Day 6 - 22nd July 2002

Another day when we tried to get up fairly early but only managed to get on the road by 9.30am. Today promised to be the flattest of the journey so far (much to the delight of those with aching knees) and the day began somewhat cool and overcast. The route was pretty simple, almost due north through Hereford, Leominster and Ludlow.

First stop of the day was in Hereford where the women decided to push on while the men looked for a bike shop that could do a few adjustments to Mike's bike. We got quite a tour of this pretty town as a bike/ motorbike store sent us to a bike store, they were busy and refered us to another bike store, and they were at the wrong end of the one way system for a simple return to the A49 (plus Tim nearly had us heading for Wales by not reading the road signs).

Climb into Ludlow

The A49 wasn't a bad ride but we were glad to regroup and get onto the B4361 into Leominster, particularly as we would be on small roads for most of the rest of the day. Leominster (surprise surprise) was yet another attractive and historic town and again luckily fairly flat!

The route to Ludlow was pleasant but the fact that the town had a castle should have warned us: it's built on a hill. We stopped briefly at the castle then headed out to find back roads past the Shropshire Hills and into Church Stretton. The road actually passed right across Ludlow racecourse and the golf course built around the track then took a fairly flat and easy route past a succession of hills.

We were making good time and didn't stop at Church Stretton, just continued onto the A49 and headed into Hereford. For once the Youth Hostel was easy to find (and was signposted well) so we checked into our group room, booked breakfast, showered and headed for the nearest pub with food. Despite the length of the day and the cooler weather today was one of the easier days of the ride.