Day 7 - 23rd July 2002

Unusual church in Shrewsbury

We intended to get up early and check out Shrewsbury Cathedral but by the time we'd had a hostel breakfast and completed laundry it was 10am and we decided just to hit the road. For once we had to be at our destination by a set time as we'd arranged to meet Andy and Ruth Nevill, friends from our time in Malawi, in Northwich that evening. Getting out of Shrewsbury was a slight problem and an old man who gave us directions misunderstood and sent us towards Wrexham, but we were soon on the right road towards Wem.

Once again the road was easy to follow "just stay on the B5476" so we split into 3 groups with Mike Mickie and Tracy ahead, Mark sticking with Manda and Tim taking time off for photos and phone calls bringing up the rear. We failed, however to account for the confusing signage in Wem! Tim with the map realized he'd gone wrong when he crossed the railway and headed back to find "Whitchurch Road" which sounded promising. He speeded up hoping to find that those without a map hadn't made the same mistake and soon caught up the lead 3 (who'd asked directions), but not sign of Mike and Manda. A look at the map showed that if they's followed signs to Whitchurch they'd arrive at the same roundabout we'd agreed to meet at (allbeit from another direction) so we waited there and they soon arrived, having realized after a while where they'd gone wrong.

Backstreets of Nantwich

From here we kept going to Nantwich, it wasn't a day for stopping for too long with a cool wind and overcast skies. There we found the obligatory pub in the middle of town, locked the bikes outside and headed in to warm up. The town appeared to be worth a look around so we took it in turns to relax while watching the bikes, and take a walk around to look and buy a few necessities.

More back roads to Northwich including another slight navigational error that added a couple of miles but allowed us to pass under then over the Shropshire Union Canal, one of several canals we'd see in the next couple of days.

Once back on course we plodded on to Northwich where once again we arrived too late for the tourist information, so went back to check out the floating Quality Hotel we'd passed on the way into town (built on a huge barglike structure firmly attached to the bank of the canalized River Weaver). Their rates were steep but Tracy negotiated a good deal and the small balconies overlooking the canal proved ideal for bike, particularly the handicapped room Tracy and Tim occupied that had access virtually straight in from the car park.

Having contacted Andy to make the evening's arrangements, taken a short walk around town to find very little that looked worth investigating foodwise and stopped at a supermaket for wine and cheese to snack on it was time to relax in what was a fairly pleasant little hotel. Andy duly arrived minus Ruth as they were stuck for a babysitter and we headed for the only place in town with any life, a Witherspoon's pub. The building must have once been some kind of indoor market and the bar was huge with a high ceiling but at least you know with Witherspoons you'll get decent cheap beer and reasonable generic bar food. We enjoyed an evening of reminiscing, played briefly with Andy's dog in the hotel car park and said our goodbyes. However in our (admittedly incomplete) survey of the UK, Northwich was without doubt the most boring town in the country!