Day 34- Nantwich to Telford
Actual distance 59.59Km or 37.03miles
Total Ascent 627m
Staying with 3rd Womborne Scout Group
We were very determined to make up our lost distance today, so replotted a more direct route to our destinations later this week and got up earlier than normal so we could be on the road in good time. James opted to help our support team today rather than join us on the road. We half packed, leaving Sarah, Abi and James to finish off and load the van and headed back to Nantwich.
We largely followed cycle route 552 today. The route out of Nantwich took us through a lovely park, then onto the roads past ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ and a ‘Secret Bunker’. However, after only about 40 minutes of cycling Phil realised his back tyre was flat. He tried pumping it up in hope that it may hold, but it became quickly apparent that he definitely had a puncture (the 6th of our journey!).
Once the bike was fixed we made amazing progress, reaching Market Drayton in really good time. We had planned to stop in Market Drayton for lunch, but were doing so well that we chose to plough on to Cheswardine instead. We were met there by Sarah, Dan, James and Abi who had sorted a fantastic picnic lunch for us all on the park in Cheswardine. The kids made the most of the swings too!
Feeling refreshed we jumped back on the bikes to complete our last 24km of the day. Almost as soon as we reached Newport Ollie and Bethan spotted a pub and were very insistent we stopped for a drink. Ollie made the most of the opportunity to chat to the team in the Swan about our journey so far!
We reached Telford as planned at about 16:30. We finished with quite a climb, so are all hopeful that we’ll have a nice run downhill first thing tomorrow! We were met at our finishing point by Dave, who has been on our Group Exec for the last few years (despite living in Telford!). It was really lovely to see him and hopefully we should get an opportunity to catch up with him again en route tomorrow. James left us in Telford as he has a Scout camp this weekend, and hopes to rejoin us in a few weeks time.
We hopped into the car and drove to 3rd Wombombe Scout HQ via Asda for a quick (and well earned) ice cream. We’ve had a nice quiet evening, with Sarah cooking a really lovely tea for us all.
