Day Ten – Ratlinghope to Hatchmere

I had wanted to see the Stiperstones,jagged pinnacles of quartzite standing up against the sky at the top of the hill.  But the weather was misty and wet and we could not see anything.  My right knee throbbed and I was struggling up the hill. For the first time on the trip I was having serious doubts about whether I was capable of finishing it.  Banishing such thoughts,we called into the village shop and bought the only item we could see which would serve as breakfast, two tins of chunky soup which we drank cold from the can.



  In an effort to get the last dregs from the tin I tipped it up only to drop potato and tomato on my nose.


.  It was a lovely route through the lanes of Shropshire and soon the rain stopped and the sun made some feeble efforts to shine.  We cycled through Melverley and stopped to look at the St Peter’s church, a 14th century building of wattle and daub, and which used pegs rather than nails throughout.




Just before Ellesmere I took a last minute decision to detour via Frankton to get a look at the Shopshire Union canal.  As we stood on the bridge Mick realised he recognised a narrowboat moored on the opposite bank, and sure enough it turned out to be the boat of someone he knew through a canal users forum. We spent a very pleasant hour on their boat Marmaduke drinking tea and biscuits and it was with some regret that we heaved ourselves up to cycle on, as it had started to rain again.




But we wanted to get a reasonable amount done after our rest day yesterday and we cycled on for a good few hours.  There was a marked lack of B&B’s along the route.  After four nights in the tent and in wet weather we really wanted to be indoors this evening. Finally we found a B&B at Hatchmere and booked ourselves in.




We repaired to the Carriers Inn for an excellent mixed grill, deciding that after the trials of HMP Ratlinghope we deserved some spoiling.

Stats
67 miles
Beers: 3

Route here