early (for us) farewell to the lovely Hadlow Fields which had been a truly special place to spend a birthday and our day off. We have unfortunately lost our James for a few days (but he’ll be back on Sunday), but today we gained another James – James (ACC Communications for Shropshire)! We also had the pleasure of being joined by Phil and Helen (Bethan’s grandparents) and Sarah and Abi this morning, so we started today with a walk along the canal path.
Dan had the essential job of driving the car to our chosen lunch spot where we intended to switch onto the bikes for the rest of the day. He then hopped on his trusty folding bike and powered back up the canal path to join us on our walk.
The canal path was hot in the sun, but very pleasant in the shade. However, because of the heat today we all wore shorts, and consequently all got utterly eaten alive by a variety of biting bugs in the vegetation. We were pleased to find The Shady Pub where we stopped for a very well deserved cold drink followed by a picnic (in the lay-by outside- classy!)
We then hopped onto the bikes with the aim of getting to Market Drayton by the end of the day. Unfortunately the canal paths and the weather had other ideas! The path wasn’t great but was certainly better than previous canal paths we have ridden. There was some mud to slow us down but then James’ saddle worked itself loose and unfortunately we didn’t have the right sized tools to fix it. Conveniently a friendly boatman was able to save the day with a multitool!
Mechanical issues fixed, we headed off again for a few more kilometres until the sun became more of an issue making James overheat and feel quite unwell. We dived into a Cafe on the tow path- The Calveley Cafe for some cold drinks and a cool down. We chatted the the amazing team there about our crazy adventure and also got our water bottles refilled with ice cold water which we were very grateful for.
Although we hadn’t planned to stop, whilst at the cafe we had a quick chat to BBC Radio Shropshire about the Woggle JOGLE thanks to James’ connections. You can hear the interview here from 2h06min.
As we had experienced so many delays, we decided it would be sensible to leave the canal path and switch to the road with the hope that we would reach Market Drayton in good time. We set off along the rather busy A51, but unfortunately the heat had done its damage to James and he was unable to continue. We therefore called for our support team to come and pick him up. Once we realised how long it would take for Dan to reach us we divided up, with Jennie and the kids continuing along the road and Phil waiting with James. Once Dan had made it to pick up James (fortunately feeling a little better) Phil headed off in hot pursuit of the rest of the team and found them in the marina just outside Nantwich. By this time it was quite late. The kids were hot and hungry, and after a quick team chat we decided to call it a day and accept we will have to make up the miles. We were all a little gutted as this is the first day we’ve not managed our planned distance, but everyone is very much onboard with the idea of a bit of a monster one tomorrow!
We made it by car to meet the team at 2nd Market Drayton somewhat later than we’d hoped. They all made us feel incredibly welcome, made sure we had a cold drink and gave us a tour of their amazing HQ, our home for this evening. Phil, Bethan and Hattie were interviewed by a team of Explorers and some essential badge and necker swapping took place before Sarah whipped up an unconventional yet yummy tea of Ps – Pasta, Pie and Peas!
After dinner the kids and Sarah even made it through the caving simulator at the hut (Phil tried too but got stuck!) before turning in ready for an early start tomorrow to make up time.
