Moving on from place to place under your own steam carrying only what you really need or are willing and able to cart about, is an expeirence so simple that once you hav edone it theliklihood is that you will be drawn back to it. Not everyone will enjoy it, and there are times when even the enthusiast will be fed up and long for a comfy sofa, the TV and didg-box, bit for me the relaxation and simplicity of moving -on cycling is hard to beat. It is true to of long walking tours and, I guess, though I have never done it, of canoeing, and probably much else.
On this trip we will be saying in a mixture of hostels, friends' homes, and small hotels. So soem of the simplicity is taken out of it, but each day we will be moving on. Planned distances range from 95 miles to 22. Averaging around 83 miles a day, two "short" days are built in to give a bit of a break to ease any teaky joints or muscles.
So, Mark and I set out to start putting a few extra miles in - neither of use riding the mileage we used before family life came along in middle-age. A cold afternoon blowing a gentle northerly and lit by bright sunshine amidst black clouds of sleet, took us on a forty-miler through Swynnerton, Maer and onto Loggerheads, where the snow-covered moors to the north of the city could be seen, soon to be replaced as distant views glowing sunshine on the Wrekin and the hills beyond. Then it was back through Mucklestone and Hales and Bishop's Offley. Hot tea and cheap chocolate cake for fuel.
Fortunate we are to live in sucha beautiful area and to be able to get out and about in it.